| The preservation and protection of cultural resources forms a significant portion of the National Park Service's mission. Rock art sites, however, are often overlooked or treated as less important than other archaeological sites. While other types of archaeological sites may be excavated or protected in place underground, rock art sites are exposed to natural and human caused destructive impacts. Complete and accurate documentation of rock art is necessary to protect the information provided by the images for current and future research and management purposes.;Current rock art documentation methods employ sketching methods that exhibit significant differences accuracy, time, and cost. Land managers often express a concern about the amount of time required to document rock art sites. I suggest standardizing rock art recording and associated sketching methods within Petrified Forest National Park to assist in the collection of consistent data in a format useful for management and basic research which is both time and cost effective.;This thesis examines the results of a test of four current low-cost rock art sketching methods at three different sites, on ten different panels, and presents a standardized rock art recording form specific to the needs of the park. The analysis reveals the strengths and weaknesses of each sketching method. While a method based on tracing scaled photos on acetate requires the least amount of field time and produces the most accurate results, the method is not suited to all recording situations and conditions. In addition to the comparative analysis of the four recording methods I also present an adaptable multi-scalar rock art recording approach adaptive to changes in the needs, time-constraints, required materials, and budget of a project.;A case study of the spatial distribution and landscape associations of five game-trap rock art motifs located in and around Petrified Forest National Park demonstrates the research applications of the multi-scalar method presented when coupled with landscape observations and spatial analysis. The case study also examines implications of the level of accuracy associated with each of the four methods tested by comparing sketches created by previous recorders with photographs of individual elements and examines the role of volunteers and avocational archaeologists in supporting rock art documentation in a National Park setting. |
