Types of Chiselings in Rock Art of Besov Nos Cape, Onega Lake

The article presents the findings of the first experimental trace evidence research of the central group of petroglyphs found at the Besov Nos cape in the Onega Lake. The subject of this research is chiselings of the central group of petroglyphs detected at the Besov Nos cape. The group includes 171 images. It is the first time such a method is used to research the rock art of the selected area. To create the reference base the study implied all necessary types of experiments and used both the most locally typical materials and some unconventional ones. The research used 11 types of crude materials to create chiseling tools. The course of materials implied modelling of three ways for creating petroglyphs, such as direct picketage, indirect picketage and polishing. The study is focused on all informative chiselings in their variations. Eventually it is concluded that there are actual traces of at least two techniques for applying images to the rock surface. In the first case the study outlines images that could only be made with metal tools without using stone tools. Most of the images found at the Besov Nos cape at the Onega Lake are assigned to this category. In the second case the study outlines images that could only be made with stone tools without using metal ones. This type covers a lower percentage of the images; these images mainly represent swans.

Archaeology · Cape · Geography · Rock art · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Artificial Intelligence · Computer Science · Geology · Image Processing and 3D Reconstruction · Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology