Resumen de The Relevance of forensic science in Pleistocene investigations
Yann-Pierre Montelle, Robert G. Bednarik
Most rock art studies over the past two centuries were primarily concerned with interpretations of meaning rather than with testable propositions. The discipline possibly most closely related to a scientific study of rock art is forensic science. Based on the principle postulating that with contact between two proximal entities there will be an exchange, and based on the proposition that some physical evidence of these exchanges does survive taphonomic decay, forensic science should provide a critical contribution to current and future investigations of rock art sites. The application of forensic techniques in palaeoart investigations is concerned with establishing what events and processes occurred at a rock art site or in the production of portable palaeoart, in what sequence, and what can be credibly inferred from such often-minute evidence. Specific examples are related from the authors� experience, showing how closely rock art science resembles the methodology of forensic science.
