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Petroglyph
 
 
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Petroglyphs are image
Image

An image is an artifact, usually two-dimensional , that has a similar appearance to some subject —usually a physical object or a person....
s created by removing part of a rock
Rock (geology)

In geology, rock is a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals and/or mineraloids.The Earth's outer solid layer, the lithosphere, is made of rock....
 surface by incising, pecking, 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.






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Newspaper Rock
Petroglyphs are image
Image

An image is an artifact, usually two-dimensional , that has a similar appearance to some subject —usually a physical object or a person....
s created by removing part of a rock
Rock (geology)

In geology, rock is a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals and/or mineraloids.The Earth's outer solid layer, the lithosphere, is made of rock....
 surface by incising, pecking, 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 (but not always) associated with prehistoric
Prehistory

Prehistory is a term often used to describe the period before Recorded history. Paul Tournal originally coined the term Pr?-historique in describing the finds he had made in the caves of southern France....
 peoples. The word comes from the Greek
Greek language

Greek is an Indo-European languages native to the southern Balkan peninsula, the language of the Greek people. It forms an independent branch within Indo-European....
 words petros meaning "stone" and glyphein meaning "to carve" (it was originally coined in French
French language

French is a Romance language spoken around the world by around 80 million people as first language, by 190 million as second language, and by about another 200 million people as an acquired tongue, with significant speakers in 54 countries....
 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
Rock art

Rock art is a term in archaeology for any man-made markings made on natural stone. They can be divided into:*Petroglyphs - carvings into stone surfaces...
. Petroforms, or patterns and shapes made by many large rocks and boulders over the ground, are also quite different. Inukshuk
Inukshuk

An inuksuk is a man-made stone landmark or cairn, used by the Inuit, Inupiat, Kalaallit, Yupik, and other peoples of the Arctic region of North America, from Alaska to Greenland....
s are also unique, and found only in the Arctic (except for reproductions and imitations built in more southerly latitudes).

History

Haljesta
Mtnsheeppetroglyph
The oldest petroglyphs are dated to approximately the Neolithic and late Upper Paleolithic
Upper Paleolithic

The Upper Paleolithic is the third and last subdivision of the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age as it is understood in Europe, Africa and Asia. Very broadly it dates to between 40,000 and 9th millennium BC years ago, roughly coinciding with the appearance of "high" culture and before the advent of agriculture....
 boundary, about 10,000 to 12,000 years ago, if not earlier (Kamyana Mohyla
Kamyana Mohyla

Kamyana Mohyla is an archaeological site in the Molochna River valley, about a mile from the village of Terpinnya, Zaporizhia Oblast, Ukraine....
). Around 7,000 to 9,000 years ago, other precursors of writing system
Writing system

A writing system is a type of symbolic system used to represent elements or statements expressible in language....
s, such as pictographs and ideogram
Ideogram

An ideogram or ideograph is a graphic symbol that represents an idea or concept. They can be a straighforward pictogram, or a more abstract symbol that is comprehensible only on the basis of prior convention....
s, began to appear. Petroglyphs were still common though, and some cultures continued using them much longer, even until contact with Western culture
Western culture

File:Clash of Civilizations map.pngWestern culture are terms which are used to refer to cultures of European origin. This terminology originated as a way of describing what was different about the Graeco-Roman culture and its descendants, in contrast to the older neighboring civilizations of the Middle East, which in many ways continued...
 was made in the 20th century. Petroglyphs have been found in all parts of the globe except Antarctica
Antarctica

Antarctica is Earth's southernmost continent, overlying the South Pole. It is situated in the Antarctica of the southern hemisphere, almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle, and is surrounded by the Southern Ocean....
 with highest concentrations in parts of Africa
Africa

Africa is the world's second-largest and second most-populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km? including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area....
, Scandinavia
Scandinavia

Scandinavia is a historical and geographical subregion in northern Europe that includes the Scandinavian Peninsula. It consists of the kingdoms of Norway, Sweden, and Denmark; some authorities also include Finland and some might even include Iceland....
, Siberia
Siberia

Siberia , is the name given to the vast region constituting almost all of North Asia and for the most part currently serving as the massive central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, having served in the same capacity previously for the Soviet Union from its beginning, and the Russian Empire beginning in the 16th century....
, southwestern North America
North America

North America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and almost totally in the western hemisphere....
 and Australia
Australia

Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the southern hemisphere comprising the Australia of the world's smallest continent, the major island of Tasmania, and numerous list of islands of Australia in the Indian Ocean and Pacific Oceans....
.

Interpretation

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
Writing

Writing is the representation of language in a textual Media through the use of a set of signs or symbols . It is distinguished from illustration, such as cave drawing and painting, and the recording of language via a non-textual medium such as Magnetic tape sound recording....
". 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".

Some petroglyph images probably had 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
Nordic Bronze Age

The Nordic Bronze Age is the name given by Oscar Montelius to a period and a Bronze Age archaeological culture in Scandinavian pre-history, ca 1800 BCE - 500 BCE, with sites that reached as far east as Estonia....
 in Scandinavia seem to refer to some form of territorial boundary between tribe
Tribe

A tribe, viewed historically or developmentally, consists of a social group existing before the development of, or outside of, states.Many anthropologists use the term to refer to societies organized largely on the basis of kinship, especially corporate descent groups ....
s, 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
Runic alphabet

The runic alphabets are a set of related alphabets using Letter known as runes to write various Germanic languages prior to the adoption of the Latin alphabet and for specialized purposes thereafter....
, 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
Human migration

Human migration denotes any movement by humans from one district to another, sometimes over long distances or in large groups.Migration is one of the four evolutionary forces ...
 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." In his cataloguing of Scottish rock art, Ronald Morris summarised 104 different theories on their interpretation. .

Other, more controversial, explanations are grounded in Jungian psychology and the views of Mircea Eliade
Mircea Eliade

Mircea Eliade was a Romanian historian of religion, fiction writer, philosopher, and professor at the University of Chicago. He was a leading interpreter of religious experience, who established paradigms in religious studies that persist to this day....
. According to these theories it is possible that the similarity of petroglyphs (and other atavistic
Atavism

The term atavism denotes the tendency to revert to ancestral type. An atavism is an evolutionary throwback, such as traits reappearing which had disappeared generations ago....
 or archetypal
Archetype

An archetype is an original model of a person, ideal example, or a prototype after which others are copied, patterned, or emulated; a symbol universally recognized by all....
 symbol
Symbol

A symbol is something such as an entity, picture, written word, sound, or particular mark that represents something else by association, resemblance, or convention....
s) from different cultures and continents is a result of the genetically
Genetics

Genetics , a discipline of biology, is the science of heredity and Genetic variation in living organisms. The fact that living things inherit traits from their parents has been used since prehistoric times to improve crop plants and animals through selective breeding....
 inherited structure of the human brain.

Other theories suggest that petroglyphs were made by shamans in an altered state of consciousness
Altered state of consciousness

An altered state of consciousness, , also named altered state of mind is any condition which is significantly different from a normal waking beta wave state....
, perhaps induced by the use of natural hallucinogen
Psychedelics, dissociatives and deliriants

The general group of pharmacology agents commonly known as hallucinogens can be divided into three broad categories: Psychedelic drugs, dissociatives, and deliriants....
s. Many of the geometric
Geometry

Geometry arose as the field of knowledge dealing with spatial relationships. Geometry was one of the two fields of pre-modern mathematics, the other being the study of numbers....
 pattern
Pattern

A pattern, from the French language patron, is a type of theme of recurring events of or objects, sometimes referred to as elements of a set....
s (known as form constant
Form constant

A form constant is one of several Patterns which are recurringly observed during hallucinations and altered states of consciousness. They are also encountered during Lucid Dreaming before the actual dream....
s) which recur in petroglyphs and cave paintings have been shown to be "hard-wired" into the human brain; they frequently occur in visual disturbances and hallucinations brought on by drugs, migraine
Migraine

Migraine is a neurology syndrome characterized by altered bodily perceptions, headaches, and nausea. Physiologically, the migraine headache is a neurological condition more common to women than to men....
 and other stimuli.

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
University of the Witwatersrand

The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg is a leading South African university situated in the northern areas of central Johannesburg. It is more commonly known as Wits University....
 . 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


Africa

  • Tassili n'Ajjer
    Tassili n'Ajjer

    Tassili n'Ajjer is a mountain range in the Sahara desert in southeast Algeria, North Africa. It extends about 500 km from east-south-east to , and the highest point is Adrar Afao, 2158 m, at ....
     in Algeria
    Algeria

    Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country located in North Africa. It is the largest country of the Mediterranean sea, second largest in the Arab World, and the second largest on the African continent and the eleventh-largest country in the world in terms of land area....
  • Bidzar
    Bidzar

    Bidzar is an Archaeology 20 km from Guider, Cameroon, featuring petroglyphs between 3000 and 300 years old. The site, currently under threat from local cement and marble manufacturing operations, is being considered for inclusion in the World Heritage Site list of sites with "outstanding universal value" to the world....
    , Cameroon
    Cameroon

    The Republic of Cameroon is a unitary state of central and western Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west; Chad to the northeast; the Central African Republic to the east; and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the Republic of the Congo to the south....
  • Bambari, Lengo and Bangassou in the south of the Central African Republic
    Central African Republic

    The Central African Republic , is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It borders Chad in the north, Sudan in the east, the Republic of the Congo and the Democratic Republic of the Congo in the south, and Cameroon in the west....
    ; Bwale in the west
  • Niola Doa, Chad
    Chad

    Chad , officially known as the Republic of Chad, is a landlocked country in central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to the north, Sudan to the east, the Central African Republic to the south, Cameroon and Nigeria to the southwest, and Niger to the west....
  • The Niari River valley in the Congo
    Republic of the Congo

    The Republic of the Congo , also known as Congo-Brazzaville or the Congo, is a country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Gabon, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Angolan exclave province of Cabinda , and the Gulf of Guinea....
    , 250km south west of Brazzaville
  • Ogooue River Valley, Gabon
    Gabon

    Gabon is a country in west central Africa sharing borders with the Gulf of Guinea to the west, Equatorial Guinea to the northwest, and Cameroon to the north, with the Republic of the Congo curving around the east and south....
  • Akakus, Libya
    Libya

    Libya , officially the Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya , is a country located in North Africa. Bordering the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Libya lies between Egypt to the east, Sudan to the southeast, Chad and Niger to the south, and Algeria and Tunisia to the west....
  • Jebel Uweinat
    Jebel Uweinat

    Jebel Uweinat is a mountain range in the area of the Egyptian-Libyan-Sudanese border. The town of Al Awaynat lies at the foot of the mountain, on the Libyan side....
    , Libya
    Libya

    Libya , officially the Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya , is a country located in North Africa. Bordering the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Libya lies between Egypt to the east, Sudan to the southeast, Chad and Niger to the south, and Algeria and Tunisia to the west....
  • The Draa River
    Draa River

    The Draa is Morocco's longest river . It is formed by the confluence of the Dad?s River and Imini River. It flows from the High Atlas mountains south-ward to Tagounit and from Tagounit mostly westwards to the Atlantic Ocean somewhat north of Tan-Tan....
     valley in Morocco
    Morocco

    Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa with a population of nearly 34 million and an area just under 447,000 km2....
  • Twyfelfontein
    Twyfelfontein

    Twyfelfontein is a site in the Kunene Region of Namibia containing 2,000 figures of rock carvings. In 2007, UNESCO approved it as Namibia's first World Heritage Site....
    , Namibia
    Namibia

    Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in southern Africa on the Atlantic Ocean coast. It shares borders with Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east, and South Africa to the south....
  • Life-size giraffe
    Giraffe

    The giraffe is an African even-toed ungulate mammal, the tallest of all land-living animal species, and the largest ruminant. It is covered in large, irregular patches of yellow to black fur separated by white, off-white, or dark yellowish brown background....
     carvings on Dabous Rock, Air Mountains, Niger
    Niger

    Niger , officially the Republic of Niger, is a landlocked country in Western Africa, named after the Niger River. It borders Nigeria and Benin to the south, Burkina Faso and Mali to the west, Algeria and Libya to the north and Chad to the east....
  • Wadi Hammamat
    Wadi Hammamat

    is a wadi in Egypt's Eastern Desert, about halfway between Qusier and Qena. It was a major mining region and trade route east from the Nile Valley in ancient times, and three thousand years of rock carvings and graffiti make it a major scientific and tourist site today....
     in Qift
    Qift

    Qift is a small town in the Qena Governorate of Egypt about 43 km north of Luxor, on the east bank of the Nile....
    , Egypt
    Egypt

    Egypt is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Western Asia. Covering an area of about , Egypt borders the Mediterranean Sea to the north, the Gaza Strip and Israel to the northeast, the Red Sea to the east, Sudan to the south and Libya to the west....
     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


Australia

  • Arnhem Land
    Arnhem Land

    The Arnhem Land Region is one of the five regions of the Northern Territory of Australia. It is located in the north-eastern corner of the territory and is around 500km from the territory capital Darwin, Northern Territory....
     / Kakadu National Park
    Kakadu National Park

    Kakadu National Park is in the Northern Territory of Australia, 171 km southeast of Darwin, Northern Territory.Kakadu National Park is located within the Alligator Rivers Region of the Northern Territory of Australia....
    , Northern Australia
  • Murujuga
    Murujuga

    Murujuga , is a peninsula often known as Burrup Peninsula and prior to that as Dampier Peninsula, in the Pilbara region of Western Australia of Western Australia, adjoining the Dampier Archipelago and near the town of Dampier, Western Australia....
    , Western Australia
    Western Australia

    Western Australia is a States and territories of Australia occupying the entire western third of the Australia . The nation's largest state and the second largest subnational entity in the world, it has 2.1 million inhabitants , 85% of whom live in the south-west corner of the state....
     - world heritage assessed
  • Sydney Rock Engravings
    Sydney rock engravings

    The Sydney Rock Engravings are a form of Australian Aboriginal Rock Art consisting of carefully drawn images of people, animals, or symbols, in the sandstone around Sydney, New South Wales, Australia....
    , New South Wales

Asia


Azerbaijan
  • Gobustan State Reserve
    Gobustan State Reserve

    Gobustan State Reserve located west of the settlement of Qobustan, Baku, about 40 miles southwest of the centre of Baku was established in 1966 when the region was declared as a national historical landmark of Azerbaijan in an attempt to preserve the ancient carvings, mud volcanoes and gas-stones in the region....


China
  • Eight sites in Hong Kong
    Hong Kong

    Hong Kong , officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, is a territory located in Southern China in East Asia, bordering the province of Guangdong to the north and facing the South China Sea to the east, west and south....
    : on Tung Lung Island, Kau Sai Chau
    Kau Sai Chau

    Kau Sai Chau is an island located off the coast of Sai Kung of Hong Kong, with an area of 6.69 km?.The large island is the location of the Jockey Club Kau Sai Chau Public Golf Course, developed and run by the Hong Kong Jockey Club....
    , Po Toi Island
    Po Toi

    Po Toi is the main island of the Po Toi Islands in Hong Kong, with an area of 3.69 1 E6 m?.The southern-most island of Hong Kong, it is famous for its rock formations, such as the Buddha Hand Rock , the Coffin Rock , and the Tortoise Climbing up the Mountain ....
    , Cheung Chau
    Cheung Chau

    Cheung Chau is a small island 10 km southwest of Hong Kong Island. It has been inhabited for longer than most other places in the territory of Hong Kong, with a population of about 30,000 up to 2006....
    , Shek Pik
    Shek Pik

    Shek Pik village, once located on the south coast of Lantau Island, Hong Kong was relocated to its current location when the Shek Pik Reservoir was built....
     on Lantau Island, Wong Chuk Hang
    Wong Chuk Hang

    Wong Chuk Hang is an area to the east of Aberdeen, Hong Kong and to the north of Nam Long Shan and to the west of Shouson Hill, on Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong....
     and Big Wave Bay on Hong Kong Island
    Hong Kong Island

    Hong Kong Island is an Islands and peninsulas of Hong Kong in the southern part of Hong Kong. It has a population of 1,268,112 and its population density is 15,915/km?, as of 2006....
    , Lung Ha Wan in Sai Kung
  • Yin Mountains
    Yin Mountains

    The Yin Mountains are mountains in the steppe forming the southern border of the eastern Gobi Desert of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, as well as the northern part of Hebei province....
     in Inner Mongolia
    Inner Mongolia

    Inner Mongolia is the Mongols autonomous region of China of the People's Republic of China, located in the country's north.Inner Mongolia borders, from east to west, the provinces of Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning, Hebei, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Ningxia, and Gansu, while to the north it borders Mongolia and Russia....


India
  • Bhimbetka rock shelters in Raisen District in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh.
  • Edakkal Caves
    Edakkal Caves

    Edakkal Caves are two natural caves located 1000 metres high on Ambukuthi mala 25 km from Kalpetta in the Wayanad district of Kerala in India's Western Ghats....
     * Perumukkal, Thindivanam, Off Chennai,Tamil Nadu.


Kazakhstan
  • Chumysh River basin,
  • Tamgaly on the Ili River
    Ili River

    The Ili River is a river in northwestern China and southeastern Kazakhstan .It is 1,439 km long, 815 km of which in Kazakhstan. It takes its beginning in eastern Tian Shan from the Tekes River and Kunges River rivers....
  • Tamgaly
    Tamgaly

    Tamgaly is a petroglyph site in the Semirechye, Kazakhstan.Tamgaly is located 170 km to northwest of Almaty. The majority of the petrogylphs are in the main canyon, but there are a number in the many side canyons....
     - a World Heritage Site
    World Heritage Site

    A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a site that is on the list maintained by the international World Heritage Programme administered by the UNESCO World Heritage Committee, composed of 21 Sovereign state which are elected by their General Assembly for a four-year term....


Korea
  • Bangudae Petroglyphs
    Bangudae Petroglyphs

    The Bangudae Petroglyphs are located in Daegok-ri, Ulsan, South Korea. This site of substantial engraved rock art was rediscovered in 1971 and was designated as the 285th National treasures of South Korea on June 23, 1995....
    ,


Kyrgyzstan
  • Several sites in the Tien Shan mountains: Cholpon-Ata
    Cholpon-Ata

    Cholpon-Ata is a resort town on the northern shore of Lake Issyk-Kul in Kyrgyzstan with a year-round population of about 12,000. It is the administrative center of the Issyk Kul District of Issyk Kul Province; this district occupies most of the lake's north shore....
    , the Talas valley, Saimaluu Tash
    Saimaluu Tash

    Saimaluu Tash is a petroglyph site in Jalal-Abad Province, Kyrgyzstan, south of Kazarman. It is on the Ferghana Range at about 3,200 meters in two high valleys, separated by a low mountain ridge....
    , and on the rock outcrop called Suleiman's Throne in Osh
    Osh

    Osh is the second largest city in Kyrgyzstan located in the Fergana Valley in the south of the country and often referred to as the "capital of the south"....
     in the Fergana valley
    Fergana Valley

    The Fergana Valley or Farghana Valley is a region in Central Asia spreading across eastern Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. Shakhimardan khanate Pamirs Central Asia....


Pakistan
  • Rock art and petroglyphs in Northern Areas
    Northern Areas

    The Northern Areas is officially referred to by the government of Pakistan as the Federally Administered Northern Areas . The Northern Areas is the northernmost political entity within the Pakistani-controlled part of the former princely state of Jammu and Kashmir....
    ,


Philippines
  • Angono Petroglyphs
    Angono Petroglyphs

    The Angono Petroglyphs is the oldest known work of art in the Philippines. There are 127 human and animal figures engraved on the rockwall dating back to 3000 BC....
     of Rizal
    Rizal

    Rizal is a Provinces of the Philippines of the Philippines located in the CALABARZON Regions of the Philippines in Luzon, just 20 kilometers east of Manila....
    , Philippines
    Philippines

    The Philippines, officially known as the Republic of the Philippines, is a country in Southeast Asia with Manila as its capital city. It comprises 7,107 islands in the western Pacific Ocean....


Pacific


  • Rapa Nui (Easter Island) Petroglyphs
    Easter Island

    Easter Island is a Polynesian island in the southeastern Pacific Ocean, at the southeastern most point of the Polynesian triangle. The island is a special territory of Chile....
  • Hawaii
    Hawaii

    File:Pahoehoe and Aa flows at Hawaii.jpgThe State of Hawaii is a U.S. state in the United States, located on an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of Australia....
     (particularly the Big Island).


South America

  • Cumbe Mayo, Peru
    Peru

    Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
  • Petroglyphs of Pusharo
    Pusharo

    The Petroglyphs of Pusharo constitute a unique and extensive ancient rock art site in southeast Peru's Manu National Park, a jungled expanse that still contains unexplored and little known areas, and for which an official government permit is required for entry....
    , Peru
    Peru

    Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
  • Corantijn Basin
    Corantijn Basin

    The Corantijn Basin is one of a large number of archaeological sites located in the interior of Suriname in South America. The Suriname archaeological sites provide information on prehistoric human populations that lived in Suriname before 1492....
    , Suriname
    Suriname

    Suriname , officially the Republic of Suriname is a country in northern South America. Originally, the country was spelled Surinam by English settlers who founded the first colony at Marshall's Creek, along the Suriname River, and was Geographical renaming Nederlands Guyana, Netherlands Guiana or Dutch Guiana....
  • Caicara del Orinoco, Venezuela
    Caicara del Orinoco

    File:Caicara-Venezuela-petroglyphs-1.jpgCaicara del Orinoco is a town in, and the administrative seat of, Cede?o Municipality, Bol?var, Bol?var , Venezuela....


Central America

  • Rincon de la Vieja, Costa Rica
    Costa Rica

    Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica is a country in Central America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, Panama to the east and south, the Pacific Ocean to the west and south and the Caribbean Sea to the east....


North America


  • Arches National Park
    Arches National Park

    Arches National Park is a United States national park in eastern Utah. It is known for preserving over 2,000 natural arch, including the world-famous Delicate Arch, in addition to a variety of unique geological resources and formations....
    , Utah
    Utah

    The State of Utah is a western United States U.S. state of the United States. It was the List of U.S. states by date of statehood admitted to the United States on January 4, 1896....
  • Capitol Reef National Park
    Capitol Reef National Park

    Capitol Reef National Park is a United States National Park, in south-central Utah. It is 100 miles long but fairly narrow. The park, established in 1971, preserves 378 mi? and is open all year, although May through September are the most popular months....
    , Utah
    Utah

    The State of Utah is a western United States U.S. state of the United States. It was the List of U.S. states by date of statehood admitted to the United States on January 4, 1896....
  • Death Valley National Park
    Death Valley National Park

    Death Valley National Park is a mostly arid United States National Park located east of the Sierra Nevada mountain range in southern Inyo County, California and northern San Bernardino County, California in California, with a small extension into southwestern Nye County, Nevada and extreme southern Esmeralda County, Nevada in Nevada....
    , California
    California

    California is a U.S. state on the West Coast of the United States of the United States, along the Pacific Ocean. It is bordered by Oregon to the north, Nevada to the east, Arizona to the southeast, and to the south the Mexico state of Baja California....
  • Dinosaur National Monument
    Dinosaur National Monument

    Dinosaur National Monument is a U.S. National Monument located on the southeast flank of the Uinta Mountains on the border between the United States states of Colorado and Utah at the confluence of the Green River and Yampa River Rivers....
    , Colorado
    Colorado

    The State of Colorado is a U.S. state located in the Mountain States of the United States of America. Colorado may also be considered to be a part of the Western United States and Southwestern United States regions of the United States....
     and Utah
    Utah

    The State of Utah is a western United States U.S. state of the United States. It was the List of U.S. states by date of statehood admitted to the United States on January 4, 1896....
  • Columbia Hills State Park, Washington
    Washington

    Washington is a U.S. state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. Washington was carved out of the western part of Washington Territory which had been ceded by Britain in 1846 by the Oregon Treaty as settlement of the Oregon Boundary Dispute....
  • The Cove Palisades State Park
    The Cove Palisades State Park

    The Cove Palisades State Park is a state park in eastern Jefferson County, Oregon, Oregon, near Culver, Oregon and Madras, Oregon in the Central Oregon part of the state, and is administered by the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department....
    , Oregon
    Oregon

    Oregon is a U.S. state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. The area was inhabited by many indigenous tribes before the arrival of traders, explorers and settlers....
  • Grimes Point, Nevada
    Nevada

    Nevada is a U.S. state located in the Western United States of the United States of America. The capital is Carson City and the largest city is Las Vegas, Nevada....
     
  • Jeffers Petroglyphs
    Jeffers Petroglyphs

    The Jeffers Petroglyphs site is an outcrop in southwestern Minnesota with pre-contact Native Americans in the United States petroglyphs. The petroglyphs are pecked into rock of the Red Rock Ridge, a -long Sioux quartzite outcrop that extends from Watonwan County, Minnesota to Brown County, Minnesota....
    , Minnesota
    Minnesota

    Minnesota is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States of the United States. The twelfth largest state by area in the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with just over five million residents....
  • Kanopolis State Park
    Kanopolis State Park

    Kanopolis State Park contains a reservoir , desert plants such as yucca, a prairie dog town, and scenic sandstone canyons. It is located in the Smoky Hills region of the U.S....
    , Kansas
    Kansas

    The State of Kansas is a Midwestern U.S. state in the Central United States of the United States of America, an area often referred to as the United States "Heartland"....
  • Kejimkujik National Park
    Kejimkujik National Park

    Kejimkujik National Park is part of the National Parks of Canada, located in the province of Nova Scotia . The park consists of two geographically separate properties: the main park is located in the upland Atlantic Interior of the Nova Scotia peninsula bordering Queens County, Nova Scotia and Annapolis County, Nova Scotia counties; whereas...
    , Nova Scotia
    Nova Scotia

    Nova Scotia is a Canadian Provinces and territories of Canada located on Canada's southeastern coast. It is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada....
  • La Proveedora
    La Proveedora

    "La Proveedora" is an archaeological site in Caborca, Mexico. Puerto Blanco is located in the Altar desert. There are more than 5,900 petroglyphs and other attractions like the ruins of terraces built, panels and sanctuaries....
    , Caborca, Mexico
  • Lava Beds National Monument
    Lava Beds National Monument

    Lava Beds National Monument, located in Siskiyou County, California and Modoc County, California Counties, California, is the site of the largest concentration of lava tube caves in North America....
    , Tule Lake, California
    California

    California is a U.S. state on the West Coast of the United States of the United States, along the Pacific Ocean. It is bordered by Oregon to the north, Nevada to the east, Arizona to the southeast, and to the south the Mexico state of Baja California....
  • Legend Rock Petroglyph Site
    Legend Rock

    Legend Rock Petroglyph Site is located 20 miles northwest of Hot Springs State Park in Thermopolis, Wyoming, Wyoming, United States. Legend Rock is an important petroglyph site which features hundreds of individual petroglyphs spread across the face of the rock....
    , Thermopolis
    Thermopolis, Wyoming

    Thermopolis is a town in Hot Springs County, Wyoming, Wyoming, United States. As of the United States Census 2000, the town population was 3,172....
    , Wyoming
    Wyoming

    The State of Wyoming is a sparsely populated U.S. state in the Northwestern United States of the United States. The majority of the state is dominated by the mountain ranges and rangelands of the Rocky Mountains, while the easternmost section of the state is a high altitude prairie region known as the High Plains ....
  • Leo Petroglyph
    Leo Petroglyph

    The Leo Petroglyph is sandstone petroglyph containing 37 images of humans and animals as well as footprints of each. The petroglyph is located near the small village of Leo, Ohio and is thought to have been created by the Fort Ancient Indians ....
    , Leo, Ohio
    Ohio

    Ohio is a Midwestern United States U.S. state of the United States. As part of the Great Lakes region , Ohio has long been a cultural and geographical crossroads in North America....
     
  • Newspaper Rock State Historic Monument
    Newspaper Rock State Historic Monument

    Newspaper Rock State Historic Monument is located some 25 miles north and west of Monticello, Utah and south and west of Moab, Utah in eastern Utah, western United States....
    , Utah
    Utah

    The State of Utah is a western United States U.S. state of the United States. It was the List of U.S. states by date of statehood admitted to the United States on January 4, 1896....
  • Maturango Canyon, Coso Range, Northern Mojave, California
    California

    California is a U.S. state on the West Coast of the United States of the United States, along the Pacific Ocean. It is bordered by Oregon to the north, Nevada to the east, Arizona to the southeast, and to the south the Mexico state of Baja California....
     
  • Mina, Nuevo Leon
    Nuevo León

    Nuevo Le?n is a States of Mexico located in northeastern Mexico. It borders the states of Tamaulipas to the north and east and San Luis Potos? to the south, and Coahuila to the west....
    , Mexico
    Mexico

    The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federalism constitutionalism republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of Mexico....
  • Olympic National Park
    Olympic National Park

    Olympic National Park is located in the U.S. state of Washington, in the Olympic Peninsula. The park can be divided into three basic regions: the Pacific Ocean coastline, the Olympic Mountains, and the temperate rainforest....
    , Washington
    Washington

    Washington is a U.S. state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. Washington was carved out of the western part of Washington Territory which had been ceded by Britain in 1846 by the Oregon Treaty as settlement of the Oregon Boundary Dispute....
  • Paintlick Mountain, Tazewell
    Tazewell County, Virginia

    Tazewell County is a county located in the Southwest Virginia portion of the U.S. state of Virginia. As of the United States Census, 2000, the population was 44,598....
    , Virginia
    Virginia

    The Commonwealth of Virginia is an United States U.S. state on the East Coast of the United States of the Southern United States. The state is known as the "Old Dominion" and sometimes as "Mother of Presidents", because it is the birthplace of Lists of United States Presidents by place of birth#By state....
     
  • Petit Jean State Park
    Petit Jean State Park

    Petit Jean State Park is a state park in central Arkansas managed by the Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism. Petit Jean is the flagship of the Arkansas state parks system....
    , Arkansas
    Arkansas

    Arkansas is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States of the United States. Arkansas shares a border with six states, with its eastern border largely defined by the Mississippi River....
  • Petrified Forest National Park
    Petrified Forest National Park

    Petrified Forest National Park is along Interstate 40 between Holbrook, Arizona and Navajo County, Arizona, in the United States. It features one of the world's largest and most colorful concentrations of petrified wood, mostly of the species Araucarioxylon arizonicum....
  • Petroglyph National Monument
    Petroglyph National Monument

    Petroglyph National Monument stretches 17 miles along Albuquerque, New Mexico's West Mesa, a volcanic basalt escarpment that dominates the city?s western horizon....
  • Petroglyphs Provincial Park
    Petroglyphs Provincial Park

    Petroglyphs Provincial Park is a historical-class provincial park situated northeast of Peterborough, Ontario, Ontario, Canada. It has the largest collection of ancient First Nations petroglyphs in Ontario....
    , north of Peterborough
    Peterborough, Ontario

    Peterborough is a city on the Otonabee River in central-eastern Ontario, Canada, 125 kilometres northeast of Toronto. The population of the City of Peterborough was 74,898 in the 2006 census, while the census metropolitan area had a population of 116 570....
    , Ontario
    Ontario

    Ontario is a Provinces and territories of Canada located in the Central Canada part of Canada, the largest by population and second largest, after Quebec, in total area....
  • Petroglyph Provincial Park
    Petroglyph Provincial Park

    Petroglyph Provincial Park is located at the south end of the Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada where the Nanaimo River empties into the Northumberland Channel....
    , Nanaimo, British Columbia
    British Columbia

    British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's Provinces and territories of Canada and is famed for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu ....
     
  • Ring Mountain
    Ring Mountain (California)

    Ring Mountain is an elevated landform on the Tiburon Peninsula in Marin County, California, California, United States. This mountain was named for George E....
    , Marin County, California
    Marin County, California

    Marin County is a county located in the North San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California, across the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco, California....
  • Sanilac Petroglyphs Historic State Park
    Sanilac Petroglyphs Historic State Park

    Sanilac Petroglyphs Historic State Park is a state park in Michigan containing Michigan's only known rock carvings attributable to Native Americans in the United States Indians....
    , Michigan
    Michigan

    Michigan is a Midwestern United States U.S. state of the United States of America. It was named after Lake Michigan, whose name is a French adaptation of the Anishinaabe language term mishigama, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
  • Sedona, Arizona
    Arizona

    The State of Arizona is a U.S. state located in the Southwestern United States of the United States. The capital and largest city is Phoenix, Arizona....
  • Seminole Canyon, Texas
    Texas

    Texas is a U.S. state located in the South Central United States, nicknamed the Lone Star State. Texas is the second largest U.S. state in both area and population, spanning , and with a growing population of 24.3 million residents....
  • Sloan Canyon National Conservation Area, Nevada
    Nevada

    Nevada is a U.S. state located in the Western United States of the United States of America. The capital is Carson City and the largest city is Las Vegas, Nevada....
  • Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area
    Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area

    Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area in Nevada is a 198,000 acre area managed by the United States Bureau of Land Management as part of its National Landscape Conservation System, and protected as a National Conservation Area....
    , Nevada
    Nevada

    Nevada is a U.S. state located in the Western United States of the United States of America. The capital is Carson City and the largest city is Las Vegas, Nevada....
  • Rochester Rock Art Panel
    Rochester Rock Art Panel

    The Rochester Rock Art Panel consists of a large number of petroglyphs of various ages. Some are prehistoric, probably of Fremont culture origin....
    , Utah
    Utah

    The State of Utah is a western United States U.S. state of the United States. It was the List of U.S. states by date of statehood admitted to the United States on January 4, 1896....
  • Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada
    Nevada

    Nevada is a U.S. state located in the Western United States of the United States of America. The capital is Carson City and the largest city is Las Vegas, Nevada....
  • South Mountain Park
    South Mountain Park

    South Mountain Park in Phoenix, Arizona is the largest city park in the United States, one of the largest urban parks in North America and in the world....
    , Arizona
    Arizona

    The State of Arizona is a U.S. state located in the Southwestern United States of the United States. The capital and largest city is Phoenix, Arizona....
  • St John, USVI
  • Stuart Lake
    Stuart Lake

    Stuart Lake or Nak'albun is a lake situated in the British Columbia Interior, Canada. The town of Fort St. James, British Columbia is situated by the lake near the outlet ....
    , British Columbia
    British Columbia

    British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's Provinces and territories of Canada and is famed for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu ....
  • Three Rivers Petroglyphs, New Mexico
    New Mexico

    New Mexico is a U. S. State located in the Southwestern United States of the United States. Inhabited by Native Americans in the United States populations for many centuries, it has also has been part of the Spanish Empire viceroyalty of New Spain, part of Mexico, and a U.S....
     
  • West Virginia glyphs
  • Writing Rock State Historical Site
    Writing Rock State Historical Site

    Writing Rock State Historical Site, located twelve miles northeast of Grenora, North Dakota in Divide County, North Dakota near the Montana border, is the site of two large granite boulders, carved with petroglyphs featuring Thunderbird , mythological creatures that are of importance in the culture of Plains Indians....
    , North Dakota
    North Dakota

    North Dakota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States and Western United States regions of the United States of America. North Dakota is the 19th largest state by area in the US; it is the 48th most populous, with just over 640,000 residents as of 2006....
  • Writing-on-Stone Provincial Park
    Writing-on-Stone Provincial Park

    Writing-on-Stone Provincial Park is located about 100 kilometres southeast of Lethbridge, Alberta, Alberta, Canada or 44 kilometres east of the community of Milk River, Alberta, and straddles the Milk River itself....
    , East of Milk River
    Milk River (Montana-Alberta)

    The Milk River is a tributary of the Missouri River, 729 mi long in the U.S. state of Montana and the Canadian province of Alberta.It is formed in northwestern Montana, in Glacier County, Montana 21 mi N of Browning, Montana by the confluence of the South and Middle forks....
    , Alberta
    Alberta

    Alberta is one of Canada Canadian Prairies Provinces and territories of Canada. It became a province on September 1, 1905.Alberta is located in western Canada, bounded by the provinces of British Columbia to the west and Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Territories to the north, and the U.S....
  • White Tank Mountain Regional Park
    White Tank Mountain Regional Park

    The White Tank Mountain Regional Park is a large regional park located in west-central Maricopa County, Arizona. Encompassing of desert and mountain landscape, it is the largest regional park in the county....
    , Waddell
    Waddell, Arizona

    Waddell is an unincorporated area in the far northwestern part of the Phoenix, Arizona metro area in Maricopa County, Arizona, Arizona, United States....
    , Arizona
    Arizona

    The State of Arizona is a U.S. state located in the Southwestern United States of the United States. The capital and largest city is Phoenix, Arizona....


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


Dominican Republic

  • Cueva de las Maravillas
  • Los 3 Ojos


Europe


England
Cup and ring marked rocks
Cup and ring mark

Cup and ring marks or cup marks are a form of prehistoric art found mainly in Northern England and Scotland as well as Ireland, Brittany North West Italy, Alps , Thessalia Central Greece and North West Spain although similar forms are also found throughout the world including Mexico, Brazil, Greece, and India ....
 in:
  • Northumberland
    Northumberland

    Northumberland is a Counties of England in the North East England of England. The non-metropolitan counties of England of Northumberland borders Cumbria to the west, County Durham to the south and Tyne and Wear to the south east, as well as having a border with the Scottish Borders council area to the north, and nearly eighty miles of Nort...
    ,
  • County Durham
    County Durham

    County Durham is a Metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties of England of Historic counties of England in North East England England. The county town is Durham.The largest settlement in the county is the town of Darlington....
    ,
  • Ilkley Moor
    Ilkley Moor

    Ilkley Moor is the highest part of Rombalds Moor, the moorland between Ilkley and Keighley in West Yorkshire, England, United Kingdom. The peat bogs rise to 402 m above sea level....
    , Yorkshire
    Yorkshire

    Yorkshire is a Historic counties of England of northern England and the largest in Great Britain. Because of its great size, over time functions were increasingly undertaken by its subdivisions, which have been subject to History of local government in Yorkshire....
    ,
  • Gardom's Edge
    Gardom's Edge

    Gardom's Edge is located near Baslow in Derbyshire, England.The shelf between Gardom's Edge and Birchen Edge is now moorland used for grazing sheep, but was inhabited and arably farmed during...
    , Derbyshire
    Derbyshire

    Derbyshire is a county in the East Midlands of England. A substantial portion of the Peak District National Park lies within Derbyshire. The northern part of Derbyshire overlaps with the Pennines, a famous chain of hills and mountains....
    ,


France
  • Mercantour National Park
    Mercantour National Park

    Mercantour National Park is one of the seven national parks of France. Since it was created in 1979, the Mercantour Park has proven popular, with 800,000 visitors every year enjoying the 600 km of marked footpaths and visiting its villages....
    , France
    France

    France , officially the French Republic , is a country whose Metropolitan France is located in Western Europe and that also comprises various Overseas departments and territories of France....


Scotland
  • Museum of Ayrshire Country Life and Costume, North Ayrshire
    North Ayrshire

    North Ayrshire is one of 32 Council areas of Scotland of Scotland. It borders onto the areas of Inverclyde to the north, Renfrewshire to the north east, and East Ayrshire, and South Ayrshire to the East and South respectively....


Ireland
  • Newgrange
    Newgrange

    Newgrange is one of the passage tombs of the Br? na B?inne complex in County Meath, one of the most famous prehistoric sites in the world and the most famous of all Ireland prehistoric sites....
    , Ireland
    Ireland

    Ireland is the List of islands by area in Europe, and the twentieth-largest island in the world. It lies to the north-west of continental Europe and is surrounded by hundreds of islands and islet....


Italy
  • Rock Drawings in Valcamonica
    Rock Drawings in Valcamonica

    Val Camonica is a valley in the lower Alpine regions of Lombardy, between the province of Brescia and province of Bergamo, Italy.It is the upper valley of the river Oglio, upstream from Lake Iseo....
     - World Heritage Site
    World Heritage Site

    A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a site that is on the list maintained by the international World Heritage Programme administered by the UNESCO World Heritage Committee, composed of 21 Sovereign state which are elected by their General Assembly for a four-year term....
    , Italy
    Italy

    Italy , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia....
     (biggest European site, over 350,000)
  • Bagnolo stele
    Bagnolo stele

    The Bagnolo steles are two stone boulders found in Ceresolo-Bagnolo, Malegno commune, Brescia province, Lombardia, Northern Italy, at the base of Monte Mignone, at an altitude of ca....
    , Valcamonica, Italy
    Italy

    Italy , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia....


Norway
  • Rock carvings at Alta
    Rock carvings at Alta

    The Rock carvings at Alta are part of an Archaeology site near the town of Alta, Norway in the county of Finnmark in northern Norway. Since the first carvings ? or more correctly, the petroglyphs ? were discovered in 1972, more than 5000 carvings have been found on several sites around Alta....
    , World Heritage Site (1985)
  • Rock carvings in Central Norway
    Rock carvings in Central Norway

    Central Norway is a region in Norway, comprising the two Tr?ndelag-counties, Nord-Tr?ndelag and S?r-Tr?ndelag as well as parts of the Nordland and M?re og Romsdal counties....
  • Rock carvings at Møllerstufossen
    Rock carvings at Møllerstufossen

    The Rock carvings at M?llerstufossen in Nord-Sinni in Nordre Land municipality in Oppland county of Norway comprise several carvings of moose and one other animal....
  • Rock carvings at Tennes
    Rock carvings at Tennes

    The rock carvings at Tennes in Balsfjord, Norway comprise about 60 figures distributed over three fields. The oldest figures have been dated to 4600 BEP and the earliest to about 2600 BEP....


Portugal
  • Côa Valley Paleolithic Art
    Côa Valley Paleolithic Art

    The C?a Valley Paleolithic Art site is one of the largest known open air sites of Paleolithic Prehistoric art.In the late 1980s, the engravings were discovered in Vila Nova de Foz C?a, in Norte, Portugal Portugal....
    , Portugal
    Portugal

    Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic , is a country on the Iberian Peninsula. Located in southwestern Europe, Portugal is the westernmost country of mainland Europe and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the west and south and by Spain to the north and east....


Spain
  • Petróglifos de Galicia


Russia
  • Petroglyph Park near Petrozavodsk
    Petrozavodsk

    Petrozavodsk is the Capital of the Republic of Karelia, Russia, with a population of 266,160 . It stretches along the western shore of the Lake Onega for some 27 kilometers....
    -Lake Onega
    Lake Onega

    Lake Onega is a lake in Russia. Its surface area is 9,894 km?, its volume is 280 km?, its maximum depth is 120 m. It has 1,369 islands with a total area of 250 km?....
    , Russia
    Russia

    Russia , or the Russian Federation , is a list of countries spanning more than one continent country extending over much of northern Eurasia....
  • Tomskaya Pisanitsa
    Tomskaya Pisanitsa Museum

    The Tomskaya Pisanitsa Museum is an open-air museum located some 50 km north-west of Kemerovo on the right bank of the Tom River in Western Siberia, Russia....
  • Kanozero Petroglyphs
    Kanozero Petroglyphs

    The Kanozero Petroglyphs are a set of rock drawings discovered in 1997 on an island in Lake Kanozero in the southwestern part of the Kola Peninsula in Murmansk Oblast, Russia....


Sweden
  • Tanumshede
    Tanumshede

    Tanumshede is a town in Bohusl?n, V?stra G?taland County in western Sweden with a population of 1,600. It is the seat of Tanum Municipality. The area around Tanumshede has been declared a World Heritage Site by United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization because of the high concentration of petroglyphs....
     (Bohuslän
    Bohuslän

    is one of the 25 traditional non-administrative provinces of Sweden , situated on the west coast of the country. It borders Dalsland and V?sterg?tland as well as the Skagerrak arm of the North Sea and ?stfold in Norway....
    ); World Heritage Site (1994)
  • Himmelstalund
    Himmelstalund

    Himmelstalund is a large park/open space, in Norrk?ping, Sweden.The park is famous for having one of Sweden's biggest collection of petroglyphs with more than 1660 pictures....
     (by Norrköping
    Norrköping

    'Norrk?ping' [n?r???p??] is a Urban areas in Sweden in the provinces of Sweden of ?sterg?tland in eastern Sweden and the seat of Norrk?ping Municipality, ?sterg?tland County....
     in Östergötland
    Östergötland

    ?sterg?tland is a one of the traditional provinces of Sweden in the south of Sweden. It borders Sm?land, V?sterg?tland, N?rke, S?dermanland, and the Baltic Sea....
    )
  • Enköping
    Enköping

    Enk?ping is a town in the traditional Sweden province Uppland and the seat of Enk?ping Municipality, Uppsala l?n....
     (Uppland
    Uppland

    Uppland is a historical Provinces of Sweden or landskap on the eastern coast of Sweden, just north of Stockholm, the capital. It borders S?dermanland, V?stmanland and G?strikland....
    )
  • Southwest Skåne
    Skåne

    Scania is a geographical region on the southernmost tip of the Scandinavian peninsula, a traditional provinces of Sweden in the Kingdom of Sweden, before 1658 a province in the Kingdom of Denmark and part of the historical lands of Denmark....
     (Götaland
    Götaland

    G?taland , Gothia, Gothland, Gothenland, Gotland, Gautland, Geatland is one of three Lands of Sweden consisting of ten provinces of Sweden....
    )
  • Alvhem (Västra Götaland)
  • Torhamn (Blekinge
    Blekinge

    is one of the provinces of Sweden , situated in the south of the country. It borders Sm?land, Sk?ne and the Baltic Sea.Blekinge consists of 5 towns; Karlskrona, Ronneby, Karlshamn, S?lvesborg and Olofstr?m....
    )
  • Nämforsen (Ångermanland
    Ångermanland

    , is a historical Provinces of Sweden or landskap in the north of Sweden. It borders to Medelpad, J?mtland, Swedish Lapland, V?sterbotten and the Gulf of Bothnia....
    )
  • Häljesta (Västmanland
    Västmanland

    is a historical Provinces of Sweden, or landskap, in middle Sweden. It borders S?dermanland, N?rke, V?rmland, Dalarna and Uppland.The name comes from "West men", referring to the people west of Uppland, the core province of early Sweden....
    )
  • Slagsta (Södermanland
    Södermanland

    , sometimes referred to under its Latin form Sudermannia or Sudermania, is a Provinces of Sweden or landskap on the south eastern coast of Sweden....
    )
  • Glösa (Jämtland
    Jämtland

    , or 'Jamtland' , is a historical Provinces of Sweden or landskap in the center of Sweden in northern Europe. It borders to H?rjedalen and Medelpad in the south, ?ngermanland in the east, Lapland, Sweden in the north and Tr?ndelag and Norway in the west....
    )
  • The King's Grave
    The King's Grave

    The King's Grave near Kivik in the southeastern portion of the Sweden province of Sk?ne is what remains of an unusually grand Nordic Bronze Age double burial c....

Turkey
  • Kars - Kagizman Cave
  • Kars - Camuslu Village
  • Erzurum - Cunni Cave
  • Ordu - Esatli
  • Hakkari - Gevaruk Walley


Ukraine
  • Kamyana Mohyla
    Kamyana Mohyla

    Kamyana Mohyla is an archaeological site in the Molochna River valley, about a mile from the village of Terpinnya, Zaporizhia Oblast, Ukraine....
    , Ukraine
    Ukraine

    Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east; Belarus to the north; Poland, Slovakia, and Hungary to the west; Romania and Moldova to the southwest; and the Black Sea and Sea of Azov to the south....
  • Stone stelae of the Ukraine


Middle East

  • Wadi Rum
    Wadi Rum

    Wadi Rum is a valley cut into the sandstone and granite rock in southwest Jordan. It is the largest wadi in Jordan. The name Rum most likely comes from an Aramaic language root meaning 'high' or 'elevated'....
    , Jordan
    Jordan

    Jordan , officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is an Arab country in Southwest Asia spanning the southern part of the Syrian Desert down to the Gulf of Aqaba....
  • Wadi Faynan, Jordan
  • "Graffiti Rocks", about 110 km SW of Riyadh
    Riyadh

    Riyadh is the Capital of Saudi Arabia and its largest city. It is also the capital of Riyadh Province, and belongs to the historical regions of Nejd and Al-Yamama....
     off the Mecca
    Mecca

    Mecca , also spelled Makkah , Makka is a city in Saudi Arabia. Home to the Masjid al-Haram, it is the holy city in Islam and plays an important role in the faith....
     highway


See also

  • Cave painting
    Cave painting

    Cave paintings are paintings on cave walls and ceilings, and the term is used especially for those dating to prehistoric times. The earliest known European cave paintings date to 32,000 years ago....
  • Rock art
    Rock art

    Rock art is a term in archaeology for any man-made markings made on natural stone. They can be divided into:*Petroglyphs - carvings into stone surfaces...
  • Cup and ring mark
    Cup and ring mark

    Cup and ring marks or cup marks are a form of prehistoric art found mainly in Northern England and Scotland as well as Ireland, Brittany North West Italy, Alps , Thessalia Central Greece and North West Spain although similar forms are also found throughout the world including Mexico, Brazil, Greece, and India ....
  • Geoglyph
    Geoglyph

    File:Geoglifo_arica.jpgA geoglyph is a drawing on the ground, or a large motif , or design produced on the ground, either by arranging clastic to create a positive geoglyph or by removing patinated clasts to expose unpatinated ground ....
  • History of communication
    History of communication

    The history of communication dates back to the earliest signs of life. Communication can range from very subtle processes of exchange, to full conversations and mass communication....
  • Inukshuk
    Inukshuk

    An inuksuk is a man-made stone landmark or cairn, used by the Inuit, Inupiat, Kalaallit, Yupik, and other peoples of the Arctic region of North America, from Alaska to Greenland....
  • Megalithic art
    Megalithic art

    Megalithic art refers to the use of large stones as an artistic medium. Although some modern artists and sculptors make use of large stones in their work, the term is more generally used to describe art carved onto megaliths in prehistoric Europe....
  • Parietal art
    Parietal art

    Parietal art is artwork done on cave walls or large blocks of stone. One of the most famous examples of parietal art is the Grotte Chauvet in France....
  • Pecked curvilinear nucleated art
    Pecked curvilinear nucleated

    Pecked curvilinear nucleated, in archaeology, is a form of prehistoric rock carving. The term was originally proposed by Teresa Miller and Reed Haslam in 1976 to describe a widespread type of rock carving in western North America....
  • Petrosomatoglyph
    Petrosomatoglyph

    A petrosomatoglyph is an image of parts of a human or animal body incised in rock. Many were created by Celtic peoples, such as the Picts, Gaels, Ireland, Cornish people, Cumbrians, Breton peoples and Wales....
  • Petroform
    Petroform

    Petroforms, also known as boulder outlines or boulder mosaics, are human-made shapes and patterns of rocks on the open ground. Petroforms in North America were originally made by Indigenous Peoples, who used various terms to describe them....
  • Runestone and image stone
  • Stela
  • Water glyphs
    Water glyphs

    Water glyphs are a recurring type of petroglyph found across the american southwest, but primarily in southern Utah, northern Arizona, and eastern Nevada....


Further reading

  • 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

  • Bancroft Library's 14000+ citations to rock art literature.