Indigenous Heritage and Rock Art : Worldwide Research in Memory of Daniel Arsenault

Professor Daniel Arsenault, along with his wife, Nadine Desbiens, and stepson, Jacob Desbiens-Doyle, were sadly taken from this world in 2016 following a tragic car accident. Daniel was the leading exponent in Canadian Shield rock art. Working in the northern part of Quebec, Daniel explored many hundreds of square kilometres of this vast area for rock art. Working with ethnographers and First Nation people, Daniel became a formidable force in promoting this little known assemblage, lecturing all over the world and stimulating audiences wherever he went. Complementing his knowledge of rock art, Daniel also had a deep understanding of the heritage of the people whose ancestors made the images. Shortly before his death, Daniel was made an Erasmus Mundus Professor at Polytechnic Institute of Tomar in Portugal. Here, he was due to share his wealth of knowledge and enthusiasm about rock art and cultural heritage to an attentive audience.

Daniel clearly had much more to offer, and this book is an extension of his ways of thinking. He has left an important legacy that has touched the lives of many, including people who contributed to this volume.

The book has 14 thought-provoking chapters and deals with Daniel’s first love - the archaeology of artistic endeavour. It gathers together both academic colleagues and family who share with the reader elements of Daniel’s life. The book is also a serious academic volume, providing the reader with new ideas about the interpretation and dating of rock art, ethnography, heritage and material culture.