IFRAO - International Federation of Rock Art Organizations
www.cesmap.it/ifrao/ifrao.html
In 1988 IFRAO was founded in Australia during the first major international academic conference dedicated entirely to the study of prehistoric rock art. In the beginning nine rock art organisations formed this international federation in order to act as a joint forum and political signal. It should work in an advisory consultative capacity and meet at official conferences in regular intervals.
Actually, IFRAO has 43 member organizations involving approx. 7.000 specialists in rock art.
The constitution and the efforts of IFRAO helped to overcome the problem of a great variety of research approaches and of terminology which was the result of a lack of communication between specialists. One of the main concerns of IFRAO was to standardize all aspects of the area which is essential for an effective communication and teamwork: methodology, terminology, ethics and the technical norms used for analyzing and recording.
IFRAO members publish approx. 20 specialized periodicals, the flagship being Rock Art Research, the official voice of the federation. IFRAO has become particularly efficient with regard to the protection and preservation of rock art.
Member Institutions
- American Committee to Advance the Study of Petroglyphs and Pictographs
- American Rock Art Research Association
- American Centre of Prehistoric Art Study
- Asociación Arqueológica Viguesa
- Asociación Cultural ‘Colectivo Barbaón’
- Asociación de Estudios del Arte Rupestre de Cochabamba
- Associação Brasileira de Arte Rupestre
- Associação Portuguesa de Arte e Arqueologia Rupestre
- Association des Amis de l’Art Rupestre Saharien
- Association Marocaine de l’Art Rupestre
- Association pour le Rayonnement de l’Art Rupestre Européen
- Australian Rock Art Research Association
- Cave Art Research Association
- Centro de Investigación de Arte Rupestre del Uruguay
- Centro Studi e Museo d’Arte Preistorica
- Comité de Investigación del Arte Rupestre de la Sociedad Argentina de Antropologia
- Deutsche Gesellschaft für Petroikonologie e. V.
- East African Rock Art Research Association
- Eastern States Rock Art Research Association
- Gesellschaft für Vergleichende Felsbildforschung
- Grupo de Investigación de Arte Rupestre Indigena
- Hellenic Rock Art Centre
- Institutum Canarium
- Japan Petrograph Society
- Mid-America Geographic Foundation, Inc. (MAGF)
- Moscow Centre of Rock Art and Bioindication Research
- Nevada Rock Art Foundation
- Northern Cape Rock Art Trust
- Pictish Arts Society
- Prehistory Society of Zimbabwe
- Rock Art Association of Manitoba
- Rock Art Research Association of China (RARAC)
- Rock Art Society of India (RASI)
- Siberian Association of Prehistoric Art Researches
- Sociedad de Investigación del Arte Rupestre de Bolivia
- Società Cooperativa Archeologica Le Orme dell’Uomo
- Societé Préhistorique Ariège-Pyrénées
- Southern African Rock Art Research Association
- Tadjik Centre for the study of Petroglyphs
- The Trust for African Rock Art (TARA)
- Upper Midwest Rock Art Research Association
- Verein Anisa
The Museum of American Man Foundation
www.fumdham.org.br
In 1986 the foundation ‘Museum of American Man’ (FUMDHAM) was created in São Raimundo Nonato, Piauí state. It is a non-profit, scientific, philanthropic and civil organization of public utility on federal and regional level and registered with the National Council for Social Assistance.
This institution was realized by scientists of a bi-national research cooperation( France – Brazil). A team, initially composed of archaeologists, works in the region since 1970. From 1978 on research turned interdisciplinary and the project Piauí, defined as ‘ the interaction of Man-Environment, from prehistory to the present times in the Southeast of Piauí ‘ was launched.
During the last thirty years this scientific team has studied the region and compiled important data about the area. Today the objective of FUMDHAM is to transmit the results of research to society, on the cultural and ecological level as well as with regard to the socioeconomic development of environmental protection of the area surrounding the Serra da Capivara National Park.
Among the objectives of FUMDHAM, by its articles of association, are the following:
1. ‘ to defend the natural and cultural heritage of the area of the National Park
Serra da Capivara’.
2. ‘to realize interdisciplinary research, to exhibit the collections obtained at the
Museum of American Man, which was constructed by FUMDHAM , to
practise scientific diffusion and to constitute a center of cultural activities.’
3. ‘to train people for a technical level and to help to improve basic education’ in
in the area of environmental protection of the National Park.
4. ‘to make agreements with public or private, national or international
associations in order to obtain financial resources for specific objectives and
which concern the successful operation of FUMDHAM and the National Park.’
5. ‘to cooperate with the government of the state and other interested authorities in
order to develop the economy of the region by attracting a different and special
kind of tourism.’
FUMDHAM acts by formally being attached to government institutions on federal, state and municipal levels. On the federal level the foundation signed a partnership with IBAMA, in order to carry out the Management Plan for the Serra da Capivara National Park, assuming all techno-scientific responsibility and other activities such as securing national and international funds, furthermore applying the policy of protection and vigilance. A technical cooperation agreement with IPHAN was also signed in favour of together developing actions for the preservation of the historical heritage.
The foundation counts with the help of a team of scientists and technicians capable of realizing projects of research and development. They are specialists with connections to universities which have agreements of techno-scientific cooperation with the foundation. When necessary, the foundation contracts the services of specialized consultants.
Actually, this includes specialists in the areas of :
archaeology, visual anthropology, ethnography, geomorphology, geology, geography, botany, palynology, paleontology, archeometry, zoology, paleo-parasitology, paleo-pathology, bio-anthropology, ecology, veterinary, agronomy, agricultural administration, ethnology, ethno-history, sociology, economy and public health.
Based on the principles described before and due to the uniqueness of the National Park with its human neighbourhood, the purposes of FUMDHAM are supported by practical activities of the community:
1) education of children and adults
2) hygiene and public health
3) socioeconomic development of the communities surrounding the National Park,
intensifying efforts to form new associations and / or consolidating those already
existing.
4) to further a development ecologically self-sufficient through programs of economic
character in favour of poor families in the Park area and by promoting new
techniques and / or crops adequate for the ‘drought polygon’ increasing the
production areas and creating new job forms.
FUMDHAM announces agreements with different institutions, aiming at the development and diversification of research programs, protection of the environment and the archaeological heritage and the application of the results in programs for the progress of the region.
Today the following institutions are cooperating :
- Fundação Oswaldo Cruz , Rio de Janeiro
- Universidade Estadual de Campinas
- Universidade do Estado de São Paulo, UNESP
- Universidade Federal de Pernambuco
- Universidade Federal do Vale do São Francisco
- Universidade de São Paulo
- Universidade Federal Rural de Pernambuco
- Universidade Federal do Piauí
- Université Claude Bernard (Lyon, France)
- Université Lumière (Lyon, France)
- Ècole des Hautes Ètudes en Sciences Sociales (France)
- Centre de Géomorphologie e Laboratoire des Faibles Radioactivités
du Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (France)
- Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (Italy)
- Texas A & M University (USA)
- University of Newcastle (England)
Research is being financed, among others, by the National Council for Technological and Scientific Development (CNPq) and by the French Foreign Ministry through the technical cooperation of the Consulate in Recife. There are also contributions by IPHAN, FINEP and FNMA. In 1978 there were also funds from the Ford Foundation of Brazil.
For projects of social and economic development FUMDHAM counted with money from the Technical Cooperation of Italy, FNMA, the Interamerican Bank of Development (BID), BNDES and from the Ministry of Education and Culture.
During the last years means for maintainance, security and management of the Park were principally supplied by PETROBRAS, partly also by EMBRATEL, Telemar, BNDES, Volkswagen, BRADESCO, CHESF, Vale do Rio Doce and Correios, one project by the Ministry of Culture. The Banco do Brasil and Caixa Economica Federal financed construction works and installations in the Serra da Capivara National Park.
Brazilian Association of Rock Art (ABAR)
www.ab-arterupestre.org.br
The establishment of the Brazilian Association of Rock Art-ABAR was an initiative of Dr. Mila Abreu, of the University Tras-os-Montes and Alto Douro, Portugal, during the International Congress of Rock Art-IFRAO, in 1997, Vila Real, Portugal, when she was president. Noticing that the biggest group of researchers came from Brazil, she suggested the creation of our own association and consequently ABAR was founded.
ABAR was registered as scientific non-profit organization at the Registry Office of São Raimundo Nonato, PI.
After the first meeting in Brazil, in 2000, at the Museum of American Man, in São
Raimundo Nonato, PI, it was determined that all other meetings would be held here, at the Serra da Capivara National Park, because here the world’s major concentration of sites with prehistoric rock registers has been found. The Park is also listed as UNESCO World Heritage.
The international ABAR meeting of 2004 dealt mainly with problems like the preservation of rock art sites in areas declared world heritage, the strategies of conservation and new technologies with regard to taking stock and registration.
The results of ABAR meetings have been published in the journal FUMDHAMENTOS,
edited by the Foundation Museum of American Man.
Universidade Federal do Vale do São Francisco (UNIVASF) www.univasf.edu.br
Universidade Federal de Pernambuco (UFPe) www.arqueologia.ufpe.br
Universidade Federal do Piauí (UFPi) www.ufpi.br
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