Heritage and Science: Working Together in the CARE of Rock Art

露天岩石艺术面板是英国史前遗产的标志性组成部分。在6000到3800年前的新石器时代和早期青铜时代，英国各地仍然有3500多块岩石艺术面板。然而，这种艺术是不可再生的，而且越来越多的证据表明，与环境变化有关的面板劣化率正在增加。因此，管理干预是迫切需要的，但指导方法和决策的基础科学仍然相当有限，特别是在识别风险最大的面板和制定整体战略以维持岩石艺术的生存到未来方面。在此背景下，我们在过去三年中对诺森伯兰郡岩石艺术退化的环境和矿物学基础进行了各种科学调查，以确定与面板退化最相关的因素。这项非常成功的工作表明，面板条件与当地土壤盐度和每个面板的高度密切相关，并且还表明面板的退化是一个非线性过程。因此，我们对退化的科学基础有了越来越多的了解。然而，这项早期工作采用了一种非常适合研究的条件评估方法，但没有考虑小组属性的独特性来确定小组护理的优先级，也不是非专业人员在没有帮助的情况下完全可用；我们认为这两个特征对于广泛实施都是必不可少的。该项目将通过共同制作一个用户友好的状态评估、风险评估（CARE）工具包和指南来纠正这些最初的缺点。提议的工作完全符合AHRC创新的“关爱未来”主题，因为它为我们提供了一个扩展我们成功的科学研究的机会，但随后使用艺术和人文的方法将我们的“科学”转化为更可行的人类工具来保护岩石艺术。首先，我们将采用与遗产管理者、最终用户（例如土地管理者/所有者和志愿者）共同参与/共同生产的方法来定义所需的CARE成果。然后，在诺森伯兰郡、爱尔兰共和国和苏格兰的岩石艺术新地点获得新的环境数据，以进一步校准和验证CARE工具。与此同时，诺森伯兰郡的焦点小组和试点将用于共同产生非专业人员可接受的结果。最终，我们将生成一个基于科学的、用户友好的工具包，其中包括一个用于现场使用的“如何使用指南”，这将帮助最终用户在没有专家专业知识的情况下做出关于面板护理的决定。从本质上讲，我们将创建一个非专业人士使用的“早期预警”系统，这将有助于遗产管理者保护岩石艺术。该项目采用跨学科奖学金（即环境科学、管理和资源专门知识），并与当地社区和最终用户合作生产。这项工作努力使我们的建议背后的核心科学易于理解，并通过一系列传播途径向公众提供，并为文化/遗产部门以及自然科学和物理科学反映的日益增长的开放科学精神做出贡献。我们的项目具体建立在两个由AHRC/ epsrc资助的遗产和科学集群主题上，“古代石碑的衰败”和“景观、考古和建筑遗产的转型和复原力：定义对社会和环境压力的反应”。这两个小组都评估了环境恢复力对石碑保护的作用，我们现在将其结合起来，努力进一步发展CARE成果。该项目涉及纽卡斯尔大学、女王大学、贝尔法斯特和西苏格兰大学的学者，项目合作伙伴来自英国遗产、诺森伯兰郡议会和诺森伯兰郡国家公园。所有活动将由指导委员会指导。

Open-air rock art panels are an iconic component of the UK's prehistoric heritage. Over 3500 rock art panels still exist across the UK from the Neolithic and Early Bronze Age periods, between 6000 and 3800 years ago. However, this art is non-renewable and there is growing evidence that the rate of panel deterioration is increasing in association with environmental change. As such, management interventions are urgently needed, but the underpinning science essential to guide approaches and decisions is still quite limited, especially for identifying panels at greatest risk and developing holistic strategies to sustain rock art survival into the future.With this background, we performed various scientific investigations over the past three years on the environmental and mineralogical basis of rock art deterioration in Northumberland to identify factors most associated with panel deterioration. This highly successful work showed that panel condition was strongly correlated to local soil salinity and the height of each panel, and also showed that panel deterioration was a non-linear process over time. Therefore, we have a growing understanding of the scientific basis of deterioration. However, this early work employed a condition assessment method that was excellent for research, but did not consider the uniqueness of panel attributes for prioritising panel care nor was it fully usable by non-specialists without assistance; both traits we feel are essential for widespread implementation. This project will rectify these initial shortcomings by co-producing a user-friendly condition assessment, risk evaluation (CARE) toolkit and how-to-guide. The proposed work fits perfectly into the AHRC's innovative "Care for the Future" theme as it provides us with an opportunity to expand our successful scientific research, but then uses an arts and humanities approach to translate our "science" into a more workable human tool for protecting rock art. We first will use a participatory/co-production approach with heritage managers, end-users (e.g., land managers/owners and volunteers) to define required CARE outcomes. New environmental data then will be obtained for rock art new locations in Northumberland, the Republic of Ireland and Scotland to further calibrate and validate the CARE tool. In parallel, focus groups and pilots in Northumberland will be used to co-produce outcomes amenable to non-specialists. Ultimately, we will generate a scientifically-grounded, user-friendly toolkit, which includes a "how-to-guide" for field use that will assist end-users in making decisions on panel care without specialist expertise. In essence, we will create an "early warning" system for use by non-specialists, which will aid heritage managers in their safeguarding of rock art. The project employs cross-disciplinary scholarship (i.e., environmental science, management, and resource expertise) and co-production with local communities and end-users. The work endeavours to make the core science behind our recommendations easily understood and publicly available via a range of dissemination routes, and to contribute to the growing ethos of Open Science reflected in the cultural/heritage sector and the natural and physical sciences. Our project specifically builds on two AHRC/EPSRC-funded Heritage and Science Cluster themes, "Decay of ancient stone monuments" and "Transformation and resilience of our landscapes, archaeology and built heritage: defining responses to societal and environmental pressures". Both Clusters assessed the role of environmental resilience on stone monument protection, which we now combine in our efforts to further develop the CARE outcomes. The project involves academics from Newcastle University, Queen's University, Belfast, and University of West Scotland with Project Partners from English Heritage, Northumberland County Council, and Northumberland National Park. All activities will be guided by a Steering Committee.