Interpreting the Rock Paintings of Abri Faravel: laser and white-light scanning at 2,133m in the southern French Alps

Table of Contents

• Summary
• Table of Contents
• List of Figures
• Visual Summary

• 1. Introduction and Rationale
• 2. The Topographic Context
• 3. Methods and Interpretative Framework: the use of virtual models in the interpretation of rock art
  • 3.1 Interpretative framework
• 4. Defining the Contexts for the Art: Roaming the plateau
  • 4.1 The key chronological phases at the Faravel rock shelter and its environs
    • 4.1.1 The Mesolithic
    • 4.1.2 The Neolithic
    • 4.1.3 Bronze Age
    • 4.1.4 Iron Age/Roman
  • 4.2 Contextual faunal information
• 5. Interpretation of the Paintings
  • 5.1 Digital enhancement of colours: D-stretch and the Artec white-light scan
  • 5.2 Choice, tacit knowledge and tautology – interpreting the paintings at Faravel
    • 5.2.1 The site location and positioning of the paintings
    • 5.2.2 Classifying and 'dating' the paintings: the wider European and Alpine context
      • 5.2.2.1 Rock art sites in the Western and Central Alps
      • 5.2.2.2 Deer images: alpine comparisons
      • 5.2.2.3 Deer and parallel lines: Provençal and Alpine comparisons
      • 5.2.2.4 A striking but distant analogue
    • 5.2.3 Tacit knowledge and chronological contexts
    • 5.2.4 Tacit knowledge in Neolithic and Iron Age contexts
    • 5.2.5 Conclusions: tacit knowledge and contexts of representation
    • 5.2.6 Logistical issues of digital recording in remote landscapes
• Technical Appendix
• Acknowledgements
• Bibliography