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File:Libya 5321 Meercatze (Gatti Mammoni) Petroglyphs Wadi Methkandoush Luca Galuzzi 2007.jpg
lang}} (named by archaeologist Leo Frobenius), rampant lionesses in Wadi Mathendous, Mesak Settafet region of Libya.
File:Laxe dos carballos 01.JPG
lang}} in Campo Lameiro, Galicia, Spain (4th–2nd millennium BCE), depicting cup and ring marks and deer hunting scenes
File:Negev camel petroglyph.jpg
Petroglyph of a camel; Negev, southern Israel.
File:Petroglifos de Las Labradas 08.jpg
Petroglyphs of the archaeological site of Las Labradas, situated on the coast of the municipality of San Ignacio (Mexican state of Sinaloa)

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.Template:Clarify Petroglyphs are found worldwide, and are often associated with prehistoric peoples. The word comes from the Greek prefix Template:Transliteration, from {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} Template:Transliteration meaning "stone", and {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} Template:Transliteration meaning "carve", and was originally coined in French as {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}.

In scholarly texts, a petroglyph is a rock engraving, whereas a petrograph (or pictograph) is a rock painting.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> In common usage, the words are sometimes used interchangeably.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> 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. Inuksuk are not petroglyphs, but human-made rock forms found in Arctic regions.

HistoryEdit

File:Haljesta.jpg
Composite image of petroglyphs from Scandinavia (Häljesta, Västmanland in Sweden). Nordic Bronze Age. The glyphs have been painted to make them more visible.
File:MtnSheepPetroglyph.jpg
A petroglyph of a caravan of bighorn sheep near Moab, Utah, United States; a common theme in glyphs from the desert Southwest and Great Basin

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.Template:Citation needed

InterpretationEdit

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.Template:Citation needed

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".<ref>Ancient Indians made 'rock music'. BBC News (2004-03-19). Retrieved on 2013-02-12.</ref>

Some petroglyphs likely formed types of symbolic communication, such as types of proto-writing.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> 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."<ref>J. Collingwood Bruce (1868; cited in Beckensall, S., Northumberland's Prehistoric Rock Carvings: A Mystery Explained. Pendulum Publications, Rothbury, Northumberland. 1983:19)</ref> In his cataloguing of Scottish rock art, Ronald Morris summarized 104 different theories on their interpretation.<ref>Morris, Ronald (1979) The Prehistoric Rock Art of Galloway and The Isle of Man, Blandford Press, Template:ISBN.</ref>

Other theories suggest that petroglyphs were carved by spiritual leaders, such as shamans, in an altered state of consciousness,<ref>[See: D. Lewis-Williams, A Cosmos in Stone: Interpreting Religion and Society through Rock Art (Walnut Creek, CA: Altamira Press, 2002).]</ref> 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.<ref>Rockart.wits.ac.za Template:Webarchive Retrieved on 2013-02-12.</ref> 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.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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List of petroglyph sitesEdit

AfricaEdit

File:Site archéologique de Bidzar4.jpg
A petroglyph in Bidzar, Cameroon

AlgeriaEdit

CameroonEdit

Central African RepublicEdit

  • Bambari, Lengo and Bangassou in the south; Bwale in the west
  • Toulou
  • Djebel Mela
  • Koumbala

ChadEdit

Republic of the CongoEdit

EgyptEdit

  • 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<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
  • 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.

EthiopiaEdit

GabonEdit

  • Ogooue River Valley
  • Epona
  • Elarmekora
  • Kongo Boumba
  • Lindili
  • Kaya Kaya

LibyaEdit

MoroccoEdit

  • The Draa River valley.
  • Taouz.<ref>Gonzalo de Salazar,"The Chariots of Sahara", Adoranten, Tanum: Scandinavian Society for Prehistoric Art, 2000. </ref>
  • Akka
  • Smara

NamibiaEdit

NigerEdit

South AfricaEdit

Tunisia<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

ZambiaEdit

AsiaEdit

ArmeniaEdit

File:Petrogliph-Ughtasar-Armenia2.jpg
Petroglyphs at Ughtasar, Armenia

AzerbaijanEdit

ChinaEdit

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GeorgiaEdit

Hong KongEdit

Eight sites in Hong Kong:

IndiaEdit

File:Petroglyphs, Ladakh, NW India.JPG
Petroglyphs in Ladakh, India

|CitationClass=web }}</ref> Some carving depicts, what appears to be Pisces constellation.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

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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.

IranEdit

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File:Iran-map 7.jpg
Map of petroglyphs and pictographs of Iran

During recent years a large number of rock carvings has been identified in different parts of Iran. The vast majority depict the ibex.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="bradshawfoundation">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> 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.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

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.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="bradshawfoundation"/><ref>Universal Common language (book); Iran Petrogylphs, Ideogram Symbols (book); Rock Museums Rock Arts (Iran Petroglyphs) (book); For more information : https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/world-oldest-rock-drawings-archaeologist-iran-khomeyn-mohammed-naserifard-a7470321.html ; http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/deciphering-irans-ancient-rock-art-.aspx?pageID=238&nID=107184&NewsCatID=375 ; http://theiranproject.com/blog/tag/dr-mohammed-naserifard/</ref>

IsraelEdit

JapanEdit

JordanEdit

KazakhstanEdit

File:Koksu Petroglyphs.JPG
Hunting scene in Koksu petroglyphs

LaosEdit

South KoreaEdit

KyrgyzstanEdit

MacauEdit

MalaysiaEdit

MongoliaEdit

PakistanEdit

PhilippinesEdit

Saudi ArabiaEdit

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TaiwanEdit

ThailandEdit

VietnamEdit

YemenEdit

EuropeEdit

EnglandEdit

FinlandEdit

  • Hauensuoli, Hanko, Finland

FranceEdit

IrelandEdit

ItalyEdit

Northern IrelandEdit

NorwayEdit

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PortugalEdit

ScotlandEdit

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SpainEdit

File:Ciervo cuernos.jpg
Millenarian rock carvings, Laxe dos carballos at Campo Lameiro, this detail depicts a deer hit by several spears

<ref>Photos Template:Webarchive. Celticland.com. (2007-08-13). Retrieved on 2013-02-12.</ref>

RussiaEdit

SwedenEdit

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TurkeyEdit

UkraineEdit

WalesEdit

Central and South America and the CaribbeanEdit

ArgentinaEdit

ArubaEdit

BrazilEdit

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.<ref>Choi, Charles. "Call this ancient rock carving 'little horny man'." Science on NBC News. 22 Feb 2012. Retrieved 9 April 2012.</ref>

ChileEdit

ColombiaEdit

Costa RicaEdit

Dominican RepublicEdit

GrenadaEdit

MontserratEdit

NicaraguaEdit

|CitationClass=web }}</ref> Ometepe, Rivas

ParaguayEdit

File:Fertility symbols found in natural shelter in Amambay, Paraguay.jpeg
Fertility symbols, called "Ita Letra" by the local Panambi'y people, in a natural shelter in Amambay, Paraguay

PeruEdit

Saint Kitts and NevisEdit

SurinameEdit

Trinidad and TobagoEdit

VenezuelaEdit

North AmericaEdit

CanadaEdit

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MexicoEdit

United StatesEdit

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File:Petroglyph Point at Mesa Verde National Park by RO.JPG
Modern Hopi have interpreted the petroglyphs at Mesa Verde National Park's Petroglyph Point as depictions of the Eagle, Mountain Sheep, Parrot, Horned Toad, and Mountain Lion clans, and the Ancestral Puebloans who inhabited the mesa

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OceaniaEdit

AustraliaEdit

See alsoEdit

ReferencesEdit

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  • Harmanşah, Ömür (ed) (2014), Of Rocks and Water: An Archaeology of Place, 2014, Oxbow Books, Template:ISBN, 9781782976745
  • Rawson, Jessica (ed). The British Museum Book of Chinese Art, 2007 (2nd edn), British Museum Press, Template:ISBN
  • 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 readingEdit

  • Beckensall, Stan and Laurie, Tim, Prehistoric Rock Art of County Durham, Swaledale and Wensleydale, County Durham Books, 1998 Template:ISBN
  • Beckensall, Stan, Prehistoric Rock Art in Northumberland, Tempus Publishing, 2001 Template:ISBN

External linksEdit

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Template:Prehistoric technology Template:Authority control