domingo, 12 de agosto de 2007

IFRAO - International Federation

The International Federation of Rock Art Organisations (IFRAO)

IFRAO was formed in Darwin, Australia, on 3 September 1988, during the first major international academic conference dedicated entirely to the study of pre-Historic rock art. Nine rock art organisations decided to form an international federation of independent national or regional bodies. At the founding meeting it was decided that IFRAO should be a common forum and initiator of policies, projecting or representing the common interests of member organisations without interfering in their autonomy. It would operate as a democratic advisory body in which each member organisation would hold one vote, exercised by an official representative. International meetings would be held by nominating suitable rock art conferences as official IFRAO congresses at regular intervals.

Over the subsequent twelve years, the number of affiliate members quadrupled to almost forty, and the current members of IFRAO cover most of the world. The combined memberships of these organisations include about 7000 rock art specialists, i.e. practically all such specialists in the world.

Until the late 1980s, individual rock art researchers as well as rock art organisations around the world operated largely without being aware of the work conducted in other parts of the world — sometimes even in their own country or region of activity. As a result the discipline experienced a great diversity of research approaches and terminology, reflected in a multitude of idiosyncratic constructs, sequences, chronologies, names and definitions. Therefore one of IFRAO’s initial principal concerns was the standardisation of those aspects of the discipline that are essential for effective communication and collaboration: methodology, terminology, ethics, and the technical standards used in analysis and recording. These subjects were addressed through extensive consultation of specialists and, where appropriate, the deliberations of appointed sub-committees.

For instance, to establish a uniform code of ethics (see below) for all rock art researchers in the world, IFRAO appointed a sub-committee at its 1998 meeting in Cochabamba, Bolivia, which produced a draft ratified two years later in Alice Springs, Australia. Consultation has also been the basis of determining a uniform terminology, now enshrined in a multi-language dictionary. Methodology has experienced a more subtle process of standardisation, in which unrigorous practices have gradually been weeded out, through debate, editorial practices and good example.

The IFRAO members produce about twenty specialist periodicals, whose flagship is Rock Art Research, the official organ of the federation. Wide-ranging cooperation in publishing exists among members, and in 2001 the IFRAO-Brepols imprint was created in Belgium.

IFRAO has been particularly effective in the area of rock art protection and preservation, achieving sometimes spectacular successes, such as the electoral defeat of recalcitrant governments in 1995 and 2002. The federation has become the principal international body pursuing the conservation of pre-Historic rock art effectively. Another of its greatest achievements to date has been its successful campaign of empowering traditional indigenous societies to secure the return of rock art sites into their care and possession.

Robert G. Bednarik, President of IFRAO 2000-2004

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The IFRAO Code of Ethics
(approved 14 July 2000)

1. Preamble
1(1). This Code of Ethics describes general guidelines which IFRAO recommends to its members.
1(2). Rock art provides a window to our collective past, helps us make sense of the present and contributes to our future. Some of it has been handed down to us by many generations preceding us, to safeguard it for many generations to follow us. Unless we can trace our lineage directly to those who created the rock art and have retained aspects of its original cultural context, it does not belong to us in any way.
1(3). The cultural significance of a rock art site is embodied in the entire fabric of the site, in addition to the actual art present; in the traditional use of the place and the activities that occurred there; and in the meanings and intangible qualities of the place.
1(4). Understanding the cultural significance of a place is fundamental to its care, and where such understanding is inadequate, any interference may be regarded as inappropriate.
1(5). The ‘patina of history’ apparent in the fabric of a rock art site is important evidence and forms an integral part of that fabric. It includes natural or artificial changes or traces.

2. Definitions
Fabric all physical aspects of a rock art site, including accretionary deposits, the art itself, traces of later human responses, modifications, even traces of vandalism in cases, lichen, and so forth.
Geomorphic exposure any rock surface.
Graffiti collective term describing recent anthropic graphic markings or inscriptions that are incompatible with the known or presumed uses of the rock art on the same panels.
IFRAO the International Federation of Rock Art Organisations.
Indigenous cultural custodians descendants of people who created rock art, who are obligated by their cultural traditions or beliefs to act as the custodians or curators of rock art.
Management administrative control over the management of rock art sites, including preservation, access control, public presentation.
Massive intervention significant changes to the environmental conditions under which the rock art survives. This includes housing in a building, or removal of the supporting bedrock to another location.
Members the members of IFRAO.
Peer approval the approval of an action or proposed action by relevant specialists who have no pecuniary involvement in the project in question.
Rock art the surviving graphic markings of cultural activities found on rock surfaces.
Triumvirate of IFRAO the ruling council of IFRAO, consisting of the immediate past president, president and incoming president [assuming that my proposal to form such a council is approved in Portugal].
Traditional owners see Indigenous cultural custodians.

3. Issues of Ownership
3(1). Traditional owners and indigenous cultural custodians: In areas where indigenous peoples live whose lifestyles and beliefs continue traditions associated with rock art, members recognise their ownership of the sites, and all research, conservation or management of such sites are subject to the full approval of the traditional owners. In areas where such indigenous peoples and traditions are no longer present, members shall endeavour to understand and promote management practices consistent with such beliefs in so far as they are known from ethnographic or archaeological evidence. In the absence of such evidence to the contrary, provisional concepts of such beliefs (e.g. non-human sources of authority, nature of the sacred, non-linear time/space) should be projected from similar societies and traditions elsewhere.
3(2). Local antiquities and cultural heritage laws: Members shall abide by all local, state or national laws protecting archaeological sites and monuments, and comply with heritage protection laws generally.
3(3). Non-traditional ownership of sites: Members shall respect the rules, laws or requests of any individuals or organisations possessing legal ownership of the land rock art sites are located on, or the land that must be traversed in order to reach the sites.
3(4). Copyright and ownership of records: In regions where traditional indigenous owners exist, they possess copyright of the rock art designs. Members wishing to reproduce such designs shall make appropriate applications. Records made of rock art remain the cultural property of the rock artists, or collectively of the societies these lived amongst.

4. Recording of Rock Art
4(1). Methods of recording: Members shall not physically interfere with rock art except as provided in Clauses 5(2) and 6. No substances shall be applied to rock art for recording purposes, except substances that are regularly applied to individual panels by natural processes (e.g. water at open air sites).
4(2). Coverage of recording: All recordings of rock art are incomplete. Therefore rock art recordings need to be as comprehensive as possible, and by multi-disciplinary means.
4(3). Conduct at sites: New uses of sites, including for purposes of research, shall not change the fabric of a site, and shall respect associations and meanings of the site and its contents.
4(4). Conduct in foreign countries: In addition to other requirements listed herein, researchers working in foreign countries shall do so in consultation with the region’s rock art organisation, and shall provide copies of reports and publications to that organisation.

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