The Rock Art Network four ‘pillars’ make for strong rock art conservation in practice. This section sets out these four important areas of practice, citing a vision for what each aims to achieve, a summary of the key issues for each, a set of principles to guide practice at a more specific level and an outline of what needs to be done to improve policy and practice.

Nicholas Hall
Director, Stepwise Heritage and Tourism Pty. Ltd., Australia

Nicholas Hall and Lori Wong of The Rock Art Network discuss rock art conservation at Twyfelfontein - The World Heritage site of /Ui- //aes in Namibia

 © Ben Dickins

While there are many published studies that concentrate on rock art management, the vast majority of these concentrate on formal systems of site recording and documentation. Relatively few concentrate on how this documentation is utilized in rock art protection and management programs. The Rock Art document sheds light on this underdeveloped area. In doing so, it also emphasizes the need for recognition of traditional forms of managing rock art sites where these may be in operation.

An overview of the principles that underpin this pillar are as follows:

• Manage to protect all values
• Recognize and respect traditional management methods
• Manage sites in their landscape setting
• Ensure that the necessary range of skills and associated research is part of the management process
• Recognize relationships of people to place
• Document sites according to recognized standards and protocols
• Document management programs in the form of a management plan
• Record management actions as part of a site’s history
• Monitor for changes in site conditions
• Provide public access sites with a heightened level of management attention
• Practice regular maintenance

There is a range of recognized practices that often contribute to rock art management programs.

Management Plans
Management plans, whether for single sites or areas or collectives of sites, are still a fundamental tool; they are the means to implement a management system. They help cultural heritage management needs to be heard and recognized in operational systems. They provide the basis for funding applications and budget bids, and they set strategic future directions.

Field Recording
The methods used to record rock art sites in the field are many and varied and are highly specific to the needs of the site, the skills of the recorder, the time and money available, and the purpose to which it is envisaged records are to be put. Increasingly, digital methods of documenting sites in the field are being used, and this greatly enhances the speed at which data can be collected and collated and can improve the efficiency of standardizing methods. A vast amount of effort has been devoted to the task of recording rock art sites, but the challenge of what happens to recordings and how they are stored, accessed, and used in the future remains a major issue.

Technical Recording
Alongside field recording methods, which place an emphasis on recording locations of sites in the landscape and the key features associated with them, highly detailed recording methods are being used to document sites such as 3D laser scanning. Whereas only a decade ago 3D scanning required expensive equipment and highly skilled operators, today an app on a smartphone can produce a 3D model in minutes on site. Likewise, image enhancement can be done in the field whereas in the past it took a great deal of time and considerable expertise. The increasing sophistication of recording methods provides opportunities for enhanced capacity to manage sites. The risk, however, is that rapidly advancing technology leaves in its wake a trail of experimental documentation and challenges to archival storage and access that make it very difficult to use such recordings for practical management purposes. It is important to concentrate on a range of basic practices for documentation that can form the core of management standards and to use these as a reference to direct and harness the potential of new methods and technologies for the purposes of management.

Database Systems
Increasingly, rock art records are being stored digitally. As large quantities of information are collected in the field, the real challenge is to effectively manage the data, keep it safe, and then make it available to those who need it. Various forms of database systems have been developed to assist in this task. These are not just archival systems; in some cases they are incorporating management functions that enable site information to be used and updated much like an asset management system.

Monitoring
Keeping watch on sites for signs of change has always been seen as a laudable practice, but one that more often than not falls by the wayside or otherwise tends to be done through ad hoc and highly subjective activities. There are relatively few documented examples where monitoring systems have been developed using a range of appropriate methods that have been applied in a sustainable way over an extended period of time. Much more attention needs to be put into structured monitoring methods and processes. Emphasis should still be on simple and reproducible methods and by engaging local communities to play roles as site monitors. Technical analysis of condition factors affecting sites over time can be a complex matter that requires collaboration and peer review to ensure that the right questions are being asked and that the best methods are being employed to address those questions.

Maintenance
Maintenance at sites can take many forms, from traditional practices of maintaining the significance of sites through to regular work on risk reduction, such as reducing vegetation to lower the risk of wildfires to a site.

Training Systems
Management is essentially an activity determined by the capacities of human resources. The skills people use to perform management actions, the social way in which they cooperate to undertake work, and the processes and procedures involved all require intentional training to make the efforts effective. Investing in human capital, not just the physical infrastructure placed on sites, is an essential part of management. Systems need to be put in place to continually train new people and refresh and upskill others.

Information Use
Information that is recorded about rock art sites or that is revealed in the course of managing sites can be culturally and politically sensitive. Protecting the intellectual property rights of knowledge holders, and negotiating and making agreements regarding the use of information, is a fundamental part of management and not an inconvenient by-product.

What should management systems, as they apply to rock art sites, look like? What are the components that might form the basis for a standard of practice? A starting point would be that a management system for rock art should include the following:

• Operationalize the means by which management and conservation is guided by an understanding of the values of the site(s).
• Recognize, incorporate, and use different forms of knowledge and expertise.
• Provide an inclusive process for stakeholders.
• Present a plan or management system that integrates and responds to the physical, cultural, and political aspects of management.
• Provide clear responsibility and authority for the plan and implementation, monitoring, and reporting mechanisms.
• Advocate conservation and management approaches that do as much as necessary, but as little as possible.
• Set out a systematic approach to monitoring of sites implemented as part of a plan or management system.
• Provide for plans and procedures for risk management, including response to disasters and emergency.
• Establish a means for ongoing communication between stakeholders.
• Incorporate evaluation, review, and revision of the plan or monitoring system.

How do we go about developing best-practice frameworks for management systems? Is there value in doing this? If so, how best to achieve this? How would it be championed? How can benchmark standards be set?

How do we demonstrate best practice in management? How can we link and promote demonstration sites that people can look to for inspiration?

Applied areas of research into management methods have not played a prominent part in rock art research. How can we actively promote more research into management practices?

Is a training component needed to help people apply best practice methods and frameworks locally?

Cerveny, Niccole V., Ronald I. Dorn, Casey D. Allen, and David S. Whitley. 2016. Advances in rapid condition assessments of rock art sites: Rock Art Stability Index (RASI). Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 10: 871–77.

Kiumaki (Iringa, Tanzania). 2017. “Kiumaki (Kikundi Cha Utunzaji Mazingira Na Kihesa Kilolo).” https://envaya.org/kiumaki/home

Njanjma Rangers and Stepwise Heritage and Tourism. 2017. “Kunwardde Bim Karridurrkmirri = Working for Rock Art.” Retrieved from http://www.njanjmabim.net/