It is very difficult to accurately record petroglyphs. The shallow cuts and lines that make up the image - in the quartzite and slate stone favoured by the artists - are often eroded by years of water, ice and weather wearing the edges down and making the images less distinct. Most recordings have been done with either tracing the petroglyphs onto paper or other materials, or by taking photographs. Often some technique was used to prepare the petroglyphs to make the lines more distinct before recording. Tracings have the advantage that they are exactly the same size as the petroglyphs. Photographs of petroglyphs can be misleading if a scale is not included in the photo so that the size can be accurately shown. Casting, the third method, is the most accurate way to record rock carvings.

Tracing: George Creed used a tracing technique. He examined the rock faces, went over those outlines he thought significant with blue aniline pencil, then pressed dampened paper over the tracing. The moisture in the paper transferred the pencil dye to the paper. This technique creates an image on the back of the paper that is a mirror image of the original, thus all of Creed's tracings are reversed when compared to the original carving. All of the images of Creed's tracings presented in this gallery have been reversed to represent the image as it existed in the rock.

Modern tracings are typically done on a transparent material such as mylar. The mylar sheet is placed over the petroglyph and the lines are traced with an ink pen, creating a correct image tracing of the petroglyph. Ruth Holmes Whitehead, Ethnologist at the Nova Scotia Museum, made this tracing of an early petroglyph in Bedford, NS, that was possibly cut with stone tools.

 

Photography: Arthur and Olive Kelsall of Annapolis Royal, NS, photographed many of the petroglyphs in Kejimkujik National Park between 1946 and 1955. They created the first photographic record of Mi'kmaw rock art. The Kelsalls traced the lines in the rock with white ink to enhance the contrast with the darker rock, creating a stark but clear image.

More recently Parks Canada and the Nova Scotia Museum have catalogued and photographed the petroglyphs within Kejimkujik National Park and at McGowan Lake, NS. For these photographs the petroglyphs were first painted in with white ink or watered-down poster paint. Carefully controlled lighting is used to get the best results. The light is aimed directly across the image, bringing up the shadows of the cut lines, rather than aiming a light from above. It enables the recorder to see the petroglyphs more clearly. To avoid interference from sunlight, much of this painting is done at night, then the images are photographed during the day, using natural light.

 

Casting: Casting petroglyphs creates a very accurate copy that records the size and texture of the original. Casting is usually done with latex. The latex moulds can then be electroplated with copper to create a metal cast. Such copper casts are super-accurate and preserve a permanent record of the image. The Parks Canada has made moulds made of many petroglyph sites at Kejimkujik.