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Dating of Buffalo Eddy Petroglyphs: September 2005 Report by Ronald I. Dorn Department of Geography Arizona State University Tempe AZ 85287-0104 ronald.dorn@  Introduction Sustainability of rock art rests at the heart of the National Park movement around the globe, first instituted in the United States. Preservation of cultural resources, in particular, remains a global focus no matter whether the setting is urban (Warke et al. 2003), wilderness (Whitley 2000), or systemic research (Striegel et al. 2003). This particular research project rests under the umbrella of understanding rock art in the National Park system for the purpose of preserving priceless cultural knowledge. This report presents the results of an initial and preliminary experimental study on the dating of rock art at Buffalo Eddy, as a part of the Nez Perce National Park. Rock coatings are a vital key in the study of Buffalo Eddy rock art. Rock coatings that form on top of the petroglyphs provide the means by which scientists can understand petroglyph panel stability and also obtain chronometric insight. Thus, this entire report revolves around the relationship of rock coatings to the petroglyph site. A variety of rock coatings found in nature (Dorn 1998) exist at Buffalo Eddy, and Table 1 summarizes the ones observed thus far. The first section of this report reviews background knowledge on rock coatings as a vital ingredient in protecting National Park rock art from erosion. The second section of this report discusses the constraints that the geomorphology places on any petroglyph dating effort. The third section of this report then, given this prior background, presents results of experimental methods used to date the Buffalo Eddy petroglyph samples. Table 1. Rock coatings found at Buffalo Eddy.  General type Description Related terms Carbonate Skin Coating composed primarily of carbonate, mostly calcium carbonate, but sometimes combined with magnesium Cali