AN EXAMPLE OF ROCK ART FORGERY:

Main panel on rear wall

of GvJm16, Photograph

Stanley Ambrose.

I have run across a report of a whole new category of rock art vandalism. Counterfeit rock art produced for Hollywood productions and left behind in the landscape when the filming is over. It is perhaps best described by quoting from the abstract of the paper itself.

Left side of main panel on

rear wall of GvJm16,

Photograph Stanley Ambrose.

Right side of main panel on

rear wall of GvJm16,

Photograph Stanley Ambrose.

"A large rock shelter at Lukenya Hill, Kenya, is well known for its diverse and well-preserved prehistoric paintings. Images recorded in the 1970s include geometric motifs resembling those at sites in the Lake Victoria region, overlain by recent paintings attributed to the Masai. Several new images of animals and humans appeared between 1988 and 1995 that resemble those from central Tanzania, and many preexisting images were obscured. If these new paintings had not been recognized as modern forgeries they could have been used as evidence for a dramatic revision of the prehistory and geographical distribution of the Khoisan-speaking peoples and their belief system. The apparent motivation for painting these new images was to serve as the background for a scene for the Young Indiana Jones television series. In order to prevent future damage to rock art sites and other significant cultural and natural heritage resources, the film and tourism industries should be trained and certified to recognize and avoid damaging such localities." (Ambrose 2007:1)

Faded images of a herd of

antelope, middle right of

GvJm16 main panel.

Photograph Stanley Ambrose.

Faded images of a large and

a small antelope, far right of

GvJm16 main panel,

Photograph Stanley Ambrose.

In other words, if this is not readily clear, the scenery people for this television series, in preparing the site to shoot a particular scene, had painted new and counterfeit rock art over pre-existing real rock art, a shocking example of cultural and scientific disregard.

White dotted giraffe and

streaky anthropomorph, not

present before 1988, GvJm16.

Photograph Stanley Ambrose.

Kongoni (hartebeest) painted in

yellow w/black barred face on

lower far right of main panel at

GvJm16, not present before 1988.

Photograph Stanly Ambrose.

"The damage inflicted of the painted panel at GvJm16 during the production of the Young Indiana Jones television program is not an isolated incident. A paleontological site at Olorgesailie was used for a military battlefield scene for the Young Indiana Jones series in the 1990s. Several other archaeological, paleontological and geological localities have been altered and damaged during film productions. Forged rock paintings remain on the walls of a lave tube cave on Mt. Suswa. An open-air Neolithic site at Lukenya Hill (GvJm48)was bulldozed to provide a level surface for a trailer for a movie set in the 1980s." (Ambrose 2007:5) And the author documented a number of other like outrages.

Yellow feline with white outline on

lower far right of main panel at

GvJm16, not present before 198

Photograph Stanley Ambrose, 1995.

One motivation in some instances was seemingly to provide more rock art to attract tourists. This suggests that our own passion for rock art is partly to blame for its vandalism. The other main motivation seems to have also been financial, in order to attract the fees for film and television productions. But, at a time when our own government has stripped Bear's Ears monument in Southern Utah of some 80% of its land area to open it up to commercial exploitation it is not quite the time for us to point the finger at this behavior.

"Although there are well-established laws for the protection of such cultural and natural heritage resources in Kenya, most transgressions are by individuals who have neither the training to recognize cultural, archaeological, paleontological and geological sites nor an understanding of their significance and responsible stewardship." (Ambrose 2007:131)

So, once again, ignorance and venality have proven more powerful than cultural sensitivity and the appreciation of creativity, and, as always, once it is lost it cannot be wholly regained.

NOTE: Some images in this posting were retrieved from the internet with a search for public domain photographs. If any of these images are not intended to be public domain, I apologize, and will happily provide the picture credits if the owner will contact me with them. For further information on this report you should read the original report listed below.

REFERENCES:

Ambrose, Stanley H.

2007 Raiders of the Lost Art: Implications of Rock Art Forgery at Lukenya Hill, Kenya, for Cultural and Natural Heritage Protection Strategies, in Deacon, J., editor, The Future of Africa's Past: Proceedings of Rock Art Conference, 2004, Nairobi, Trust for African Rock Art, Nairobi, pp. 128-132.