A three-pronged multi-method approach to date and determine the temporality of creation of rock art sites in Quebec, Canada

• Main Authors: Vandevelde, Ségolène, Bonneau, Adelphine, Bédard, Paul, Langevin, Érik, Savard, Dany, D
• Other Authors: Université du Québec à Chicoutimi (UQAC), Université de Sherbrooke (UdeS), Archéologies environnementales, Archéologies et Sciences de l'Antiquité (ArScAn), Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (UP1)-Université Paris 8 Vincennes-Saint-Denis (UP8)-Université Paris Nanterre (UPN)-Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication (MCC)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (UP1)-Université Paris 8 Vincennes-Saint-Denis (UP8)-Université Paris Nanterre (UPN)-Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication (MCC)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), UISPP
• Format: Conference Object
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2023
• Subjects: dating; characterization; archaeometry; pigments; LA-ICP-TOF-MS; elemental analysis; silica crusts; rock art; archaeology; First Nations; [SHS.ARCHEO]Humanities and Social Sciences/Archaeology and Prehistory; [SDU.STU]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences; [SDU.STU.GC]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences/Geochemistry; Canada
• Online Access: https://shs.hal.science/halshs-04380620

International audience Rock art is one of the oldest form of symbolic expression. It can provide a unique and valuable insight into the human spirit and open a window on the world and cosmogony of those who created it. Although widely studied throughout the world, many questions remain: What is the temporality of creation of the ornated sites? Are all the representations contemporary or not? Can we measure the time between realisation of two representations? And in the case of the art of the Canadian Shield, another question arises: How to date the (red) figures covered by (silica) crusts? In this presentation we will present the complementary strategies we are developing to overcome the limitations that prevent us from exploring these questions, by focusing on two rock art sites from the province of Quebec in Canada. First, we will present a new dating strategy using radioactive damage halos, a quantifiable alteration of paintings. Second, we will present how pigment characterization analyses can be a means to identify several paint "recipes", possibly indicative of different phases of creation. Finally, we will present how high-resolution geochemical analysis of thin silica wall crusts could be a means of identifying new chronometers to discuss the temporality of painted figures' creation. Our goal is to discuss and share this three-pronged approach, which is highly prospective, to determine the age of the artwork in order to link it to the history of the native populations.