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Visualizing Rock Art Sites in Northwest Arkansas

 

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Visualizing Rock Art
 

Image of Rock Art in Arkansas

Rock art is a valuable archeological resource because it provides intriquing images of how people lived and how they viewed the world around them. In this project, researchers from CAST worked closely with Dr. George Sabo of the Arkansas Archaelogical Survey to create a series of 3D visualizations that document and explore several rock art sites in Northwest Arkansas. The team used a combination of techniques incorporating high density survey (HDS) with traditional visualization approaches to create accurate, photo-realistic models of the rock structures and their surrounding environments. The Optech laser scanner was used to accurately and digitally record the rock faces where the art was located.  The images below show the apperance of the painted petroglyphs from the Narrows (one of the sites that was digitally recreated) in the intensity returns in the Optech data as comparted to a digital photo of the petroglyphs. 

 

Image of painted petroglyphs in Optech intensity returns
Painted petroglyphs in Optech intensity returns		 Photo of painted petroglyphs
Photo of painted petroglyphs

To read more about this project, please visit the project page for Visualizing Rock Art in Northwest Arkansas.  Visualizations are most complete for the Narrows rock shelter which can be seen in its rendered 3D environment below.
 

 

The Narrows rendered 3D environment