Rock varnish as a natural canvas for rock art in La Proveedora, northwestern Sonoran Desert (Mexico): Integrating archaeological and geological evidences

Martínez-Pabello, Pável U.; Villalobos, César; Sedov, Sergey; Solleiro‐Rebolledo, Elizabeth; Solé, Jesús; Pi‐Puig, Teresa; Chávez‐Vergara, Bruno; Díaz‐Ortega, Jaime; Gubin, Alexey A.

doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2020.10.028

Cited by 10 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 51 publications

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“…The characterization of the black crust through XRF and SEM-EDX analysis confirmed that the varnish is composed of clay minerals and Fe and Mn oxides, as reported by many studies [18,23,24]. Specifically, the varnish is highly enriched in Mn compared to the windborne dust deposited in the micro-basins of the surface.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 78%

“…Desert varnish is defined as a thin (10-200 µm), dark coating highly enriched in manganese that forms on exposed rock surfaces in arid and hyper-arid environments. It is composed of clay minerals and amorphous silica (~70%) in a matrix of poorly crystallized manganese (Mn) and iron (Fe) oxides and hydroxides [17][18][19]. Despite the fact that geochemical aspects of rock varnish have been thoroughly investigated [19][20][21][22][23][24] and it is believed that its primary source of material is airborne dust, there is an ongoing debate about the exact process of formation and specifically whether or not microorganisms are involved in this process [5,25,26].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A Multi-Analytical Approach to Infer Mineral–Microbial Interactions Applied to Petroglyph Sites in the Negev Desert of Israel

et al. 2022

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Petroglyph sites exist all over the world. They are one of the earliest forms of mankind’s expression and a precursor to art. Despite their outstanding value, comprehensive research on conservation and preservation of rock art is minimal, especially as related to biodeterioration. For this reason, the main objective of this study was to explore the factors involved in the degradation of petroglyph sites in the Negev desert of Israel, with a focus on biodegradation processes. Through the use of culture-independent microbiological methods (metagenomics), we characterized the microbiomes of the samples, finding they were dominated by bacterial communities, in particular taxa of Actinobacteria and Cyanobacteria, with resistance to radiation and desiccation. By means of XRF and Raman spectroscopies, we defined the composition of the stone (calcite and quartz) and the dark crust (clay minerals with Mn and Fe oxides), unveiling the presence of carotenoids, indicative of biological colonization. Optical microscopy and SEM–EDX analyses on thin sections highlighted patterns of weathering, possibly connected to the presence of biodeteriorative microorganisms that leach the calcareous matrix from the bedrock and mobilize metal cations from the black varnish for metabolic processes, slowly weathering it.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 78%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Multi-Analytical Approach to Infer Mineral–Microbial Interactions Applied to Petroglyph Sites in the Negev Desert of Israel

et al. 2022

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“…On basalt, it is likely to be significantly higher because of the greater weathering resistance of this rock type [ 8 ]. On the other hand, the very existence of the rock varnish, silica skins, and/or oxalate deposits at the rock surface may increase its weathering resistance through a process called “case hardening” [ 9 , 25 , 98 ] resulting in a greater effective age of varnished sandstone than bare rock of the same composition.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The rock art discussed here consists of petroglyphs, which are produced by removing the dark “rock varnish” coating, present on many rocks in arid or semiarid regions, to form the images. This rock varnish provides a natural canvas, which has been used to create rock art by indigenous people worldwide, from the pre-Neolithic period up to today [e.g., 5 , 17 – 25 ]. It consists of a matrix of poorly crystallized manganese (Mn) and iron (Fe) oxides and hydroxides (oxyhydroxides), in which clay and other detrital minerals are embedded [ 26 – 30 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Archaeometric studies on rock art at four sites in the northeastern Great Basin of North America

Andreae

2022

PLoS ONE

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Rock art originated some 46,000 years ago and can provide unique insights into the minds of our human ancestors. However, dating of these ancient images, especially of petroglyphs, remains a challenge. In this study, we explore the potential of deriving age estimates from measurements of the areal densities of manganese (DMn) and iron (DFe) in the rock varnish on petroglyphs, based on the concept that the amount of varnish that has regrown on a petroglyph since its creation, relative to the surrounding intact varnish, is a measure of its age. We measured DMn and DFe by portable X-ray fluorescence (pXRF) on dated Late Pleistocene and Holocene rock surfaces, from which we derived accumulation rates of Mn and Fe in the rock varnish. The observed rates were comparable to our previous findings on basalt surfaces in North America. We derived age estimates for the rock art at four sites in the northern Great Basin region of North America based on DMn measurements on the petroglyphs and intact varnish. They suggest that rock art creation in this region began around the Pleistocene/Holocene transition and continued into the Historic Period, encompassing a wide range of styles and motifs. Evidence of reworking of the rock art at various times by Indigenous people speaks of the continued agency of these images through the millennia. Our results are in good agreement with chronologies based on archeological and other archaeometric techniques. While our method remains subject to significant uncertainty with regard to the absolute ages of individual images, it provides the unique opportunity to obtain age estimates for large ensembles of images without the need for destructive sampling.

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“…As a result, rock varnishes have kindled the curiosity of archaeologists and geologists working in various geographical locations around the world. 7,8 Research on the mineral composition and geochemical analysis of rock varnishes have been published worldwide, but only a few studies on the semiconducting characteristics of these Fe/Mn oxide coatings have been reported. 9 Although manganese oxide is an abundant natural resource and is a lowcost material, 10 the electrochemical applications of manganese oxide present in the varnish layer have been overlooked.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Birnessite-clay mineral couple in the rock varnish: a nature's electrocatalyst

Chaddha

Singh

Malviya

et al. 2022

Sustainable Energy Fuels

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Rock varnish as a natural canvas for rock art in La Proveedora, northwestern Sonoran Desert (Mexico): Integrating archaeological and geological evidences

Cited by 10 publications

References 51 publications

A Multi-Analytical Approach to Infer Mineral–Microbial Interactions Applied to Petroglyph Sites in the Negev Desert of Israel

A Multi-Analytical Approach to Infer Mineral–Microbial Interactions Applied to Petroglyph Sites in the Negev Desert of Israel

Archaeometric studies on rock art at four sites in the northeastern Great Basin of North America

Birnessite-clay mineral couple in the rock varnish: a nature's electrocatalyst

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