Not Quite Written in Stone: Rock Art Monitoring at Writing-on-Stone Provincial Park, Alberta

April 16, 2014. University of Calgary Room ES 162. 7:30pm

Mike Turney, Golder Associates, Calgary, Alberta. 

Although rock art is literally ‘written in stone’, it is unfortunately not as un-changing or stable as this expression of permanence might suggest. The rock substrate upon which rock art is created can be affected by natural deterioration, surface weathering of the rock art itself, and by subsequent inscriptions and acts of vandalism. As part of a project to nominate Writing-on-Stone (WOS) Provincial Park for UNESCO World Heritage Site status, the rock art panels at the Park have been systematically monitored for the last four years. Possibly the only program of its kind in Canada, the presentation details the implementation and progress of the monitoring program thus far and presents some of our initial findings.