Special Topic: Rock Art Heritage - ARC00100H

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Module summary

This module brings together the study of Rock Art and its management as a heritage resource. How is Rock Art valued, conserved, interpreted and presented to the public? What narratives are derived from the Art? How do we balance the need to conserve the rock art sites with the need for cultural rights of communities? Although recent initiatives seek to address diversity in rock art management, they stumble across the difficulty to grasp multi-faceted, contextual, conflicting and constantly changing values and the absence of a strong holistic and integrated methodological framework. It is particularly pertinent in the context of Indigenous heritage and the conflicts surrounding it, in which Indigenous voices and understandings continue to be neglected, marginalised, or even erased.

Related modules

A directed option - students must pick a Special Topic module and have a choice of which to take

Module will run

Occurrence	Teaching period
A	Semester 1 2025-26

Module aims

Special Topics focus upon the archaeology of a well defined time, space or theme and the modules seek to allow students, in small groups, to focus upon primary source material and to apply to it the theoretical and thematic perspectives learned over your first and second years. The aim is to facilitate the acquisition of deeper knowledge of one aspect of the past than has been possible in more general courses.

Specifically this module aims:

• To examine the scholarly approaches to and range of evidence for Rock Art sites
• To evaluate and critique the challenges surrounding Rock Art interpretation, conservation, presentation and community engagement or participation.
• To develop research, analytical and communication skills.

Module learning outcomes

In completing this module, students should be able to:

• demonstrate a broad and comparative knowledge of Rock art interpretation, conservation and presentation.
• critically discuss and assess the key theories, methods and debates, and their limitations
• critically evaluate primary data and evidence
• communicate an in-depth, logical and structured argument, supported by archaeological evidence

Module content

This module will explore rock art heritage from multiple perspectives. You will explore rock art interpretation, conservation and presentation and you will consider indigenous relationships to rock art, as well as the colonial and decolonial perspectives on rock art heritage. This module will draw on a wide range of Rock Art case study sites and literature to engage deeply with the social significance of rock art heritage around the world.

You will focus on the archaeology of Rock Art, offering students the opportunity to engage with different examples of rock art and apply theoretical and thematic perspectives. Students will explore the scholarly approaches to Rock Art sites, critically evaluate the challenges of interpreting, conserving, presenting, and involving communities in Rock Art research. The module aims to deepen students' knowledge of Rock Art as a specialised area within archaeology and heritage.

Indicative assessment

Task	% of module mark
Oral presentation/seminar/exam	100.0

Special assessment rules

None

Indicative reassessment

Task	% of module mark
Oral presentation/seminar/exam	100.0

Module feedback

Formative: oral feedback from module leaders in class

Summative: written feedback within the University's turnaround policy

Indicative reading

Brady, L.M., 2016. Contemporary indigenous relationships to archaeological features: Agency, affect, and the social significance of rock art. Heritage & Society, 9(1), pp.3-24.

Mayer L, Porr M. Replicated Temporality. Time, Originality, and Rock Art Replicas. In Deep-Time Images in the Age of Globalization: Rock Art in the 21st Century 2024 May 14 (pp. 289-300). Cham: Springer International Publishing.

Ouzman, S., 2003. Indigenous images of a colonial exotic: imaginings from Bushman southern Africa. Before Farming, 2003(1), pp.1-22.