Raman Spectroscopy Analysis of Pigments from the Boyary I Rock Art Site, Khakassia

Raman Spectroscopy Analysis of Pigments from the Boyary I Rock Art Site, Khakassia

doi:10.17746/1563-0110.2025.53.2.054-062

R.V. Davydov, Y.S. Gubar, and L.V. Zotkina
Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, Pr. Akademika Lavrentieva 17, Novosibirsk, 630090, Russia

This article describes previously unknown paintings at the Boyary I rock art site, Republic of Khakassia. They are especially important because they were situated in the part of the panel where a missing ledge could have been located. The petroglyphs could indicate the time of its disappearance. Based on stylistic features, it is possible that they date to the Karasuk period (late 2nd to early 1st millennium BC). The article presents the results of Raman spectroscopy analysis of pigments detected in the paintings. The method involved their context assessment with regard to the rock surface and the white paint of recent inscriptions, the composition of ancient pigments, and searching for organic binder residue. The study covered panel 7 and the adjacent panels 8 and 9. The results are based on 103 spectra of various compositions. All three surfaces mainly consist of sandstone, the predominant constituents being albite, quartzite, and anatase, with occasional natural ferruginization. Modern white paint of two types—chalk (panel 7) and styrene acrylic (panel 9)—were detected. The red pigment used for the paintings in the right part of panel 7 consists of hematite. Calcium oxalate (whewellite) was found only where residues of pigments were located, suggesting that it resulted from the decomposition of the organic binder of the ancient paint.

Keywords: Rock art, paintings, pigments, binders, Raman spectroscopy, Minusinsk Basin