From archeological layers to schematic rock art? Integrated study of the Neolithic pigments and pigmented rocks at the Rocher du Château (Western Alps, Savoie, France)

Abstract

Post-glacial schematic rock paintings extend across the Iberian Peninsula to the Italian Piedmont. The Rocher du Château is one of the few Alpine sites with such painted figurations, located on a main transalpine route at 1750 m.a.s.l. in the Vallée de la Maurienne (Savoie, France). Archeological excavations in front of the painted panels revealed pigments and pigmented pebbles in archaeological levels attributed to the Neolithic Square Mouthed Pottery culture (SMP culture, 4600-4000 BC). The coexistence of pigments from archeological soils and rock paintings is rare in European prehistory and exceptional for the Neolithic period. The integrated study of these materials, barely attempted before, combined non-invasive in situ methods (digital microscopy and Raman spectroscopy) and analytical studies of micro-samples (SEM-EDX, XRD). The weathering process on the rock surface before and after the layer of paint was studied, and the mineralogical identification of the pigments was analyzed. Complementary physico-chemical analyses were conducted at several scales of observation to identify the composition of the excavated pigments and pigmented materials. Some of them proved to be anthropogenic blends combining hematite and charcoal of plant origin. This association has never before been identified in other prehistoric European archeological sites. Based on these data, the potential links between the pebbles, the production of pigments, and the rock paintings are discussed.

A compact-rigid multi-analyser for energy and angle filtering of high-resolution X-ray experiments. Part 2. Efficiency of a single-crystal-comb

“…. ); a first report of all the paintings was made in 1975 (Nelh, 1976) and they were studied in detail by Defrasne et al (2019). In this last study, the surface information of the archaeological drawings was evaluated in detail by non-invasive in situ methods (digital microscopy and Raman spectroscopy), and some micro-samples were analysed by scanning electron microscopy energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDX) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) methods.…”

The Cognitive Processus Behind Neolithic Schematic Rock Art. Archaeological Implications and Research Hypothesis

“…In southern France, schematic rock art is mainly painted at open-air sites or in caves and can sometimes be engraved. It can be found in a variety of environments, from plains to high-altitude areas, up to 2400 masl (Defrasne et al 2019a,b; Defrasne & Bailly 2014; Hameau 2002; Walsh et al 2016) (Fig. 2).…”

“…Their chronological attribution remains imprecise, which probably explains why they are often excluded from research on prehistoric societies. However, it is now possible to bring together chronological milestones that converge around the fifth, fourth and third millennia bc and support a possible Neolithic affiliation for at least part of the corpus (Defrasne et al 2019a,b; Hameau 2002). These milestones come initially from the general context of some painted shelters around Mont Ventoux (Binder 2004; Borrell et al 2019; Léa 2004), particularly the Bedoulian flint-mining area or the sepulchral cavities characteristic of the Late Neolithic of southern France.…”

Characterizing the pigments and paints of prehistoric artists

“…The identification of the archaeological pigments and their sources (e.g. Pitarch et al 2014 and2019;Defrasne et al 2019), the examination of the manufacturing techniques and pictorial recipes (e.g. Brunet et al, 1982;Walter 1992, 1996;Baffier et al 1999;Salomon et al 2008;Menu 2009) or understanding the mechanisms causing paint and bedrock degradation (Hernanz et al 2007;Aramendia et al 2020) are some of the common archaeological questions that can be effectively unravelled through physicochemical analyses.…”