Replica revolutions in rock art: from physical replicas to virtual reality libraries via contemporary art

Rock-art replicas generally are judged as more or less faithful substitutes for inaccessible originals. While previous studies have demonstrated the value of replicas for individual archaeological experiments, we reconceive them as persistent interdisciplinary research infrastructure. Drawing on reflections from original sites, we compare physical copies with virtual environments, developing criteria for evaluating replicas. Physical replicas preserve material, spatial and atmospheric relationships but constrain enquiry through fixed routes and authoritative narratives; VR replicas increase freedom, manipulation and perceptual experimentation but sacrifice embodied materiality. Neither currently supports cumulative research: observations disappear when the encounter ends. Central to this contribution is a two-directional account of indexicality: replicas point backwards to the caves and their makers, but also outwards to the scanners, artists, software, institutions and interpretive decisions that produce them. We therefore propose the perma-library as an infrastructure through which replicas can become comparable, revisitable, annotatable and capable of accumulating research over time.