Petroglyph

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Petroglyphs are images created by removing part of a rock surfaces 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 peoples. The word comes from the Greek words petros meaning "stone" and glyphein meaning "to carve" (it 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 mainly in the arctic.

Contents 1 History 2 Interpretation 3 List of petroglyph sites 3.1 Africa 3.2 Australia 3.3 Asia 3.3.1 Azerbaijan 3.3.2 China 3.3.3 India 3.3.4 Kazakhstan 3.3.5 Korea 3.3.6 Kyrgyzstan 3.3.7 Pakistan 3.3.8 Philippines 3.4 Pacific 3.5 South America 3.6 North America 3.6.1 Puerto Rico 3.7 Dominican Republic 3.8 Europe 3.8.1 England 3.8.2 France 3.8.3 Ireland 3.8.4 Italy 3.8.5 Norway 3.8.6 Portugal 3.8.7 Spain 3.8.8 Puerto Rico 3.8.9 Russia 3.8.10 Sweden 3.8.11 Turkey 3.8.12 Ukraine 3.9 Middle East 4 Notes 5 See also 6 Further reading 7 External links

[edit] History

The oldest 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). 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.

[edit] 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". 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 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 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 mostly 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 to be "hard-wired" into the human brain; they frequently occur in visual disturbances and hallucinations brought on by drugs, migraine 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 [1]. 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.

[edit] List of petroglyph sites

[edit] Africa

• Tassili n'Ajjer in Algeria
• Bidzar, Cameroon
• Bambari, Lengo and Bangassou in the south of the Central African Republic; Bwale in the west
• Niola Doa, Chad
• The Niari River valley in the Congo, 250km south west of Brazzaville
• Ogooue River Valley, Gabon
• Akakus, Libya
• Jebel Uweinat, Libya
• The Draa River valley in Morocco
• Twyfelfontein, Namibia
• Life-size giraffe carvings on Dabous Rock, Air Mountains, Niger
• Wadi Hammamat in Qift, Egypt 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

[edit] Australia

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

[edit] Asia

Rock carving on Cheung Chau Island, Hong Kong. This 3000-year-old rock carving was reported by geologists in 1970

Petroglyphs at Cholpon-Ata in Kyrgyzstan

Tamgaly petroglyphs in Kazakstan

Buddhist carvings at Ili river in Kazakstan

[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

• Edakkal Caves
  

  

  Petroglyphs at Edakkal Caves in Wayanad, Kerala. They date back to about 4000 BC.

[edit] Kazakhstan

• Chumysh River basin,
• Tamgaly on the Ili River
• Tamgaly - a World Heritage Site

[edit] Korea

• Bangudae Petroglyphs,

[edit] Kyrgyzstan

• Several sites, mostly in the Tien Shan mountains; Cholpon-Ata, the Talas valley, Siymaliytash (Saimaluu-Tash), and on the rock outcrop called Suleiman's Throne in Osh in the Fergana valley

[edit] Pakistan

• Rock art and petroglyphs in Northern Areas,

[edit] Philippines

Petroglyphs on a rock wall found in the Sierra Madre mountain range, Rizal, Philippines

• Angono Petroglyphs of Rizal,

[edit] Pacific

Petroglyph on western coast of Hawaii

Hawaii Volcanoes National Park

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

• Rapa Nui (Easter Island) Petroglyphs
• Hawaii (particularly the Big Island).

[edit] South America

• Cumbe Mayo, Peru
• Corantijn Basin, Suriname

[edit] North America

Petroglyphs on a Bishop Tuff tableland, eastern California, USA	Southern Utah, USA	Southern Utah, USA	Arches National Park
Peterborough, Ontario, Canada	Arizona, USA	Columbia River Gorge, Washington, USA	Upside-down man in Western Colorado, USA
Rochester Rock Art Panel in the San Rafael Swell in Utah, USA

• Arches National Park, Utah
• Capitol Reef National Park, Utah
• Death Valley National Park, California
• Dinosaur National Monument, Colorado and Utah
• Columbia Hills State Park, Washington^[5]
• The Cove Palisades State Park, Oregon
• Grimes Point, Nevada

[2]

• Jeffers Petroglyphs, Minnesota
• Kanopolis State Park, Kansas
• Kejimkujik National Park, Nova Scotia
• Lava Beds National Monument, Tule Lake, California
• Legend Rock Petroglyph Site, Thermopolis, Wyoming
• Leo Petroglyph, Leo, Ohio [3]
• Newspaper Rock State Historic Monument, Utah
• Maturango Canyon, Coso Range, Northern Mojave, California [4]
• Mina, Nuevo Leon, Mexico
• Olympic National Park, Washington
• Petit Jean State Park, Arkansas
• Petrified Forest National Park
• Petroglyph National Monument
• Petroglyphs Provincial Park, north of Peterborough, Ontario
• Petroglyph Provincial Park, Nanaimo, British Columbia [5]
• Sanilac Petroglyphs Historic State Park, Michigan
• Sedona, Arizona
• Seminole Canyon, Texas
• Sloan Canyon National Conservation Area, Nevada
• Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area, Nevada
• Rochester Rock Art Panel, Utah
• Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada
• South Mountain Park, Arizona
• St John, USVI
• Stuart Lake, British Columbia
• Three Rivers Petroglyphs, New Mexico [6]
• West Virginia glyphs
• Writing Rock State Historical Site, North Dakota
• Writing-on-Stone Provincial Park, East of Milk River, Alberta
• White Tank Mountain Regional Park, Waddell, Arizona

[edit] Puerto Rico

• La Piedra Escrita (The Written Rock) - Jayuya, Puerto Rico

[edit] Dominican Republic

• Cueva de las Maravillas
• Los 3 Ojos

[edit] Europe

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).

[edit] England

• Cup and ring marked rocks in Northumberland, County Durham and North Yorkshire, England

[edit] France

• Mercantour National Park, France

[edit] Ireland

• Newgrange, Ireland

[edit] Italy

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

[edit] Norway

See also: List of rock carvings in 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] Spain

• Petróglifos de Galicia

[edit] Puerto Rico

• La Piedra Escrita - Jayuya, Puerto Rico

[edit] Russia

• Petroglyph Park near Petrozavodsk-Lake Onega, Russia
• Tomskaya Pisanitsa
• Kanozero Petroglyphs

[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

[edit] Turkey

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

[edit] Ukraine

• Kamyana Mohyla, Ukraine
• Stone stelae of the Ukraine

[edit] Middle East

• Wadi Rum, Jordan
• Wadi Faynan, Jordan
• "Graffiti Rocks", about 110 km SW of Riyadh off the Mecca highway

[edit] Notes

[edit] See also

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

[edit] 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

[edit] External links

• 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
• La Silla Petroglyphs (click on Pictures and the Chile 2002/2003, here you find also a map)