The first use of portable Raman instrumentation for the analysis of Patagonian prehistoric rock art paintings: pigments, accretions and substrata

ROUSAKI, ANASTASIA; VÁZQUEZ, CRISTINA; ALDAZÁBAL, VERÓNICA; BELLELLI, CRISTINA; CARBALLIDO CALATAYUD, MARIANA; HAYDUK, ADAM; VARGAS, EMMANUEL; PALACIOS, OSCAR; CULKA, ADAM; MOENS, LUC; VANDENABEELE, PETER

Bilbao

Congreso; Technart 2017. Non destructive and Microanalytical Techniques in Art and Cultural Heritage; 2017

Universidad del País Vasco

PortableRaman spectroscopy was applied for the first time on rock art paintings, fromhunter-gatherer populations, on seventeen sites, in two different environmentalregions of Patagonia, the forest at Neuquen and Río Negro and the steppe atChubut. The selected archaeological sites were examined, revealing the pigmentsused from the native population. Alteration products and accretions were alsoinvestigated to obtain valuable information for a better conservation andpreservation of these magnificent works of art. During a single researchcampaign, sixteen shelters and one cave were investigated which makes thisstudy as one of the most condensed expeditions on measuring rock art paintings.The current research focuses only on the pigments used, accretions andsubstrata of the rock art paintings and serves as sequel of our previousstudies on the evaluation of the use of our portable Raman instrument on theanalysis of rock art under extreme conditions in Patagonia, where severalimprovements were proposed, to maximize the quality of the research.