RAHL

RAHL

What is the aim of this initiative?

This bilateral initiative, Rock Art Heritage and Landscape as key vector to the European cohesion, aims to initiate a network of exchange of experiences and good practices between two sites on the UNESCO World Heritage list that preserve open-air prehistoric rock art mostly produced by hunter-gatherer societies:

• Vale do Côa (Portugal) e
• Alta Museum (Norway).

One of the aims of this project is the construction of a common scientific survey of the rock art of each of the sites, as well as its context, in order to contribute to a better understanding of the visual productions of hunter-gatherer communities.

On the other hand, the fact that both sites are located in cultural landscapes deeply marked by their respective traditional ways of life and quite vulnerable to the current environmental and cultural changes translates into similar problems and challenges regarding their heritage management. The project will seek to address these challenges, namely in the search for solutions that take into account the natural and cultural processes that condition the preservation and destruction of rock art panels.

The project activities, to be carried out in Portugal and Norway, include the technical collaboration of experts and the organisation of two workshops at the Alta Museum and the Côa Museum to:

• promote knowledge exchange,
• implement cultural heritage management tools that can underpin strategic decisions to be taken at each site and
• design programmes for the conservation and protection of cultural heritage and its natural context, involving different public (regional and governmental) and private partners.

Finally, the dissemination of the results of this bilateral initiative, carried out in the Côa valley and in the Alta rock art sites, will be done through publication in a scientific journal and participation in an international congress on rock art.