Rock Art Research

Tribology, the science of interacting surfaces in relative motion, is at the basis of interpreting rock art and portable palaeoart by scientific means, and yet it has remained almost entirely ignored in that application. Tribological work conducted with palaeoart, but without involving its discipline, is briefly summarised, and examples are cited to illustrate the value of a scientific approach. In particular, the focus is on the contact mechanics of petroglyphs and the compressive-tensile principles involved. The tribology of rock art has also been invoked in the discrimination of anthropogenic from other rock markings.