Professors Dawn Green and Adelphine Bonneau recently visited a number of our rock art sites at Leliekloof, collecting painting samples for inclusion in their carbon dating research. They have recently published an article in the Digging Stick 'THE ESSENTIAL ROLE OF PIGMENT CHARACTERISATION AND COLOURING MATERIALS PROVENANCE STUDY FOR ROCK ART ARCHAEOLOGY' discussing the carbon dating process, purpose and the significant role it plays.
" Identifying chronometric dates also allows us to combine the evidence from excavations and rock art to compare and refine our understanding of how people were thinking and doing in the past. Of equal importance is what colouring materials were chosen, their sources and the binders that were used in making paints. This evidence can tell us more about specific people living in specific areas and their contact and interactions with others."
We are very excited and look forward to finding out the results to the research!!
You can download the pdf article below.