HOW TO REVEAL HIDDEN PIGMENTS?

[Athena]

Hi, does anyone know of techniques which can reveal hidden pigments on rocks? A friend has found stones with prehistoric pictures. He threw what he thought was a plain stone in a fire, and a picture appeared. So he started paying more attention to stones coming out of a pit where construction work is being done. One of them has a picture of Mastodon. He believes these are from pre clovis people, and is in a county in New Jersey. Right now we have a hundred questions. The first question is what is the best way to reveal the pictures. A black light doesn't do anything. Is there something that will increase the visibility of the pictures?

 

Any suggestion for how these artifacts should be handled, or of the possible people who left them?

Edited December 22, 2010 by Athena

[Mr Skeptic]

Take the rocks to a local archeologist. Please note that a huge part of archeology involves knowing exactly where the items were found, so that they will carefully remove about an inch of material a day from a small area.

[michel123456]

Mr Skeptic is right. Don't remove anything and call immediately the archeological authority. If you were in Greece, you could go to jail for removing archeological objects.

 

And findings from unknown accurate location have almost no value.

Edited December 22, 2010 by michel123456

[Athena]

Thank you fellows. I had the same reaction when my friend told me of his find. The problem is, there is already a city built over the site, and the rocks are coming out of people's back yards or the construction site. Only my friend is aware of the potential value, and he told one neighbor who took the rocks in her yard inside when he explained they could have value. He is a historian and knows something about this stuff, but not the science of it. Any way, I sent him the information for reporting the site to his state, and warned him to check the legality of taking rocks. He is having trouble with his camera but will start taking pictures as soon as possible. I also told him to map every rock, because the location of one thing to another is important. But can you imagine the damage that can be done with bulldozers and other heavy machinery. Ouch! This is priavte property not federal land, and that makes stopping the construction more difficult.

[CaptainPanic]

Thank you fellows. I had the same reaction when my friend told me of his find. The problem is, there is already a city built over the site, and the rocks are coming out of people's back yards or the construction site. Only my friend is aware of the potential value, and he told one neighbor who took the rocks in her yard inside when he explained they could have value. He is a historian and knows something about this stuff, but not the science of it. Any way, I sent him the information for reporting the site to his state, and warned him to check the legality of taking rocks. He is having trouble with his camera but will start taking pictures as soon as possible. I also told him to map every rock, because the location of one thing to another is important. But can you imagine the damage that can be done with bulldozers and other heavy machinery. Ouch! This is priavte property not federal land, and that makes stopping the construction more difficult.

Still, it doesn't hurt to contact a local archeologist. I am sure that any archeologist will be happy to keep you guys around.

[imatfaal]

Athena - you or your friend must get in touch with the local authorities quickly as others above have suggested. In the UK this would be through the county archaeologist - but if you are unsure just get in touch with the archaeology department at the nearest university who will be able to point you in the right direction and will probably be very interested. If you wait and it gets concreted over it will be lost for several generations, perhaps forever.

[michel123456]

After a quick search http://www.asnj.org/

[Athena]

After a quick search http://www.asnj.org/

 

 

Thank you Michel, it is all in knowing how to ask to the right question, right? Now I will return to the history forum where I am more comfortable, and pass the information on.

[michel123456]

If the findings are valuable, you may become a hero.

I know you are a goddess but anyway...

[Athena]

If the findings are valuable, you may become a hero.

I know you are

a goddess

but anyway...

 

Thanks, but the friend is just someone I know through a history forum and he is on the other side of the US. The find is all his. I am just trying to get information that he has requested, and thought you all were the best people I know for scince information.

 

I don't fancy myself as a goddess. I just use the name to make a statement about what I believe is important. However, something I like about the Greek gods is they are not perfect.

 

 

 

 

[Moontanman]

 

Thanks, but the friend is just someone I know through a history forum and he is on the other side of the US. The find is all his. I am just trying to get information that he has requested, and thought you all were the best people I know for scince information.

 

I don't fancy myself as a goddess. I just use the name to make a statement about what I believe is important. However, something I like about the Greek gods is they are not perfect.

 

 

 

 

 

 

You'll do as a goddess till a real one shows up girl, that is a great find, your friend just may have saved something important.

[Athena]

You'll do as a goddess till a real one shows up girl, that is a great find, your friend just may have saved something important.

 

Moontan man, this is getting off topic, but you know it is my favorite subject. Athena had power because of her relationship with Zues. Without him, we may have never heard anything about her. Now back on subject.

 

This thread comes up on google search so I want to add some information for people looking for informtion.

These links are useful

 

http://courses.washington.edu/archyaec/archy401/Naumann.pdf

 

http://pagerankstudio.com/Blog/2010/10/archaeometry-determina

 

http://books.google.com/books?id=MjoqRQE_xBYC&pg=PA7&lpg=P

 

A hint for someone looking for simular information, use the word "rock" instead of stone for google searches. Rock art is a well established field of study. Secondly, if you google using the word "stone" you get information about kidney stones instead of rocks.

 

Now my friend assures me he has contacted all the proper authorities and even has turned to the local police hoping they have equipment to better study the painted rocks. He has identyied something like 14 sites in his town, and is driving around town studying the rocks people have in their yards, and is telling them what they have dug out of their yards. Can you believe people had a rock carved into a nesting duck sitting in their front yard and had no clue it was an ancient artifact. They just assumed nature had made an interesting rock.

 

I advised him to turn to the media and take some of the stuff to the schools, and explain it to the children. If he becomes a crusader and recruits the whole town into the crusade, we might have a major break through in knowing our ancient history. My Internet friend is the first to realize the town sits on a site and he is doing what he can to save it. Children have often been the first to make such discoveries. It was a young girl who discovered the rock art in the caves of France. If in the classroom they learn what they find may be valuable to our knowledge of history, and my friend collects this information, he may save this history. He needs to prove the town sits on a valuable site, before the authorities will be sufficiently motivated to take action, and even then their hands will be tied, because it is all private property.