Alan Watchman
Biographic Data
| ID | 3642573 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Alan Watchman |
| GIVEN NAMES | Alan |
| FAMILY NAME | Watchman |
| SIGNATURE | WATCHMAN A |
| AFFILIATIONS | James Cook University |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 24 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 188 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 24 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1981 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2015 |
| H-INDEX | 9 |
A multidisciplinary investigation of a rock coating at Ngaut Ngaut (Devon Downs), South Australia
This paper presents the results of a multidisciplinary investigation into a dark rock coating at the Ngaut Ngaut heritage complex in South Australia (SA) using geological and botanical examination, Raman microscopy, x–ray powder diffraction, scanning electron microscopy and infrared analyses. The coating analysed contains a mixture of calcite, quartz, gypsum and weddellite. The presence of calcite and quartz can be explained by the underlying cla…
Terminological Debate in the Upper Hunter Valley
Archaeologists have variously used the terms ‘indurated mudstone’ and ‘tuff’ as a description for the fine-textured, very hard, yellowish, orange, reddish-brown or grey rocks from the upper Hunter Valley from which many of the stone artefacts there were made. The desire of archaeologists working in the region to offer a precise and accurate geological description of this material has fuelled debate about whether ‘tuff’ or ‘mudstone’ is the most a…
The Distribution of Greenstone Axes in Southeastern Australia
Direct dating indicates a Mid‐Holocene Age for archaic rock engravings in arid Central Australia
Archaic rock engravings are found widely across the arid interior of Australia and are thought to represent an early pan‐continental tradition. A late Pleistocene age is assumed because of extensive weathering, but attempts to test this by direct dating have been unsuccessful. We use AMS 14 C dating of calcium oxalate skins covering archaic engravings at two rock shelter sites in Central Australia (Wanga East and Puritjarra), constrained by 14 C …
Uranium-series dating rock art in East Timor
AMS dating of rock art in the Laura Region, Cape York Peninsula, Australia - protocols and results of recent research
The authors describe rock art dating research in Australia using the oxalate method. While the array of dates obtained (which range from c. 1200 to c. 25 000 BP) show a satisfactory correlation with other archaeological data, there are mismatches which suggest that some motifs were often imitated by later artists, and/or that the mineral accretions continued to form periodically, perhaps continuously, as a regional phenomenon over a long period o…
Dating oxalate minerals 20–45 ka
An Independent Confirmation of the 4 ka Antiquity of a Beeswax Figure in Western Arnhem Land, Northern Australia
Critical to any chronology is reliability in the determination of age for a distinctive artefact that is related to other components in a series. Therefore, the independent testing and verification of the antiquity of an apparent anomalous measurement for an old beeswax figure in northern Australia is of fundamental interest in rock art studies. Replication of the radiocarbon dating process has confirmed that one exceptional figure in early X‐ray…
Giant murals of Baja California
Fil: Watchman, Alan. Universidad Nacional Australiana. Escuela de Investigación de Estudios del Pacífico y Asia. Departamento de Arqueología e Historia Natural; Australia
Archaeometry
Spatial and compositional variations within finely laminated mineral crusts at Carpenter's Gap, an archaeological site in tropical Australia
Mineralogical and geochemical variations in ten rock surface crusts are described from a large rock shelter known as Carpenter's Gap 1 in the southern Kimberley, formed at the junction between a sandstone floor and an overlying limestone roof. The finely laminated crusts, containing quartz, clays, oxalate and phosphate minerals, and sulfate salts (bassanite, gypsum, epsomite), formed over quartz‐rich sandstones. Mineralogical analyses of crusts, …
Dating Egypt's oldest ‘art
Direct dating, using the Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) 14 C method, indicates that some petroglyphs (rock art) at El-Hosh in Upper Egypt pre-date the early 7th millennium BP (mid 6th millennium cal BC), making it the oldest graphic activity recorded in the Nile Valley
Why digital enhancement of rock paintings works
With the advent of relatively inexpensive image-handling computer programmes, digital image enhancement is more readily available to archaeologists. This paper describes the principles behind image enhancement and its application to rock-art in particular. Its use at a site in Torres Strait shows how it can be used successfully to reveal faded rock paintings
Micro-archaeology of Engraved and Painted Rock Surface Crusts at Yiwarlarlay (the Lightning Brothers site), Northern Territory, Australia
Minimum ages for pecked rock markings from Jinmium, north western Australia
Sixteen accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) radiocarbon (14C) determinations for oxalate crusts overlying three pecked rock markings (cupules) at three separate localities in the Keep River area of north western Australia provide age estimates from 1430–11,000 years since the markings were last retouched. These are the first direct dates reported for rock‐art of this kind. While these determinations do not lend strong support to previous argument…
Some observations on the radiocarbon and cosmogenic isotope dating of petroglyphs, Foz Côa, Portugal
Further remarks on the age of the Foz Côa rock-engravings, Portugal, in the light of studies by absolute-science methods in the March 1997 ANTIQUITY
Accelerator radiocarbon dating of Natal Drakensberg paintings
As Rosenfeld & Smith report in this number of ANTIQUITY, the reconciliation of conventional chronologies for rock-art with the emergent radiocarbon-based dates is not proving an easy affair. Here are the first steps for the classic area of San hunter-gatherer art, on the South Africa/Lesotho border
Time and Space
Conservation of the Rendezvous Creek and Nursery Swamp 2 Aboriginal painting sites, Namadgi National Park, ACT
The unique range of Late Holocene Aboriginal paintings in the granodiorite rock shelter at Rendezvous Creek is threatened by dust stirred up by people visiting. Weddellite and whewellite are preferentially developed in specific dripline and rock face zones at Rendezvous Creek in response to distinct environmental factors. Exfoliation and water wash remove pigments at Nursery Swamp 2. Conservation measures are proposed to reduce the accumulation o…
Evidence of a 25,000‐year‐old pictograph in Northern Australia
Carbon‐bearing substances (charcoal and oxalate minerals) contained in rock surface mineral accretions obscuring pictographs (rock paintings) provide an indirect way of radiocarbon dating the rock art. This article describes the chronological sequence of mineralogical laminations in rock crusts at an Aboriginal site in northern Australia and establishes conformable relationships between distinct compositional bands and past evidence of rock paint…
Initial Results Of Pixe Analysis On Northern Australian Ochres
The article summarizes the results of the researches that have been conducted for the PIXE analyses of different north Australian pigments. The procedure, findings and the benefits of the analysis are all reported
Accelerator radiocarbon dating of plant-fibre binders in rock paintings from northeastern Australia
During the late Holocene, Aboriginal rock painters in north Queensland selected and combined various natural inorganic and organic materials in paint recipes - possibly to increase the longevity of their paintings. The organic materials make direct radiocarbon dating possible
Perspectives and potentials for absolute dating prehistoric rock paintings
Absolute dating of prehistoric rock paintings is an exciting archaeological pursuit. Sophisticated sample collection, handling and pretreatment methods and new analytical equipment and techniques are minimizing contamination and permitting identification of trace amounts of organic substances in prehistoric paints. Radiocarbon dating using Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) is producing dates for minute residues of blood, charcoal and plant fibr…
Consultant Geologist
Direct dating indicates a Mid‐Holocene Age for archaic rock engravings in arid Central Australia
Archaic rock engravings are found widely across the arid interior of Australia and are thought to represent an early pan‐continental tradition. A late Pleistocene age is assumed because of extensive weathering, but attempts to test this by direct dating have been unsuccessful. We use AMS 14 C dating of calcium oxalate skins covering archaic engravings at two rock shelter sites in Central Australia (Wanga East and Puritjarra), constrained by 14 C …
Uranium-series dating rock art in East Timor
Minimum ages for pecked rock markings from Jinmium, north western Australia
Sixteen accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) radiocarbon (14C) determinations for oxalate crusts overlying three pecked rock markings (cupules) at three separate localities in the Keep River area of north western Australia provide age estimates from 1430–11,000 years since the markings were last retouched. These are the first direct dates reported for rock‐art of this kind. While these determinations do not lend strong support to previous argument…
Evidence of a 25,000‐year‐old pictograph in Northern Australia
Carbon‐bearing substances (charcoal and oxalate minerals) contained in rock surface mineral accretions obscuring pictographs (rock paintings) provide an indirect way of radiocarbon dating the rock art. This article describes the chronological sequence of mineralogical laminations in rock crusts at an Aboriginal site in northern Australia and establishes conformable relationships between distinct compositional bands and past evidence of rock paint…
Accelerator radiocarbon dating of Natal Drakensberg paintings
As Rosenfeld & Smith report in this number of ANTIQUITY, the reconciliation of conventional chronologies for rock-art with the emergent radiocarbon-based dates is not proving an easy affair. Here are the first steps for the classic area of San hunter-gatherer art, on the South Africa/Lesotho border
AMS dating of rock art in the Laura Region, Cape York Peninsula, Australia - protocols and results of recent research
The authors describe rock art dating research in Australia using the oxalate method. While the array of dates obtained (which range from c. 1200 to c. 25 000 BP) show a satisfactory correlation with other archaeological data, there are mismatches which suggest that some motifs were often imitated by later artists, and/or that the mineral accretions continued to form periodically, perhaps continuously, as a regional phenomenon over a long period o…
Micro-archaeology of Engraved and Painted Rock Surface Crusts at Yiwarlarlay (the Lightning Brothers site), Northern Territory, Australia
Perspectives and potentials for absolute dating prehistoric rock paintings
Absolute dating of prehistoric rock paintings is an exciting archaeological pursuit. Sophisticated sample collection, handling and pretreatment methods and new analytical equipment and techniques are minimizing contamination and permitting identification of trace amounts of organic substances in prehistoric paints. Radiocarbon dating using Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) is producing dates for minute residues of blood, charcoal and plant fibr…
Dating oxalate minerals 20–45 ka
Accelerator radiocarbon dating of plant-fibre binders in rock paintings from northeastern Australia
During the late Holocene, Aboriginal rock painters in north Queensland selected and combined various natural inorganic and organic materials in paint recipes - possibly to increase the longevity of their paintings. The organic materials make direct radiocarbon dating possible
A multidisciplinary investigation of a rock coating at Ngaut Ngaut (Devon Downs), South Australia
This paper presents the results of a multidisciplinary investigation into a dark rock coating at the Ngaut Ngaut heritage complex in South Australia (SA) using geological and botanical examination, Raman microscopy, x–ray powder diffraction, scanning electron microscopy and infrared analyses. The coating analysed contains a mixture of calcite, quartz, gypsum and weddellite. The presence of calcite and quartz can be explained by the underlying cla…
The Distribution of Greenstone Axes in Southeastern Australia
Initial Results Of Pixe Analysis On Northern Australian Ochres
The article summarizes the results of the researches that have been conducted for the PIXE analyses of different north Australian pigments. The procedure, findings and the benefits of the analysis are all reported
Spatial and compositional variations within finely laminated mineral crusts at Carpenter's Gap, an archaeological site in tropical Australia
Mineralogical and geochemical variations in ten rock surface crusts are described from a large rock shelter known as Carpenter's Gap 1 in the southern Kimberley, formed at the junction between a sandstone floor and an overlying limestone roof. The finely laminated crusts, containing quartz, clays, oxalate and phosphate minerals, and sulfate salts (bassanite, gypsum, epsomite), formed over quartz‐rich sandstones. Mineralogical analyses of crusts, …
Why digital enhancement of rock paintings works
With the advent of relatively inexpensive image-handling computer programmes, digital image enhancement is more readily available to archaeologists. This paper describes the principles behind image enhancement and its application to rock-art in particular. Its use at a site in Torres Strait shows how it can be used successfully to reveal faded rock paintings
An Independent Confirmation of the 4 ka Antiquity of a Beeswax Figure in Western Arnhem Land, Northern Australia
Critical to any chronology is reliability in the determination of age for a distinctive artefact that is related to other components in a series. Therefore, the independent testing and verification of the antiquity of an apparent anomalous measurement for an old beeswax figure in northern Australia is of fundamental interest in rock art studies. Replication of the radiocarbon dating process has confirmed that one exceptional figure in early X‐ray…
Dating Egypt's oldest ‘art
Direct dating, using the Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) 14 C method, indicates that some petroglyphs (rock art) at El-Hosh in Upper Egypt pre-date the early 7th millennium BP (mid 6th millennium cal BC), making it the oldest graphic activity recorded in the Nile Valley
Some observations on the radiocarbon and cosmogenic isotope dating of petroglyphs, Foz Côa, Portugal
Further remarks on the age of the Foz Côa rock-engravings, Portugal, in the light of studies by absolute-science methods in the March 1997 ANTIQUITY
Consultant Geologist
Evidence of a 25,000‐year‐old pictograph in Northern Australia
Carbon‐bearing substances (charcoal and oxalate minerals) contained in rock surface mineral accretions obscuring pictographs (rock paintings) provide an indirect way of radiocarbon dating the rock art. This article describes the chronological sequence of mineralogical laminations in rock crusts at an Aboriginal site in northern Australia and establishes conformable relationships between distinct compositional bands and past evidence of rock paint…
Initial Results Of Pixe Analysis On Northern Australian Ochres
The article summarizes the results of the researches that have been conducted for the PIXE analyses of different north Australian pigments. The procedure, findings and the benefits of the analysis are all reported
Accelerator radiocarbon dating of plant-fibre binders in rock paintings from northeastern Australia
During the late Holocene, Aboriginal rock painters in north Queensland selected and combined various natural inorganic and organic materials in paint recipes - possibly to increase the longevity of their paintings. The organic materials make direct radiocarbon dating possible
Perspectives and potentials for absolute dating prehistoric rock paintings
Absolute dating of prehistoric rock paintings is an exciting archaeological pursuit. Sophisticated sample collection, handling and pretreatment methods and new analytical equipment and techniques are minimizing contamination and permitting identification of trace amounts of organic substances in prehistoric paints. Radiocarbon dating using Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) is producing dates for minute residues of blood, charcoal and plant fibr…
Conservation of the Rendezvous Creek and Nursery Swamp 2 Aboriginal painting sites, Namadgi National Park, ACT
The unique range of Late Holocene Aboriginal paintings in the granodiorite rock shelter at Rendezvous Creek is threatened by dust stirred up by people visiting. Weddellite and whewellite are preferentially developed in specific dripline and rock face zones at Rendezvous Creek in response to distinct environmental factors. Exfoliation and water wash remove pigments at Nursery Swamp 2. Conservation measures are proposed to reduce the accumulation o…
Time and Space
Accelerator radiocarbon dating of Natal Drakensberg paintings
As Rosenfeld & Smith report in this number of ANTIQUITY, the reconciliation of conventional chronologies for rock-art with the emergent radiocarbon-based dates is not proving an easy affair. Here are the first steps for the classic area of San hunter-gatherer art, on the South Africa/Lesotho border
Some observations on the radiocarbon and cosmogenic isotope dating of petroglyphs, Foz Côa, Portugal
Further remarks on the age of the Foz Côa rock-engravings, Portugal, in the light of studies by absolute-science methods in the March 1997 ANTIQUITY
Micro-archaeology of Engraved and Painted Rock Surface Crusts at Yiwarlarlay (the Lightning Brothers site), Northern Territory, Australia
Minimum ages for pecked rock markings from Jinmium, north western Australia
Sixteen accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) radiocarbon (14C) determinations for oxalate crusts overlying three pecked rock markings (cupules) at three separate localities in the Keep River area of north western Australia provide age estimates from 1430–11,000 years since the markings were last retouched. These are the first direct dates reported for rock‐art of this kind. While these determinations do not lend strong support to previous argument…
Archaeometry
Spatial and compositional variations within finely laminated mineral crusts at Carpenter's Gap, an archaeological site in tropical Australia
Mineralogical and geochemical variations in ten rock surface crusts are described from a large rock shelter known as Carpenter's Gap 1 in the southern Kimberley, formed at the junction between a sandstone floor and an overlying limestone roof. The finely laminated crusts, containing quartz, clays, oxalate and phosphate minerals, and sulfate salts (bassanite, gypsum, epsomite), formed over quartz‐rich sandstones. Mineralogical analyses of crusts, …
Dating Egypt's oldest ‘art
Direct dating, using the Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) 14 C method, indicates that some petroglyphs (rock art) at El-Hosh in Upper Egypt pre-date the early 7th millennium BP (mid 6th millennium cal BC), making it the oldest graphic activity recorded in the Nile Valley
Why digital enhancement of rock paintings works
With the advent of relatively inexpensive image-handling computer programmes, digital image enhancement is more readily available to archaeologists. This paper describes the principles behind image enhancement and its application to rock-art in particular. Its use at a site in Torres Strait shows how it can be used successfully to reveal faded rock paintings
An Independent Confirmation of the 4 ka Antiquity of a Beeswax Figure in Western Arnhem Land, Northern Australia
Critical to any chronology is reliability in the determination of age for a distinctive artefact that is related to other components in a series. Therefore, the independent testing and verification of the antiquity of an apparent anomalous measurement for an old beeswax figure in northern Australia is of fundamental interest in rock art studies. Replication of the radiocarbon dating process has confirmed that one exceptional figure in early X‐ray…
Giant murals of Baja California
Fil: Watchman, Alan. Universidad Nacional Australiana. Escuela de Investigación de Estudios del Pacífico y Asia. Departamento de Arqueología e Historia Natural; Australia
Dating oxalate minerals 20–45 ka
AMS dating of rock art in the Laura Region, Cape York Peninsula, Australia - protocols and results of recent research
The authors describe rock art dating research in Australia using the oxalate method. While the array of dates obtained (which range from c. 1200 to c. 25 000 BP) show a satisfactory correlation with other archaeological data, there are mismatches which suggest that some motifs were often imitated by later artists, and/or that the mineral accretions continued to form periodically, perhaps continuously, as a regional phenomenon over a long period o…
Uranium-series dating rock art in East Timor
Direct dating indicates a Mid‐Holocene Age for archaic rock engravings in arid Central Australia
Archaic rock engravings are found widely across the arid interior of Australia and are thought to represent an early pan‐continental tradition. A late Pleistocene age is assumed because of extensive weathering, but attempts to test this by direct dating have been unsuccessful. We use AMS 14 C dating of calcium oxalate skins covering archaic engravings at two rock shelter sites in Central Australia (Wanga East and Puritjarra), constrained by 14 C …
The Distribution of Greenstone Axes in Southeastern Australia
Terminological Debate in the Upper Hunter Valley
Archaeologists have variously used the terms ‘indurated mudstone’ and ‘tuff’ as a description for the fine-textured, very hard, yellowish, orange, reddish-brown or grey rocks from the upper Hunter Valley from which many of the stone artefacts there were made. The desire of archaeologists working in the region to offer a precise and accurate geological description of this material has fuelled debate about whether ‘tuff’ or ‘mudstone’ is the most a…
A multidisciplinary investigation of a rock coating at Ngaut Ngaut (Devon Downs), South Australia
This paper presents the results of a multidisciplinary investigation into a dark rock coating at the Ngaut Ngaut heritage complex in South Australia (SA) using geological and botanical examination, Raman microscopy, x–ray powder diffraction, scanning electron microscopy and infrared analyses. The coating analysed contains a mixture of calcite, quartz, gypsum and weddellite. The presence of calcite and quartz can be explained by the underlying cla…
Archaeology (23 works) · Geography (18 works) · Geology (18 works) · Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology (13 works) · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies (12 works) · Rock art (12 works) · Radiocarbon dating (11 works) · Archaeology and Rock Art Studies (10 works) · Geology and Paleoclimatology Research (10 works) · Paleontology (10 works)