Petroglyphs on Newspaper Rock near Canyonlands National Park, south of Moab, southeastern Utah, USA

Rock carving known as "Meerkatze" (named by archaeologist Leo Frobenius), rampant lionesses in Wadi Methkandoush, Mesak Settafet region of Libya.

European petroglyphs: Laxe dos carballos in Campo Lameiro, Galicia (IV-II millennium BCE), depicting cup and ring marks and deer hunting scenes

Petroglyphs (also called rock engravings) are pictogram and logogram images created by removing part of a rock surface by incising, picking, carving, and abrading. Outside North America, scholars often use terms such as "carving", "engraving", or other descriptions of the technique to refer to such images. Petroglyphs are found world-wide, and are often associated with prehistoric peoples. The word comes from the Greek words petro-, theme of the word "petra" meaning "stone", and glyphein meaning "to carve", and was originally coined in French as pétroglyphe.

The term petroglyph should not be confused with pictograph, which is an image drawn or painted on a rock face. Both types of image belong to the wider and more general category of rock art. Petroforms, or patterns and shapes made by many large rocks and boulders over the ground, are also quite different. Inukshuks are also unique, and found only in the Arctic (except for reproductions and imitations built in more southerly latitudes).

History[link]

Composite image of petroglyphs from Scandinavia (Häljesta, Västmanland in Sweden). Nordic Bronze Age. The glyphs have been painted to make them more visible.

A petroglyph of a caravan of bighorn sheep near Moab, Utah, USA; a common theme in glyphs from the desert southwest

A petroglyph in the Paria Canyon near Kanab, Utah, USA; one of the many petroglyphs found in this region. desert southwest

Some petroglyphs are dated to approximately the Neolithic and late Upper Paleolithic boundary, about 10,000 to 12,000 years ago, if not earlier (Kamyana Mohyla). Sites in Australia have petroglyphs that are estimated to be as much as 27,000 years old, and in other places could be as old as 40,000 years. Around 7,000 to 9,000 years ago, other precursors of writing systems, such as pictographs and ideograms, began to appear. Petroglyphs were still common though, and some cultures continued using them much longer, even until contact with Western culture was made in the 20th century. Petroglyphs have been found in all parts of the globe except Antarctica with highest concentrations in parts of Africa, Scandinavia, Siberia, southwestern North America and Australia.

Interpretation[link]

There are many theories to explain their purpose, depending on their location, age, and the type of image. Some petroglyphs are thought to be astronomical markers, maps, and other forms of symbolic communication, including a form of "pre-writing". Petroglyph maps may show trails, symbols communicating time and distances traveled, as well as the local terrain in the form of rivers, landforms and other geographic features. A petroglyph that represents a landform or the surrounding terrain is known as a Geocontourglyph. They might also have been a by-product of other rituals: sites in India, for example, have been identified as musical instruments or "rock gongs".^[1]

Some petroglyph images probably have deep cultural and religious significance for the societies that created them; in many cases this significance remains for their descendants. Many petroglyphs are thought to represent some kind of not-yet-fully understood symbolic or ritual language. Later glyphs from the Nordic Bronze Age in Scandinavia seem to refer to some form of territorial boundary between tribes, in addition to possible religious meanings. It also appears that local or regional dialects from similar or neighboring peoples exist. The Siberian inscriptions almost look like some early form of runes, although there is not thought to be any relationship between them. They are not yet well understood.

Some researchers have noticed the resemblance of different styles of petroglyphs across different continents; while it is expected that all people would be inspired by their 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 read a paper to the Berwick Naturalists' Club at which a Mr John Collingwood Bruce agreed that the carvings had "... a common origin, and indicate a symbolic meaning, representing some popular thought."^[2] In his cataloguing of Scottish rock art, Ronald Morris summarised 104 different theories on their interpretation.^[3]

Other, more controversial, explanations are grounded in Jungian psychology and the views of Mircea Eliade. According to these theories it is possible that the similarity of petroglyphs (and other atavistic or archetypal symbols) from different cultures and continents is a result of the genetically inherited structure of the human brain.

Other theories suggest that petroglyphs were made by shamans in an altered state of consciousness,^[4] 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 "hard-wired" into the human brain; they frequently occur in visual disturbances and hallucinations brought on by drugs, migraine and other stimuli.

Recent analysis of surveyed and GPS logged petroglyphs around the world has identified commonalities indicating pre-historic (7,000-3,000 B.C.) intense auroras observable across the continents.^[5][6] Specific common associated archetypes include: squatting man, caterpillars, ladders, eye mask, kokopelli, spoked wheels, and others.

Present-day links between shamanism and rock-art amongst the San people of the Kalahari desert have been studied by the Rock Art Research Institute (RARI) of the University of the Witwatersrand.^[7] 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 San 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[link]

Africa[link]

[edit]  Algeria

• Tassili n'Ajjer

[edit]  Cameroon

• Bidzar

[edit]  Central African Republic

• Bambari, Lengo and Bangassou in the south; Bwale in the west

[edit]  Chad

• Niola Doa

[edit]  Republic of the Congo

• The Niari River valley, 250 km south west of Brazzaville

[edit]  Egypt

• 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, a large rock with carvings and writings ranging from Nabatean to Latin, Ancient Greek and Crusder eras located a few miles from the Ain Hudra Oasis. There is also a second rock approximately 1km from the main rock near the Nabatean tombs of Nawamis with carvings of various animals including Camels, Gazelles and others. The original archaeologists who investigated these in the 1800s have also left their names carved on this rock.

[edit]  Gabon

• Ogooue River Valley

[edit]  Libya

• Akakus
• Jebel Uweinat

[edit]  Morocco

• The Draa River valley

[edit]  Namibia

• Twyfelfontein

[edit]  Niger

• Life-size giraffe carvings on Dabous Rock, Air Mountains

[edit]  South Africa

• Driekops Eiland near Kimberley^[8]
• ǀXam and ǂKhomani heartland in the Karoo, Northern Cape
• Wildebeest Kuil Rock Art Centre near Kimberley, Northern Cape
• Keiskie near Calvinia, Northern Cape

[edit]  Zambia

• Nyambwezi Falls in the north-west province.

Asia[link]

[edit]  Armenia

• Ughtasar
• Urtsadzor
• Aragats

[edit]  Azerbaijan

• Gobustan State Reserve

[edit]  China

• Eight sites in Hong Kong: on 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
• Yin Mountains in Inner Mongolia

[edit]  India

Petroglyphs in Ladakh, India

• Bhimbetka rock shelters, Raisen District, Madhya Pradesh, India.
• Edakkal Caves, Wayanad District, Kerala, India.
• 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^[9]
• Ladakh, NW Indian Himalaya.^[10]

Recently petroglyphs were found from Kollur in Tamil Nadu. A big dolmen with four petroglyphs that portray men with trident and a wheel with spokes has been found at Kollur near Triukoilur 35 km from Villupuram. The discovery was made by K.T. Gandhirajan. This is the second time that a dolmen with petrographs has been found in Tamil Nadu, India.^[11]

[edit]  Japan

• Awashima shrine(Kitakyūshū city)^[12]
• Hikoshima island (Shimonoseki city)^[13]
• Miyajima^[14]
• Temiya cave(Otaru city)^[15]

[edit]  Jordan

• Wadi Rum
• Wadi Faynan

[edit]  Kazakhstan

• Chumysh River basin,
• Tamgaly Tas on the Ili River
• Tamgaly - a World Heritage Site nearly of Almaty

[edit]  South Korea

• Bangudae Petroglyphs

[edit]  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

[edit]  Mongolia

• Petroglyphic Complexes of the Mongolian Altai, UNESCO World Heritage site, 2011^[16]

[edit]  Pakistan

• Rock art and petroglyphs in Northern Areas,

[edit]  Philippines

• Angono Petroglyphs of Rizal, Philippines

[edit]  Saudi Arabia

• "Graffiti Rocks", about 110 km SW of Riyadh off the Mecca highway

[edit]  Taiwan

• The Wanshan Petroglyphs near Maolin, Kaohsiung, were discovered between 1978 and 2002.

[edit]  Turkey

• Kagizman, Kars
• Cunni Cave, Erzurum
• Esatli, Ordu
• Gevaruk Valley, Hakkâri
• Hakkari Trisin, Hakkâri
• Latmos, Beşparmak
• Lena, Ankara

[edit]  Vietnam

• Sapa ancient rocks

Europe[link]

• 

  Petroglyph from Foppe of Nadro, Val Camonica, Italy
• 

  Duel in Foppe of Nadro, Val Camonica, Italy
• 

  Running Priest in Capo di Ponte, Val Camonica, Italy
• 

  Engravers from Val Camonica, Italy

• 

  Rock Carving in Tanum, Sweden

• 

  Carving "The Shoemaker", Brastad, Sweden

• 

  Petroglyph in Roque Bentayga, Gran Canaria (Canary Islands).

• 

  Petroglyph at Dalgarven Mill, Ayrshire, Scotland.

• 

  Bronze Age petroglyphs depicting weapons, Castriño de Conxo, Santiago de Compostela, Galicia.

• 

  Labyrinth, Meis, Galicia.

• 

  Cup-and-ring mark, Louro, Muros, Galicia.

• 

  Deer and cup-and-ring motifs, Tourón, Ponte Caldelas, Galicia.

[edit]  England

Cup and ring marked rocks in:

• Northumberland,
• County Durham,
• Ilkley Moor, Yorkshire,
• Gardom's Edge, Derbyshire,

[edit]  Finland

• Hauensuoli, Hanko, Finland

[edit]  France

• Vallée des Merveilles, Mercantour National Park, France

• 

  The sorcerer, vallée des merveilles, France.

• 

  The tribe master, vallée des merveilles, France.

[edit]  Ireland

• Newgrange
• Knowth
• Dowth
• Loughcrew
• Tara

[edit]  Italy

• Rock Drawings in Valcamonica - World Heritage Site, Italy (biggest European site, over 350,000)
• Bagnolo stele, Valcamonica, Italy

[edit]  Norway

• Rock carvings at Alta, World Heritage Site (1985)
• Rock carvings in Central Norway
• Rock carvings at Møllerstufossen
• Rock carvings at Tennes

[edit]  Portugal

• Côa Valley Paleolithic Art, Portugal

[edit]  Scotland

• Museum of Ayrshire Country Life and Costume, North Ayrshire

[edit]  Spain

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Petroglyphs in Galicia

• Petroglyphs from Galicia^[17]

[edit]  Russia

• Petroglyph Park near Petrozavodsk-Lake Onega, Russia
• Tomskaya Pisanitsa
• Kanozero Petroglyphs
• Sikachi-Alyan, Khabarovsk Krai

[edit]  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)
• The King's Grave at Kivik

[edit]  Ukraine

• Kamyana Mohyla, Zaporizhia Oblast
• Stone stelae of the Ukraine

Latin America and the Caribbean[link]

[edit]  Argentina

• Cueva de las Manos, Santa Cruz
• Talampaya National Park, La Rioja

[edit]  Saint Kitts and Nevis

• Carib Petroglyphs, Wingfield Manor Estate, Saint Kitts

[edit]  Aruba

• Arikok National Park
• Quadiriki Caves
• Ayo and Casabari Rock Formations

[edit]  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.^[18]

• 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

• 

  Capivara National Park, Piauí, Brazil
• 

  Ingá Stone, Paraíba, Brazil
• 

  Ivolandia, Goiás, Brazil
• 

  Costao do Santinho, SC, Brazil

[edit]  Chile

• Rincón las Chilcas, Combarbalá

Easter Island[link]

• Easter Island petroglyphs

• 

  Petroglyphs at Orongo, Rapa Nui (Easter Island). A Makemake at the base and two birdmen higher up

[edit]  Colombia

• El Abra, Cundinamarca

[edit]  Costa Rica

• Rincon de la Vieja, Guanacaste

[edit]  Dominican Republic

• Cueva de las Maravillas, San Pedro de Macorís
• Los Tres Ojos, Santo Domingo

[edit]  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

• 

  Near Parras, Coahuila

[edit]  Nicaragua

• El Ceibo Petroglyphs, Ometepe, Rivas
• Ometepe Petroglyphs, Ometepe, Rivas

[edit]  Peru

• Cumbe Mayo, Cajamarca
• Petroglyphs of Pusharo, Manú National Park, Cusco

[edit]  Puerto Rico

• La Piedra Escrita (The Written Rock), Jayuya
• Caguana Indian Park, Utuado
• Tibes Indian Park, Ponce
• La Cueva del Indio (Indians Cave), Arecibo

[edit]  Suriname

• Corantijn Basin

[edit]  Trinidad and Tobago

• Caurita,

[edit]  Venezuela

• Caicara del Orinoco, Bolívar

North America[link]

• 

  Petroglyphs on a Bishop Tuff tableland, eastern California

• 

  Southern Utah

• 

  Southern Utah

• 

  Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah

• 

  Arches National Park

• 

  Animal print carvings outside of Barnesville, Ohio

• 

  Arizona

• 

  Columbia River Gorge, Washington

• Upside down.jpg

  Upside-down man in Western Colorado

• RochesterPanel 01 2008.JPG

  Rochester Rock Art Panel in the San Rafael Swell in Utah

• 

  Web-like petroglyph on the White Tank Mountain Regional Park Waterfall Trail, Arizona

• 

  Chipping petroglyph on the White Tank Mountain Regional Park Waterfall Trail, Arizona

• 

  Sample of petroglyphs at Painted Rock near Gila Bend, Arizona off Interstate 8.

• Puye 1.jpg

  Puye Cliff Dwellings, New Mexico

[edit]  Canada

• Petroglyph Provincial Park, Nanaimo, British Columbia^[19]
• Stuart Lake, British Columbia
• Kejimkujik National Park, Nova Scotia
• Petroglyphs Provincial Park, north of Peterborough, Ontario

[edit]  United States

• Arches National Park, Utah
• Barnesville Petroglyph, Ohio
• California Petroglyphs & Pictographs^[20]
• Capitol Reef National Park, Utah
• Columbia Hills State Park, Washington^[21]
• Corn Springs, Colorado Desert, California
• Coso Rock Art District, Coso Range, northern Mojave Desert, California^[22]
• Death Valley National Park, California
• Dinosaur National Monument, Colorado and Utah
• Dighton Rock, Massachusetts
• Dominguez Canyon Wilderness, Colorado
• Grimes Point, Nevada[1]
• Jeffers Petroglyphs, Minnesota
• Kanopolis State Park, Kansas
• Lava Beds National Monument, Tule Lake, California
• Legend Rock Petroglyph Site, Thermopolis, Wyoming
• Leo Petroglyph, Leo, Ohio [2]
• Newspaper Rock State Historic Monument, Utah
• Oiseau Rock Petroglyphs on the Ottawa River, Canada^[23]
• Olympic National Park, Washington
• Paintlick Mountain, Tazewell, Virginia^[24]]
• Petit Jean State Park, Arkansas
• Petrified Forest National Park
• Petroglyph National Monument
• Picture Canyon, Flagstaff, 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, Michigan
• Sedona, Arizona
• Seminole Canyon, Texas
• Sloan Canyon National Conservation Area, Nevada
• South Mountain Park, Arizona
• Sproat Lake Provincial Park
• The Cove Palisades State Park, Oregon
• Three Rivers Petroglyphs, New Mexico [3]
• Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada
• West Virginia glyphs
• White Tank Mountain Regional Park, Waddell, Arizona
• Writing Rock State Historical Site, North Dakota
• Writing-on-Stone Provincial Park, East of Milk River, Alberta

File:Petroglyph_on_the_western_coast_of_Hawaii.jpg|Petroglyph on western coast of Hawaii File:Hawaii petroglyph men.jpg|Hawaii Volcanoes National Park

Oceania[link]

[edit]  Australia

• Arnhem Land / Kakadu National Park, Northern Australia
• Murujuga, Western Australia - world heritage assessed
• Sydney Rock Engravings, New South Wales

• 

  Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park, Australia

• 

  part of a 20 metre long petroglyph, at Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park, Australia

• 

  Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park, Australia

• 

  Mutawintji National Park, Australia

See also[link]

• Cave painting
• Cup and ring mark
• Geoglyph
• History of communication
• Inukshuk
• Megalithic art
• Parietal art
• Pecked curvilinear nucleated art
• Petroform
• Petrosomatoglyph
• Rock art
• Runestone and image stone
• Stela
• Water glyphs

Notes[link]

Further reading[link]

• Beckensall, Stan and Laurie, Tim, Prehistoric Rock Art of County Durham, Swaledale and Wensleydale, County Durham Books, 1998 ISBN 1-897585-45-4
• Beckensall, Stan, Prehistoric Rock Art in Northumberland, Tempus Publishing, 2001 ISBN 0-7524-1945-5

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Petroglyphs

• Petroglyphs from Galicia, Spain
• Petroglyphs of the Lesser Antilles
• British Rock Art Collection (BRAC)
• Dampier petroglyphs
• Costa Rican city of Guayabo petroglyphs
• Reports of concerns for Australia's heritage
• Petroglyph Provincial Park Official Website
• Northumberland Rock Art
• Debunking of Ogam theory about West Virginia petroglyphs
• A rival interpretation of the West Virginia petroglyphs
• Kyrgyz petroglyphs
• Cholpon-Ata petroglyphs, Kyrgyzstan
• Sarmish-Say petroglyphs
• Giraffe carvings on Dabous Rock, Air Mountains, Niger
• Rock engraving sites in Central Africa
• Shamanism and rock art among the San people of the Kalahari
• Rock Art Research Institute website (Witwatersrand)
• Rock Art Studies: A Bibliographic Database Bancroft Library's 14000+ citations to rock art literature.
• Bradshaw Foundation
• Latin American rock art articles and rock art researchers directory
• Dolmenes y megalitos del mundo
• Menhires del mundo
• Petroglyphs in Peru
• How to find La Silla petroglyphs
• Wildebeest Kuil Rock Art Centre
• McGregor Museum, Kimberley, South Africa
• Oiseau Rock Petroglyphs on the Ottawa River, Canada
• Japan petroglyph society
• Prehistoric Rock Art in Iran
• Prehistoric petroglyphs in Iran/