The Ẓufār painted Inscriptions in Oman: Epigraphy and New Technologies

Le Quellec, Jean-Loïc; Duquesnoy, Frédérique; Charpentier, Vincent; al-Mashani, Ali (2018)

Article / Letter to editor

We propose here a standardised protocol to record and trace painted inscriptions, in order to minimise personal biases. DStretch®, a plug-in for ImageJ© specifically designed for the enhancement of digital images, allows reproducible and operator-independent results, improving objectivity in documenting rock art sites in remote and harsh environments. We provide two examples of its application to Ẓufār sites in Oman, and compare our results with previously published tracings. The improvement is so good that we envisage to apply the same method to a number of other sites, with a view to a reappraisal of the corpus of painted inscriptions of Ẓufār.

• Painted inscriptions
• Ẓufār
• Oman
• Digital imagery
• Pre-Islamic Arabia

• All authors: Le Quellec, Jean-Loïc; Duquesnoy, Frédérique; Charpentier, Vincent; al-Mashani, Ali
• Date: 2018
• Pages: 53 - 68
• Publisher: Leiden Center for the Study of Ancient Arabia (LeiCenSAA)