Abstract

The rock art site of Nukzha is located in northern Amur Region at the mouth of the Onyoni River. It was studied in the mid 1970s by A.P. Okladnikov and A.I. Mazin. As in the other rock art sites of the region, the Nukzha paintings were made by red mineral pigment. For a long time this location was inaccessible after construction of the Baikal-Amur railway. However, in the early 2000s, the studies of the Nukzha rock art site resumed. The project of additional branch of the railway required further research at the Nukzha site. During the field works of 2021, a new indexing was proposed, and detailed re-documenting of the site was carried out using up-to-date techniques of photo-documenting and processing of photographic materials. As a result, it was possible to make a comparison with the previously published evidence concerning the preservation state of the site, and identify some damage and loss of panel fragments. In addition, the previously published tracings were corrected and unknown images were found and recorded. Due to advanced approaches to documentation, including photography, 3D visualization, and color filtering of digital images, the authors of this article have managed to take a new look at this well-studied rock art site. Many paintings which looked like amorphous stains of red pigment appeared as recognizable images when viewed directly by the DStrech plug-in after colorfiltering. The experience of the Nukzha rock art site study once again shows the necessity of re-documentation of rock art sites.

Keywords

rock art, rock paintings, redocumenting, DStrech, Nukzha rock art site, North of Amur Region

Zotkina L.V.

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1912-3882

Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography SB RAS

Zaika A.L.

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9993-238X

V.P. Astafiev Krasnoyarsk State Pedagogical University

Zabiyako A.P.

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6128-4401

Amur State University Blagovesсhensk, Russia

Matveev V.Y.

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7774-1796

LLC Scientifi c Production Association “Archaeological Projecting and Prospecting”

Levacheva E.M.

“Krasnoyarsk Geoarchaeology” LLC

Volkov D.P.

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6064-4981

Centre for the Preservation of the Historical and Cultural Heritage of the Amur Region Blagovesсhensk, Russia

References

Mazin A.I. Taezhnye pisanicy Priamur’ya. Novosibirsk: Nauka, 1986, 259 p. (In Russ.).

Mazin A.I. Drevnie svyatilishcha Priamur’ya. Novosibirsk: Nauka, 1994, 241 p. (In Russ.).

Okladnikov A.P., Mazin A.I. Pisanicy reki Olekmy i Verhnego Priamur’ya. Novosibirsk: Nauka, Siberian branch, 1976, 187 p. (In Russ.).

Shcherbinskiy E.V. Otchet o provedenii arheologicheskoj razvedki na territorii Tyndinskogo rajona Amurskoj oblasti v 2009 godu. Archive of Department of Culture of Amur region Administration “Center for Preservation of Historical and Cultural Heritage of Amur Region”, 2009. (In Russ.).

Список литературы

Мазин А.И. Таежные писаницы Приамурья. - Новосибирск: Наука, 1986. - 259 с.

Мазин А.И. Древние святилища Приамурья. - Новосибирск: Наука, 1994. - 241 с.

Окладников А.П., Мазин А.И. Писаницы реки Олекмы и Верхнего Приамурья. - Новосибирск: Наука, Сибирское отделение, 1976. - 187 с.

Щербинский Е.В. Отчет о проведении археологической разведки на территории Тындинского района Амурской области в 2009 году / Архив Управления культуры Администрации Амурской области «Центр по сохранению историко-культурного наследия Амурской области», 2009.