ASArt-DATA project has four main specific objectives:
i. To create a digital open access atlas of the Saharan rock art, with a core focus on the central massifs of the Tadrart Acacus and Messak (SW Libya). The webGIS-based archive will have a flexible and modular structure - a key tool to address the main issues of Saharan prehistoric art, such as research, cultural heritage resource management, dissemination, and communication.
ii. To suggest a new theoretical framework aimed at facilitating the interpretation of rock art produced by Saharan Pastoral Neolithic communities. The study will move from a specific and micro-/meso regional scale of analysis (outlining variability and local sets of patterns), to a successive search for search for patterns at the macro-regional scale. This research process has the ultimate goal of outlining a new (bottom-up) pattern of contacts and ideological interactions within the Sahara during the Pastoral Neolithic period, starting with its formative phases.
iii. To integrate rock art studies with archaeological and anthropological research and thus contribute to an inclusive approach to the study of pastoral societies through the ancient Saharan case study.
iv. To raise awareness on the preservation, promotion, and transmission of rock art heritage as a meaningful transcultural agent.