Trent and Peak Archaeology, University of Nottingham

Gua Tambun Dancing Figure

Link to Rock Art Picture Gallery

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Illustrating the Past - The Rock Art
of East Asia

Link to the Current World Archaeology article No.29 June/July 2008 PDF

Link to CWA

Welcome to the World Rock-Art, Landscapes and Creativity Fieldschool Webpage

World Rock-Art, Landscapes and Creativity is an intensive Trent & Peak Archaeology and University of Nottingham fieldschool offered in conjunction with Univesiti Sains Malaysia (USM) focusing on world rock art. The highly successful 2008 course will be followed in 2009, by a fieldschool based in USM Penang and in the Lenggong Valley in Upper Perak.
Several hundred thousand rock-art sites lie scattered across Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, the Americas and Pacific islands. Together these sites contain millions of images of individual or group identity, most of which were made from about 30,000 years ago. As paintings, drawings, engravings, prints, stencils and beeswax designs, rock-art has captured Western and Asian imagination since at least the late 1700s but it was only in the early 1900s that Science accepted rock-art as something legitimate to study. However, rock-art remained marginal to archaeology until the early 1980s, with it only recently emerging as an area of serious and concerted research. Today new discoveries and ideas of their origin are trumpeted in academic journals and on the front pages of newspapers and magazines on a regular basis and rigorous methods have been developed to study rock-art. In this course students are introduced to world rock-art and many of its major art bodies.
The aim of the fieldschool is to introduce students to world rock-art and the landscapes in which they are placed. Of particular interest will be the way we interact with our shared palaeoart heritage; to illustrate its connection and relevance to contemporary art and culture; to introduce the protocols and ethics of studying art produced by other cultures; and to develop a range of research and presentation skills. An overriding aim to emphasise the key role creativity plays in everyone’s lives, including those of the students themselves.
In 2009, there will be a strong field based element with visits to a number of rock-art sites in the Lenggong Valley, as well as the spectacular site of Gua Tambun in the south of the state of Perak.
Within the Lenggong Valley there are a number of fascinating Palaeolithic sites, which are amongst some of the oldest in South East Asia, dating as far back as 200,000 years. At one location students can see thick volcanic ash, known as Toba Ash covering parts of valley, dating to around 74,000 years ago. The Lenggong Valley and the surrounding countryside are still covered in dense jungle, making this an exciting and enticing location for a fieldschool.
The dates and costs will be announced very soon and it is anticipated that there will be considerable interest. Early enquires should be direct to Barry Lewis.

Link to Rock Art Picture Gallery

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