Tools Used in Tagar Rock Art: Findings of an Experimental Traceological Study

Abstract

We describe the findings of traceological analysis and experiments with bronze and iron tools used by Tagar and Tes artists. The pecking traces these tools leave on the red Devonian sandstone were examined to assess which of them could have been used in rock art production. At the first stage, a preliminary analysis of Tagar petroglyphs was carried out, and metal tools and weapons from the Martyanov Museum of Local History in Minusinsk were examined. Morphologically suitable ones were selected, and experimental tools were made of stone, copper alloys, and low-carbon steel. Experiments were conducted and samples of pecking traces were produced. The final stage of the work consisted of comparing these samples with actual petroglyphs, and use-wear traces on the experimental tools with those on the actual tools. This approach made a direct comparison possible. Among the Tagar and Tes metal tools, those that had likely been used in rock art production were detected. The conclusion was made that no specialized tools designated for that purpose existed at that time in the Minusinsk Basin. Rather, multifunctional tools were used. These were made of tin bronze and low-carbon steel with thermal processing. Such tools first appeared in the region in the Early Iron Age.

Testing tools: an experimental investigation into technical and economic aspects of Levantine rock art technology

“…Over the past five decades, experimental archaeology has proved to be an invaluable tool in testing hypotheses concerning the production of rock art paintings (e.g., Couraud 1988;Paunero 1992;Blanco and Barreto 2016;d'Errico et al 2016;López-Montalvo 2017;Landino et al 2023;Ozán et al 2023;Santos da Rosa et al 2023) and engravings (e.g. Bard and Busby 1974;Bednarik 1998;Keyser et al 1999;Álvarez and Fiore 1995;Álvarez et al 2001; Santos da Rosa 2012; Santos da Rosa et al 2014;Vergara and Troncoso 2015;Zotkina and Davydov 2022) in sites from diverse chronological periods and geographic areas. This experimental approach is particularly significant in the context of a theoretical and methodological framework that aims to explore rock art's materiality through the study of technological processes and economic factors that permeate the creation of the images (Fiore 2007(Fiore , 2009(Fiore , 2018Santos da Rosa 2019c).…”