Petroglyph

Petroglyph
A petroglyph is an image created by removing part of a rock surface by incising, picking, carving, or abrading, as a form of rock art. Outside North America, scholars often use terms such as "carving", "engraving", or other descriptions of the technique to refer to such images. Petroglyphs, estimated to be 20,000 years old are classified as protected monuments and have been added to the tentative list of UNESCO's World Heritage Sites. Petroglyphs are found worldwide, and are often associated with prehistoric peoples. The word comes from the Greek prefix , from meaning "stone", and meaning "carve", and was originally coined in French as .
In scholarly texts, a petroglyph is a rock engraving, whereas a petrograph (or pictograph) is a rock painting. In common usage, the words are sometimes used interchangeably. Both types of image belong to the wider and more general category of rock art or parietal art. Petroforms, or patterns and shapes made by many large rocks and boulders over the ground, are also quite different. Inuksuit are not petroglyphs, but human-made rock forms found in Arctic regions.
History
Petroglyphs have been found in all parts of the globe except Antarctica, with highest concentrations in parts of Africa, Scandinavia and Siberia, many examples of petroglyphs found globally are dated to approximately the Neolithic and late Upper Paleolithic boundary (roughly 10,000 to 12,000 years ago).
Around 7,000 to 9,000 years ago, following the introduction of a number of precursors of writing systems, the existence and creation of petroglyphs began to suffer and tail off, with different forms of art, such as pictographs and ideograms, taking their place. However, petroglyphs continued to be created and remained somewhat common, with various cultures continuing to use them for differing lengths of time, including cultures who continued to create them until contact with Western culture was made in the 19th and 20th centuries.
Interpretation
Many hypotheses exist as to the purpose of petroglyphs, depending on their location, age, and subject matter. Some petroglyph images most likely held a deep cultural and religious significance for the societies that created them. Many petroglyphs are thought to represent a type of symbolic or ritualistic language or communication style that remains not fully understood. Others, such as geocontourglyphs, more clearly depict or represent a landform or the surrounding terrain, such as rivers and other geographic features.
Some petroglyph maps, depicting trails, as well as containing symbols communicating the time and distances travelled along those trails, exist; other petroglyph maps act as astronomical markers. As well as holding geographic and astronomical importance, other petroglyphs may also have been a by-product of various rituals: sites in India, for example, have seen some petroglyphs identified as musical instruments or "rock gongs".
Some petroglyphs likely formed types of symbolic communication, such as types of proto-writing. Later glyphs from the Nordic Bronze Age in Scandinavia seem to refer to some form of territorial boundary between tribes, in addition to holding possible religious meanings. Petroglyph styles have been recognised as having local or regional "dialects" from similar or neighboring peoples. Siberian inscriptions loosely resemble an early form of runes, although no direct relationship has been established.
Petroglyphs from different continents show similarities. While people would be inspired by their direct surroundings, it is harder to explain the common styles. This could be mere coincidence, an indication that certain groups of people migrated widely from some initial common area, or indication of a common origin. In 1853, George Tate presented a paper to the Berwick Naturalists' Club, at which a John Collingwood Bruce agreed that the carvings had "... a common origin, and indicate a symbolic meaning, representing some popular thought." In his cataloguing of Scottish rock art, Ronald Morris summarized 104 different theories on their interpretation.
Other theories suggest that petroglyphs were carved by spiritual leaders, such as shamans, in an altered state of consciousness, perhaps induced by the use of natural hallucinogens. Many of the geometric patterns (known as form constants) which recur in petroglyphs and cave paintings have been shown by David Lewis-Williams to be hardwired into the human brain. They frequently occur in visual disturbances and hallucinations brought on by drugs, migraine, and other stimuli.
The Rock Art Research Institute (RARI) of the University of the Witwatersrand studies present-day links between religion and rock art among the San people of the Kalahari Desert. Though the San people's artworks are predominantly paintings, the beliefs behind them can perhaps be used as a basis for understanding other types of rock art, including petroglyphs. To quote from the RARI website:
Using knowledge of San beliefs, researchers have shown that the art played a fundamental part in the religious lives of its painters. The art captured things from the San's world behind the rock-face: the other world inhabited by spirit creatures, to which dancers could travel in animal form, and where people of ecstasy could draw power and bring it back for healing, rain-making and capturing the game.
List of petroglyph sites
Africa
Algeria
Tassili n'Ajjer
Cameroon
Bidzar
Central African Republic
Bambari, Lengo and Bangassou in the south; Bwale in the west
Toulou
Djebel Mela
Koumbala
Chad
Niola Doa
Republic of the Congo
The Niari Valley, 250 km south west of Brazzaville
Egypt
Qurta, on the east bank of the Nile River in the upper Nile valley, has Nubian Sandstone formations featuring the first and earliest known examples of petroglyphs in the region of North Africa, dating back to 19–15,000 years BP
Wadi Hammamat in Qift, many carvings and inscriptions dating from before the earliest Egyptian Dynasties to the modern era, including the only painted petroglyph known from the Eastern Desert and drawings of Egyptian reed boats dated to 4000 BCE
Inscription Rock in South Sinai, is a large rock with carvings and writings ranging from Nabatean to Latin, Ancient Greek and Crusader eras located a few miles from the Ain Hudra Oasis. A second rock sites approximately 1 km from the main rock near the Nabatean tombs of Nawamis with carvings of animals including Camels, Gazelles and others. The original archaeologists who investigated these in the 1800s have also left their names carved on this rock.
Giraffe petroglyphs found in the region of Gebel el-Silsila. The rock faces have been used for extensive quarrying of materials for temple building especially during the period specified as the New Kingdom. The Giraffe depictions are located near a stela of the king Amenhotep IV. The images are not dated, but they are probably dated from the Predynastic periods.
Ethiopia
Tiya
Gabon
Ogooue River Valley
Epona
Elarmekora
Kongo Boumba
Lindili
Kaya Kaya
Libya
Akakus
Jebel Uweinat
Morocco
The Draa River valley
Namibia
Twyfelfontein
Niger
Life-size giraffe carvings on Dabous Rock, Aïr Mountains
South Africa
Driekops Eiland near Kimberley
ǀXam and ǂKhomani heartland in the Karoo, Northern Cape
Wildebeest Kuil Rock Art Centre near Kimberley, Northern Cape
Keiskie near Calvinia, Northern Cape
Tunisia
Ouesslat Mountain, Ain Kanfous and Zamla
Tameghza
The Tataouine Region, in particular Ghomrassen and Smar
Zambia
Nyambwezi Falls in the north-west province.
Asia
Armenia
Ughtasar
Urtsadzor
Aragats
See also Armenian Eternity sign
Azerbaijan
Gobustan State Reserve
Gemigaya
Kalbajar
Northern Absheron
China
Helan Mountains in Yinchuan
Hua'an Engravings
Kangjia shimenzi in Xinjiang
Lianyungan Rock Engravings
Petroglyphs in Zhuhai
Yin Mountains in Inner Mongolia
Chifeng Petroglyphs in Inner Mongolia
Georgia
Trialeti petroglyphs
Hong Kong
Eight sites in Hong Kong:
Tung Lung Island
Kau Sai Chau
Po Toi Island
Cheung Chau
Shek Pik on Lantau Island
Wong Chuk Hang and Big Wave Bay on Hong Kong Island
Lung Ha Wan in Sai Kung
India
Bhimbetka rock shelters, Raisen District, Madhya Pradesh, India.
Kupgal petroglyphs on Dolerite Dyke, near Bellary, Karnataka, India.
Kudopi, Sindhudurg District, Maharashtra, India.
Hiwale, Sindhudurg District, Maharashtra, India.
Barsu, Ratnagiri District, Maharashtra, India.
Devihasol, Ratnagiri District, Maharashtra, India
Edakkal Caves, Wayanad District, Kerala, India.
Kollur, Triukoilur 35 km from Villupuram in Tamil Nadu. A large dolmen with four petroglyphs that portray men with trident and a wheel with spokes has been found. The discovery was made by K.T. Gandhirajan. This is the second instance when a dolmen with petrographs has been found in Tamil Nadu, India. In October 2018, petroglyphs were discovered in the Ratnagiri and Rajapur areas in the Konkan region of western Maharashtra. Those rock carvings which might date back to 10,000 BC, depict animals like hippopotamuses and rhinoceroses which are not found in that region of India. Some carving depicts, what appears to be Pisces constellation.* Perumukkal, Tindivanam District, Tamil Nadu, India.
Kollur, Villupuram, Tamil Nadu.
Unakoti near Kailashahar in North Tripura District, Tripura, India.
Usgalimal rock engravings, Kushavati river banks, in Goa
Ladakhi rock art in Ladakh, NW Indian Himalaya.
Ratnagiri Maharashtra Petroglyphs, An eight ftlong petroglyph in Devache Gothane village in Rajapur district, Maharashtra..
Kethaiyurumpu, Tamil Nadu. Situated 28 km north west of Dindigal, Tamil Nadu nearby Idaiyakottai and six km south west of Oddanchartam has revealed several petroglyphs mostly represent abstract symbols on two rocks, which looks like a temporary rock shelter were noticed adjacent to a Murugan temple which is in ruins on top of the Kothaiyurumbu hill.
Iran
During recent years a large number of rock carvings has been identified in different parts of Iran. The vast majority depict the ibex. Rock drawings were found in December 2016 near Golpayegan, Iran, which may be the oldest drawings discovered, with one cluster possibly 40,000 years old. Accurate estimations were unavailable due to US sanctions.
Petroglyphs are the most ancient works of art left by humankind that provide an opening to the past eras of life and help us to discover different aspects of prehistoric lives. Tools to create petroglyphs can be classified by the age and the historical era; they could be flint, thighbone of hunted quarries, or metallic tools. The oldest pictographs in Iran are seen in Yafteh cave in Lorestan that date back 40,000 and the oldest petroglyph discovered belongs to Timareh dating back to 40,800 years ago.
Iran provides demonstrations of script formation from pictogram, ideogram, linear (2300 BC) or proto Elamite, geometric old Elamite script, Pahlevi script, Arabic script (906 years ago), Kufi script, and Farsi script back to at least 250 years ago. More than 50000 petroglyphs have been discovered, extended over all Iran's states.
Israel
Kibbutz Ginosar
Har Karkom
Negev
Japan
Awashima shrine (Kitakyūshū city)
Fugoppe Cave, Hokkaido
Hikoshima (Shimonoseki city)
Miyajima
Temiya cave (Otaru city)
Jordan
Wadi Rum
Wadi Faynan
Kazakhstan
Koksu River, in Almaty Province
Chumysh River basin,
Tamgaly Tas on the Ili River
Tamgaly – a World Heritage Site nearly of Almaty
Laos
Plain of Jars
South Korea
Bangudae Petroglyphs
Kyrgyzstan
Several sites in the Tien Shan mountains: Cholpon-Ata, the Talas valley, Saimaluu Tash, and on the rock outcrop called Suleiman's Throne in Osh in the Fergana valley
Macau
Coloane
Malaysia
Lumuyu Petroglyphs
Mongolia
Petroglyphic Complexes of the Mongolian Altai, UNESCO World Heritage site, 2011
Pakistan
Ancient Rock Carvings of Sindh
Rock art and petroglyphs in Northern Areas,
Philippines
Angono Petroglyphs of Rizal, Philippines
Saudi Arabia
"Graffiti Rocks", about 110 km SW of Riyadh off the Mecca highway
Arwa, west of Riyadh
al Jawf, near al Jawf
al Jawf, Camel Carving Site
Jubbah, Umm Samnan, north of Hail
Janin Cave, south of Hail
Yatib, south of Hail
Milihiya, south of Hail
Jebel al Lawz, north of Tabuk
Wadi Damm, near Tabuk
Wadi Abu Oud, near al Ula
Shuwaymis, north of Madina
Jebel al Manjour & Ratt, north of Madina
Hanakiya, north of Madina
Shimli
Bir Hima, north of Najran
Tathleeth, north of Najran
Al-Magar, in Najd
Taiwan
The Wanshan Rock Carvings Archeological Site near Maolin District, Kaohsiung, were discovered between 1978 and 2002.
Thailand
Pha Taem National Park
Vietnam
Rock engravings in Sapa, Sa Pa, Lào Cai Province
Rock engravings in Namdan, Xín Mần District, Hà Giang Province
Yemen
Eriosh Petroglyphs, island of Socotra
Europe
England
Boscawen-un, St Buryan
Cup and ring marked rocks in:
Northumberland,
County Durham,
Ilkley Moor, Yorkshire,
Gardom's Edge, Derbyshire,
Creswell Crags, Nottingham
Finland
Hauensuoli, Hanko, Finland
France
Prehistoric rock engravings of the Fontainebleau Forest
Vallée des Merveilles, Mercantour National Park, France
Ireland
Newgrange
Knowth
Dowth
Loughcrew
Tara
Clonfinlough Stone
Boheh Stone
Italy
Rock Drawings in Valcamonica – World Heritage Site, Italy (biggest European site, over 350,000)
Bagnolo stele, Valcamonica, Italy
Grotta del Genovese, Sicily, Italy
Grotta dell'Addaura, Sicily, Italy
Rock Engravings in Grosio (in Valtellina), Italy
Northern Ireland
Knockmany
Sess Kilgreen
Norway
Rock carvings at Alta, World Heritage Site (1985)
Rock carvings in Central Norway
Rock carvings at Møllerstufossen
Rock carvings at Tennes
Portugal
Prehistoric Rock Art Sites in the Côa Valley, Portugal
Scotland
Museum of Ayrshire Country Life and Costume, North Ayrshire
Burghead Bull, Burghead
Townhead, Galloway
Ballochmyle cup and ring marks
Spain
Petroglyphs from Galicia
Petroglyphs from the Canary Islands (Spain)
Russia
White Sea petroglyphs, Republic of Karelia, Russia
Petroglyph Park near Petrozavodsk–Lake Onega, Russia
Tomskaya Pisanitsa
Kanozero Petroglyphs
Sikachi-Alyan, Khabarovsk Krai
Kapova cave, Bashkortostan
Sunduki Petroglyphs, Khakassia
Sweden
Tanumshede (Bohuslän); World Heritage Site (1994)
Himmelstalund (by Norrköping in Östergötland)
Enköping (Uppland)
Southwest Skåne (Götaland)
Alvhem (Västra Götaland)
Torhamn (Blekinge)
Nämforsen (Ångermanland)
Häljesta (Västmanland)
Slagsta (Södermanland)
Glösa (Jämtland)
Gärde (Jämtland)
Flatruet (Härjedalen)
Grannberget (Härjedalen)
The King's Grave at Kivik
Fäbodristning from Dalarna
Norrforsen (Umeå)
Släbro rock carvings in Nyköping (Södermanland)
Turkey
Kagizman, Kars
Cunni Cave, Erzurum
Esatli, Ordu
Gevaruk Valley, Hakkâri
Hakkari Trisin, Hakkâri
Latmos / Beşparmak
Güdül, Ankara
Ukraine
Kamyana Mohyla, Zaporizhzhia Oblast
Kurgan stelae
Wales
Garn Turne, Pembrokeshire
Central and South America and the Caribbean
Argentina
Cueva de las Manos, Santa Cruz
Talampaya National Park, La Rioja
Lihué Calel National Park, La Pampa
Aruba
Arikok National Park
Quadiriki Caves
Ayo Rock Formations
Brazil
The oldest reliably dated rock art in the Americas is known as the "Horny Little Man." It is petroglyph depicting a stick figure with an oversized phallus and carved in Lapa do Santo, a cave in central-eastern Brazil and dates from 12,000 to 9,000 years ago.
Serra da Capivara National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Piauí
Vale do Catimbau National Park, Pernambuco
Ingá Stone, Paraíba
Costao do Santinho, Santa Catarina
Lagoa Santa (Holy Lake), Minas Gerais
Ivolandia, Goiás
Chile
Rincón las Chilcas, Combarbalá
Easter Island petroglyphs
Colombia
El Abra, Cundinamarca
Chiribiquete Natural National Park
Costa Rica
Rincon de la Vieja, Guanacaste
Dominican Republic
Cueva de las Maravillas, San Pedro de Macorís
Las Caritas, near Lake Enriquillo
Los Tres Ojos, Santo Domingo
Grenada
Mt. Rich Petroglyphs
Montserrat
Soldier Ghaut petroglyphs
Nicaragua
El Ceibo Petroglyphs, Ometepe, Rivas
Ometepe Petroglyphs, Ometepe, Rivas
Paraguay
Amambay Department
Peru
Cumbe Mayo, Cajamarca
Petroglyphs of Pusharo, Manú National Park, Madre de Dios region
Petroglyphs of Quiaca, Puno Region
Petroglyphs of Jinkiori, Cusco Region
Saint Kitts and Nevis
Carib Petroglyphs, Wingfield Manor Estate, Saint Kitts
Suriname
Corantijn Basin
Trinidad and Tobago
Caurita
Venezuela
Caicara del Orinoco, Bolívar
Morrocoy National Park, Falcón
Piedra Pintada Archeological Park within San Esteban National Park, Guaraca, Carabobo
Sardinata Beach, Amazonas
Taima Taima, Falcón
North America
Canada
Kejimkujik National Park, Nova Scotia
Petroglyph Provincial Park, Nanaimo, British Columbia
Petroglyphs Provincial Park, north of Peterborough, Ontario
Agnes Lake, Quetico Provincial Park, Ontario
Sproat Lake Provincial Park, near Port Alberni, British Columbia
Stuart Lake, British Columbia
St. Victor Provincial Park, Saskatchewan
Writing-on-Stone Provincial Park, east of Milk River, Alberta
Gabriola Island, British Columbia
East Sooke Regional Park, British Columbia
Ancient Echoes Interpretive Centre, Herschel Saskatchewan
Lake Temagami, Ontario
Mexico
Boca de Potrerillos, Mina, Nuevo León
Chiquihuitillos, Mina, Nuevo León
Cuenca del Río Victoria, near Xichú, Guanajuato
Coahuiltecan Cueva Ahumada, Nuevo León
La Proveedora, Caborca, Sonora
Samalayuca, Juarez, Chihuahua
Las Labradas, near Mazatlán, Sinaloa
United States
Arches National Park, Utah
Bandelier National Monument, New Mexico
Barnesville Petroglyph, Ohio
Bloomington Petroglyph Park, Utah
Capitol Reef National Park, Utah
Caguana Indian Park, Utuado, Puerto Rico
Columbia Hills State Park, Washington
Corn Springs, Colorado Desert, California
Coso Rock Art District, Coso Range, northern Mojave Desert, California
Death Valley National Park, California
Dinosaur National Monument, Colorado and Utah
Dighton Rock, Massachusetts
Dominguez Canyon Wilderness, Colorado
Fremont Indian State Park Utah
Ginkgo Petrified Forest State Park Washington
Grand Traverse Bay Michigan
Great Basin National Park Nevada
Grimes Point, Nevada
Independence Slab, Ohio
Inscription Rock (Kelleys Island, Ohio), Ohio
Jeffers Petroglyphs, Minnesota
Judaculla Rock, North Carolina
Kanopolis State Park, Kansas
La Cueva del Indio (Indians Cave), Arecibo, Puerto Rico
La Piedra Escrita (The Written Rock), Jayuya, Puerto Rico
Lava Beds National Monument, Tule Lake, California
Legend Rock Petroglyph Site, Thermopolis, Wyoming
Lemonweir Glyphs, Wisconsin
Leo Petroglyph, Leo, Ohio
Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado
Newspaper Rock State Historic Monument, Utah
Olympic National Park, Washington
Paintlick Mountain, Tazewell, Virginia
Petit Jean State Park, Arkansas
Petrified Forest National Park Arizona
Petroglyph National Monument, New Mexico
Picacho Mountain, Picacho Arizona
Picture Canyon, Flagstaff, Arizona
Picture Rocks, Picture Rocks, Arizona
Puye Cliff Dwellings, New Mexico
Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area, Nevada
Rochester Rock Art Panel, Utah
Ring Mountain, Marin County, California
Saint John, U.S. Virgin Islands
Sanilac Petroglyphs Historic State Park, Sanilac County, Michigan
Sedona, Arizona
Seminole Canyon, Texas
Sloan Canyon National Conservation Area, Nevada
South Mountain Park, Arizona
The Cove Palisades State Park, Oregon
Three Rivers Petroglyphs, New Mexico
Tibes Indian Park, Ponce, Puerto Rico
Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada
Washington State Park, Washington County, Missouri
West Virginia glyphs
White Mountain (Wyoming), Rock Springs, Wyoming
White Tank Mountain Regional Park, Waddell, Arizona
Winnemucca Lake, Nevada
Writing Rock State Historical Site, North Dakota
Monolyth at Caguas & El Yunque, Puerto Rico
Track Rock, Union County Georgia
Forsyth Petroglyph Originally discovered, locates and documented near Cumming, Georgia in Forsyth County but has been relocated to the campus of the University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia
Oceania
Australia
Arnhem Land / Kakadu National Park, Northern Australia
Kings Canyon Resort / Watarrka National Park, Northern Australia
Gosford Glyphs in Central Coast, NSW (widely regarded as archaeological forgery)
Murujuga, Western Australia – world heritage assessed
Sydney Rock Engravings, New South Wales
See also
Geoglyph
History of communication
List of Stone Age art
Megalithic art
Pecked curvilinear nucleated
Petrosomatoglyph
Runestone and image stone
Water glyphs
References
Harmanşah, Ömür (ed) (2014), Of Rocks and Water: An Archaeology of Place, 2014, Oxbow Books 9781782976745
Rawson, Jessica (ed). The British Museum Book of Chinese Art, 2007 (2nd edn), British Museum Press,
Sickman, Laurence, in: Sickman L. & Soper A., The Art and Architecture of China, Pelican History of Art, 3rd ed 1971, Penguin (now Yale History of Art), LOC 70-125675
Further reading
Beckensall, Stan and Laurie, Tim, Prehistoric Rock Art of County Durham, Swaledale and Wensleydale, County Durham Books, 1998
Beckensall, Stan, Prehistoric Rock Art in Northumberland, Tempus Publishing, 2001
External links
Rock Art Studies: A Bibliographic Database Bancroft Library's citations to rock art literature.
Rock art
Japanese historical materials