Conférencière : Prof. Jason Neelis (Wilfried Laurier University, Waterloo, Canada)
The Upper Indus River and its tributary valleys in the high mountain desert environment of northern Pakistan served as passageways for merchants, monks and other agents of cross-cultural exchange. Concentrations of tens of thousands of rock drawings (petroglyphs) and approximately 5000 graffiti inscriptions in Indian, Iranian and other languages documented by the Heidelberger Akademie’s Forschungsstelle für Felsbilder und Inschriften am KKH and extensively published in volumes of Antiquities of Northern Pakistan (ANP) and Materialien zur Archäologie der Nordgebiete Pakistans (MANP) provide evidence for important nodes in the capillary network of this transit zone. This presentation focuses on the results of initial fieldwork in April 2018 at Shatial Bridge using various digital imaging techniques of photogrammetry, 3D laser scanning, and aerial drone photography and video. Pilot studies at Shatial Bridge can serve as the bases for evaluating the effectiveness of applying these techniques to other Upper Indus sites of petroglyphs and inscriptions.