RARAA – Open Access Rock Art Repository intends to create the first national platform for Rock Art, which will give visibility to data, metadata, images and 3D models of rock art, so that they can be made available in open access, essential to encourage its reuse in new studies, also offering the possibility of analysis in the light of new technologies. The benefits of the existence of this national Rock Art data service are great, as it will allow digital rock art data to be safeguarded, accessible, reusable and connected to international repositories. The first RARAA project aims to increase knowledge about Iron Age rock art and the societies that created it in the Côa valley.

The Côa Valley is notably known for its incredible Paleolithic rock art, classified as a World Heritage Site in 1998. Since its discovery, more than 1000 ornate rocks have been identified, with chronologies ranging from prehistoric times to contemporary times. The impressive number of Iron Age engravings in the Côa Valley, unparalleled in the Iberian Peninsula, make it one of the most important archaeosites for this period in the world. However, despite the Iron Age being the second most relevant artistic phase of Côa, and the impressive number of engraved rocks, in 20 years, only 8 were the subject of archaeological records and only 4 have the complete survey published.

Therefore, with this work, we intend to make a real quantitative and qualitative leap compared to the last two decades. To this end, we propose the comprehensive study of four nuclei with rock art and the archaeological intervention of three sites with protohistoric occupation in the Côa valley. When registering, the FAIR data principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable data) and the CIDOC CRM ontology will be taken into account, implementing an innovative methodology.

Through working sessions and dissemination in seminars and digital networks, we will encourage the use of this repository to host more Rock Art data.

Project link: http://raraa.pt/index.html