Petroglyphs?

[Green Frost]

Im pretty sure ive found some Petroglyphs I was just wondering how I clean them?? Or how can I get the image to be visible and clear..?

[Cannonman17]

If they are don't touch them! It's quite easy to do serious and irreversable damage to them. Take some pictures of what you found and post them here. This is one of the few cases where I would recomend contacting the local college or state archaeologist. Try different lighting and different angles for taking pictures. But whatever you do don't touch the rock surface itself.

[TreasureTales]

Just to be sure about what you've found...these symbols are carved into the surface of a rock, right? They aren't painted, right? Painted would be PICTOGRAPHS and carved or pecked into the surface are PETROGLYPHS. Ok, so if we're talking about petroglyphs it would be OK to get them wet with WATER from a water bottle or spray bottle. That is regular old drinking water...nothing corrosive. The wet surface might make them easier to see and then photograph.

Many, many years ago some photographers would use common blackboard chalk in the grooved rock surface so that the symbols could be seen and photographed. That is not recommended, but could be done with little damage to the glyphs themselves. The chalk will disappear through natural weathering in short order. Don't do this if there is moss or lichens growing on the surface of the rock material.

I'd like to see photos of these petrglyphs.

[Cannonman17]

I will have to politely disagree, no chalk please. Plain old water would be okay and might make a big difference in how the pictures turn out..

[TreasureTales]

I will have to politely disagree, no chalk please. Plain old water would be okay and might make a big difference in how the pictures turn out..

Hey, no problem here with a disagreement on this matter. Just saying that early photographers did it and the practice didn't seem to damage the glyphs.
I'm all for preserving petrographs and pictographs, but I don't consider them so fragile that putting chalk marks on them would hurt. Course, depends on the force used when applying the chalk. LOL Happy New Year Cannonman17.

I hope he posts pix. Love seeing that old symbolism.

[rockartist]

Please, no chalk, no water. Chalking the images makes them look like cartoon drawings and water spreads out distorting the design. Different times of the day the images will look stronger or weaker depending how the light hits them. They will probably photograph best with the light at an oblique angle, coming from the side or top to create a shadow effect. So try photographing them at different times of the day or try using a reflector to get the light the way you want it. Some petroglyphs never photograph well, those can be best enjoyed when you are at the site by sitting in front of them sipping on a ...
www. petroglyphs.us

[Green Frost]

Im pretty sure I have both picto and petro...also along with some weird looking creature skulls, looking like dinosaurs..I will post the pics soon...Thanks

[deepsix47]

If they are don't touch them! It's quite easy to do serious and irreversable damage to them. Take some pictures of what you found and post them here. This is one of the few cases where I would recomend contacting the local college or state archaeologist. Try different lighting and different angles for taking pictures. But whatever you do don't touch the rock surface itself.

I agree with Cannonman 100% on this one. Petroglyph's are kinda my thing (I hunt for and reproduce them by hand pecking them in stone). I'm sure I speak for all when I say we'd love to see some pictures.
Deepsix

[deepsix47]

Im pretty sure I have both picto and petro...also along with some weird looking creature skulls, looking like dinosaurs..I will post the pics soon...Thanks

Hmmmmmm, that is interesting. My suggestion would be not to disturb anything and take lots of pictures. You may have stumbled onto a ceremonial site of some type.
Deepsix