Person holds up reference to red markings on rock face

Participants to the 2009 course on rock art site conservation interventions learned about the use of prior documentation as an aid to conservation decision making. In this image a participant uses a photograph taken not long after nail polish graffiti was applied to a rock art panel to determine the extent to which the graffiti had deteriorated.

This project component focused on training in rock art site conservation interventions, including graffiti mitigation.

Work Completed

In August 2009 a two-week workshop was held in the Cederberg in collaboration with the Clanwilliam Living Landscape Project, focusing on issues related to planning for and carrying out rock art conservation interventions. The workshop was attended by nineteen participants from Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, and South Africa. Participant work focused on diagnosing problems (including the use of prior documentation), understanding when interventions might be appropriate (then planning for them), carrying out testing, intervening, and then documenting and monitoring those interventions. The practical field exercises focused primarily on interventions for graffiti mitigation, as well as assessing the effectiveness of prior interventions where drip lines were created and preservative coatings had been applied to rock paintings.

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