In the Western Himalayas, there have been less than a dozen excavations. Archaeological research is therefore based mainly on the analysis of surface material. Over the last fifty years, rock art has proved to be a valuable source of information, due to its quantity, diversity and immobility, for understanding the past of the Himalayas, from the Neolithic period to the beginning of the 2nd millennium AD.
After having been discovered by a few missionaries in the late 19th century and then Western explorers in the first half of the 20th century, rock art in the Himalayas has been the subject of research by a dozen or so local and international researchers since the end of the 1970s. The first book devoted to the rock art of Ladakh appeared in 2007 in the form of a catalogue, and a doctoral thesis offering an in-depth analysis was defended in 2010. Over the last ten years, recognition of its scientific importance and heritage value has increased spectacularly.
Although documentation of rock art is still sometimes carried out on an individual basis, several initiatives by teams led by personalities from a variety of backgrounds (such as NGOs specialising in heritage protection, enlightened rock art enthusiasts and academics) have recently emerged at regional, national, and international level.
While this recent interest is to be welcomed, it is regrettable that these various initiatives often result in redundant data, at a time when many rock art sites are facing imminent threats. At best, the data collected is not comparable because each initiative follows its own system, preventing a global study. In the worst cases, the data is of little use because it cannot be processed scientifically. This is what some colleagues, who specialise in rock art in other parts of the world, call “tourist rock art”: unfortunately, in the Himalayas a large amount of published data falls into this category. These are simple lists of rock art sites, documented by photographs with no context, no survey and no notes, although the geographical coordinates of these sites are sometimes published, as in the archaeological inventory of Ladakh, which lists more than 500 rock art sites.
Based on this observation, we have endeavoured to construct a standardised dataset. This long and laborious stage is the necessary condition for providing a coherent framework for the interpretation of all rock art, whatever the study area, with the aim in the Himalayas of better characterising this cultural ensemble and its regional specificities.
In other words, in order to be scientifically exploitable, past and future data must be homogenised using a precise method that complies with international standards for rock art studies, while being adapted to the Himalayan context.
With this in mind, and thanks to the support of several institutions, commitments have been made to produce a database and a handbook that are both independent and complementary, in line with current Open Science and Digital Humanities standards. The aim of these tools is to contribute both to research and to the preservation of heritage, while guaranteeing the accessibility of the material by complying with the FAIR principles, i.e. Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable. The project is based on the services made available to French researchers in the Humanities and Social Sciences by the Research Infrastructure Huma-Num.
Copyright: Martin Vernier 2018
Recorded oral presentation of the rock art project (2022, in English)
In order to ensure a systemic study of rock art in line with current standards, i.e. to consider it in its natural, archaeological and artistic contexts, we have chosen to study it using a multiscale approach. It covers different levels of analysis, from the macro to the micro unit: location, medium and art.
Image credits: Danielyan / Vernier / Bruneau 2023 A reference collection, made up of data collected in Ladakh over two decades by Martin Vernier andLaurianne Bruneau — either separately or together — and then from 2013 onwards as part of the MAFIL, was used as a proof of concept to validate the protocol set up for the project.
The dataset is made up, in ascending order, of spatial data (0.5% of the dataset), visual data (5% of the dataset) and descriptive data (94.5% of the dataset). The 3 types of data are linked by a unique identifier consisting of a code generated from the multiscale analysis. The implementation of the code system allows better organisation and identification of the data in digital format and guarantees its reuse, in accordance with FAIR principles.
Image credits: Danielyan / Vernier / Bruneau 2023 have been geolocated in Ladakh, including 41 surveyed and 89 systematically documented
(MAFIL report 9, p.10-11).
Image credits: Abram Pointet 2021 These include aerial views (238 images), maps (170 images), sketches (97 images), in situ surveys (563 images), but above all almost
most of which were systematically post-processed (numbering of surfaces, motifs and scenes).
Image credits: Danielyan / Vernier / Bruneau 2023 The systematic analysis of 89 rock art sites has led to the identification of several thousand rocks and engraved surfaces, almost 17,000 motifs and 1,500 scenes. All of them are described in a standardised way, using a multiscalar approach. From a practical point of view, the descriptive data is entered into the cells of various spreadsheets corresponding to the multiscalar approach, i.e. almost
The spreadsheets guarantee a format that is open and easy to use for everyone.
Image credits: Danielyan / Vernier / Bruneau 2023 
Image credits: Danielyan / Vernier / Bruneau 2023 In order to describe such a large quantity of data in a standardised way, we have developed a thesaurus specific to Himalayan rock art, the particularity of which is that it is illustrated. The development of thesauri, also known as repositories or controlled vocabularies, is a practice that is developing a great deal in the field of the Humanities and Social and Sciences. It is only by working on terminology that the reliability and reproducibility of studies can be guaranteed.
We have drawn on the standardisation efforts already made in the field of rock art studies in general and Himalayan rock art in particular. Published on Opentheso, an open-source multilingual thesaurus management software, the thesaurus reflects the main concepts of the multiscalar approach, i.e. location, comprising the site and the area, the medium, comprising the rock and the engraved surface, and finally the art, comprising the motifs and scenes. The thesaurus consists of 358 hierarchical terms or concepts, defined and illustrated (nearly 600 drawings in 223 illustrations, accessible here):
– 90 concepts for localisation;
– 38 concepts for support;
– 230 concepts for art.
Take, for example, the yak, the emblem of Himalayan rock art, which belongs to the zoomorphic branch. Associated concepts, of which there are 20 in this case, provide a detailed description. A precise definition is also provided, along with an illustration showing the diversity of representations of the yak in Himalayan rock art.
Image credits: Opentheso: Bruneau / Vernier / Danielyan 2023 The entire dataset is published on Nakala, a Huma-Num service that provides secure storage of research data and assigns permanent identifiers (DOIs) that can be cited in publications. This national, public repository provides long-term access, conservation and archiving of research data. Visual data is already accessible and freely reusable under an open licence (CC-BY).
To make the data intelligible in the long term, it has been necessary to provide the most detailed metadata possible. The data deposited in Nakala makes it possible to consult the rock art sites in their entirety, while respecting the multiscale approach. All the data is accessible via different collections (188 collections in total) grouping together coherent datasets: these are collections by region, by site or by type of image.
For example, the data collected between 2013 and 2015 during the MAFIL’s field campaigns can be accessed via a collection dedicated to the Nubra. The documentation gathered in 2013 at Chomolung during surveys is available via a site-specific collection, as is the Kushuwar site , which was systematically documented that same year. Finally, there are the collections of in situ tracings in situ andmaps.
Information pratique pour une visualisation correcte des collections dans Nakala: en haut à droite Trier par: Date de dépôt croissante et choisir l’affichage en mode vignette.
The next stage of the project is the online publication the Himalayan Rock Art Database, (HiRADa). Currently in a test version, the database will be accessible to the public at the end of 2024 via a dedicated website. This will not only enable the data currently published on Nakala and Opentheso to be easily consulted, but also, and above all, enable advanced searches to be carried out, the results of which can be viewed via a cartographic interface. This will make it possible, for example, to map the research already carried out by Ani Danielyan on more than 1,500 rock scenes (MAFIL report 9, p.7-10) and that of Nils Martin on 400 rock inscriptions in Tibetan (MAFIL report 10, p.14).
Putting the database online will be a way of sharing our results. However, we would also like to share the method implemented as part of the project via the publication of a manual.
Designed as a practical tool for collecting reliable (i.e. scientifically usable) data, the manual provides a method for collecting spatial, visual and descriptive information in line with the multiscalar approach (MAFIL report 9, p.12-13). The proposed methodology, before, during and after the fieldwork, is designed to be simple so that anyone can contribute to the documentation of rock art as they wish, from the simple reporting of a site to its systematic documentation. The manual includes three field sheets, each corresponding to a multi-scalar analysis, which can be filled in using the illustrated thesaurus. The data collected in this way can be easily integrated into the database for those who wish to do so. In order to make the manual easily accessible and to optimise its distribution, it will be made freely available, in black and white, in standard A4 format, which can be printed and reproduced at low cost.
Image credits: Opentheso: Bruneau / Vernier / Danielyan 2023 Our desire to pass on our knowledge stems from a reflection on the issue of cultural appropriation in the field of areal studies. In the case of rock art, the question arises as to the appropriation by Western researchers of a heritage that is not their own, and the knowledge they derive from it. By publishing both the dataset and the method used to analyse it in open access, we hope to provide a partial response to this sensitive and complex issue. Access to the data should not be dependent on internet access. For this reason, we will provide a copy of the data on a hard disk to selected Indian national institutions as well as to any Himalayan and/or academic organisation that requests it.
We wish the project would become collaborative. Several people, including academics, NGOs experts and enlightened rock art enthusiasts in India and Pakistan, have approached us since 2021. They have been able to test a preliminary version of the manual in the field, either as part of training sessions or completely independently, and have made a considerable contribution to improving it. The data collected in the Yasin valley in northern Pakistan, in Lahaul and in the Spiti valley in India is integrated into the database (MAFIL 10, p.17-35). To ensure lasting collaborations, we need to facilitate the data acquisition and processing process. To this end, we are exchanging information with several colleagues who are carrying out collaborative rock art projects elsewhere in the world, notably in Australia, and who are using a specific application in the field.
Image credits: Opentheso: Bruneau / Vernier / Danielyan 2023 The manual and online publication of the data are also a way of contributing to the preservation of Himalayan rock art. In the Himalayas, rock art is not subject to looting, but to deterioration and destruction. Rock engravings are often broken, blown up or buried. The intensification of the road network in the Himalayas, which is a politically sensitive frontier zone, the ongoing construction of the Basha dam in northern Pakistan on the upper Indus river and the abandonment of unbaked clay as a building material in favour of stone are daily threats. Several sites that we have documented over the last twenty years, and which form part of the HiRADa dataset, have suffered major destruction (Zamthang, Domkhar), or disappeared in part (Alchi Zampa Thang, Yaru Zampa, Yaru Zampa) or in their entirety ( (Leh: zones 1, 2, 3 and 4 have been destroyed since they were documented).
In view of the urgency of the situation, we have decided to make public the location of the rock art sites in the hope of encouraging the protection of those that have already been documented and the systematic documentation of those that have not. Our choice was also motivated by the fact that an inventory of Ladakhi heritage has recently been made public online and that the coordinates of all the sites, including rock art sites, have been published. We hope that by putting these two projects online, the authorities will become more aware of the need to protect rock heritage.
Image credits: Opentheso: Bruneau / Vernier / Danielyan 2023 To raise awareness of the heritage value of Himalayan rock art outside the scientific community, the project relies on the expertise of Ahtushi Deshpande, an Indian journalist and photographer, based in Delhi, India, who has been documenting the rock art of Ladakh since 2011. She has covered the length and breadth of Ladakh for over ten years – a personally funded project which involved over 18 visits to the region. Her photo documentation using special photography techniques including night photography and light painting have gone on to show this ancient art in a new light. As a journalist, Ahtushi’s extensive research also highlights her keen acumen in understanding the subject and her capacity to bring it to a general audience. This is being presented in her book Speaking Stones – The Rock Art of Ladakh which was published in India in Spring 2024.
In October 2023, Ahtushi displayed two of her photographs at the Humathèque in Paris, as part of a collective exhibition on the challenges of carrying out field research in Asia. She also contributed several photographs towards an article dedicated to the archaeology of Ladakh, by Laurianne Bruneau and Samara Broglia de Moura, for the magazine Archéologia which was published in November 2023. In Autumn 2024, Ahtushi will hold a photographic exhibition at the media library Edmond Rostand of the City of Paris. The exhibition will travel to a few other countries and will also be displayed at different locations in India.
