Petroglyph

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For other uses, see Petroglyph (disambiguation).
Petroglyphs on Newspaper Rock near Canyonlands National Park, south of Moab, southeastern Utah, USA
Rock carving known as "Meerkatze" (named by archaeologist Leo Frobenius), rampant lionesses in Wadi Methkandoush, Mesak Settafet region of Libya.
European petroglyphs: Laxe dos carballos in Campo Lameiro, Galicia (IV-II millennium BCE), depicting cup and ring marks and deer hunting scenes

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

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

Contents

[edit] History

Composite image of petroglyphs from Scandinavia (Häljesta, Västmanland in Sweden). Nordic Bronze Age. The glyphs have been painted to make them more visible.
A petroglyph of a caravan of bighorn sheep near Moab, Utah, USA; a common theme in glyphs from the desert southwest
A petroglyph in the Paria Canyon near Kanab, Utah, USA; one of the many petroglyphs found in this region. desert southwest

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

[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". Petroglyph maps may show trails, symbols communicating time and distances traveled, as well as the local terrain in the form of rivers, landforms and other geographic features. A petroglyph that represents a landform or the surrounding terrain is known as a Geocontourglyph. They might also have been a by-product of other rituals: sites in India, for example, have been identified as musical instruments or "rock gongs".[1]

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

Some researchers have noticed the resemblance of different styles of petroglyphs across different continents; while it is expected that all people would be inspired by their surroundings, it is harder to explain the common styles. This could be mere coincidence, an indication that certain groups of people migrated widely from some initial common area, or indication of a common origin. In 1853 George Tate read a paper to the Berwick Naturalists' Club at which a Mr John Collingwood Bruce agreed that the carvings had "... a common origin, and indicate a symbolic meaning, representing some popular thought."[2] In his cataloguing of Scottish rock art, Ronald Morris summarised 104 different theories on their interpretation.[3]

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

Other theories suggest that petroglyphs were made by shamans in an altered state of consciousness,[4] perhaps induced by the use of natural hallucinogens. Many of the geometric patterns (known as form constants) which recur in petroglyphs and cave paintings have been shown by David Lewis-Williams to be "hard-wired" into the human brain; they frequently occur in visual disturbances and hallucinations brought on by drugs, migraine and other stimuli.

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

Present-day links between shamanism and rock-art amongst the San people of the Kalahari desert have been studied by the Rock Art Research Institute (RARI) of the University of the Witwatersrand.[7] Though the San people's artworks are predominantly paintings, the beliefs behind them can perhaps be used as a basis for understanding other types of rock art, including petroglyphs. To quote from the RARI website:

Using knowledge of San beliefs, researchers have shown that the art played a fundamental part in the religious lives of its San painters. The art captured things from the San’s world behind the rock-face: the other world inhabited by spirit creatures, to which dancers could travel in animal form, and where people of ecstasy could draw power and bring it back for healing, rain-making and capturing the game.

[edit] List of petroglyph sites

[edit] Africa

[edit]  Algeria

[edit]  Cameroon

[edit]  Central African Republic

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

[edit]  Chad

[edit]  Republic of the Congo

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

[edit]  Egypt

  • Wadi Hammamat in Qift, many carvings and inscriptions dating from before the earliest Egyptian Dynasties to the modern era, including the only painted petroglyph known from the Eastern Desert and drawings of Egyptian reed boats dated to 4000 BCE
  • Inscription Rock in South Sinai, a large rock with carvings and writings ranging from Nabatean to Latin, Ancient Greek and Crusder eras located a few miles from the Ain Hudra Oasis. There is also a second rock approximately 1km from the main rock near the Nabatean tombs of Nawamis with carvings of various animals including Camels, Gazelles and others. The original archaeologists who investigated these in the 1800s have also left their names carved on this rock.

[edit]  Gabon

  • Ogooue River Valley

[edit]  Libya

[edit]  Morocco

[edit]  Namibia

[edit]  Niger

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

[edit]  South Africa

[edit]  Zambia

[edit] Asia

[edit]  Armenia

[edit]  Azerbaijan

[edit]  China

[edit]  India

Petroglyphs in Ladakh, India

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

[edit]  Japan

[edit]  Jordan

[edit]  Kazakhstan

[edit]  South Korea

[edit]  Kyrgyzstan

[edit]  Mongolia

[edit]  Pakistan

[edit]  Philippines

[edit]  Saudi Arabia

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

[edit]  Taiwan

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

[edit]  Turkey

[edit]  Vietnam

  • Sapa ancient rocks

    [edit] Europe

    [edit]  England

    Cup and ring marked rocks in:

    [edit]  Finland

    [edit]  France

    • The sorcerer, vallée des merveilles, France.

    • The tribe master, vallée des merveilles, France.

    [edit]  Ireland

    [edit]  Italy

    [edit]  Norway

    See also: List of rock carvings in Norway

    [edit]  Portugal

    [edit]  Scotland

    [edit]  Spain

    Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Petroglyphs in Galicia
    • Petroglyphs from Galicia[17]

    [edit]  Russia

    [edit]  Sweden

    [edit]  Ukraine


    [edit] Latin America and the Caribbean

    [edit]  Argentina

    [edit]  Saint Kitts and Nevis

    [edit]  Aruba

    [edit]  Brazil

    The oldest reliably dated rock art in the Americas is known as the "Horny Little Man." It is petroglyph depicting a stick figure with an oversized phallus and carved in Lapa do Santo, a cave in central-eastern Brazil and dates from 12,000 to 9,000 years ago.[18]

    • Capivara National Park, Piauí, Brazil
    • Ingá Stone, Paraíba, Brazil
    • Ivolandia, Goiás, Brazil
    • Costao do Santinho, SC, Brazil

    [edit]  Chile

    [edit] Easter Island

    [edit]  Colombia

      [edit]  Costa Rica

      [edit]  Dominican Republic

      [edit]  Mexico

      [edit]  Nicaragua

      [edit]  Peru

      [edit]  Puerto Rico

      [edit]  Suriname

      [edit]  Trinidad and Tobago

      [edit]  Venezuela


      [edit] North America

      [edit]  Canada

      [edit]  United States

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

      [edit] Oceania

      [edit]  Australia

      [edit] See also

      [edit] Notes

      1. ^ Ancient Indians made 'rock music', BBC News Friday, 19 March, 2004
      2. ^ J. Collingwood Bruce (1868; cited in Beckensall, S., Northumberland's Prehistoric Rock Carvings: A Mystery Explained. Pendulum Publications, Rothbury, Northumberland. 1983:19)
      3. ^ Ronald Morris, The Prehistoric Rock Art of Galloway and The Isle of Man (ISBN 978-0-7137-0974-2 , Blandford Press 1979
      4. ^ [see Lewis-Williams, D. 2002. A Cosmos in Stone: Interpreting Religion and Society through Rock Art. Altamira Press, Walnut Creek, Ca.]
      5. ^ Peratt, A. L., ‘Characteristics for the Occurrence of a High-current, Z-pinch Aurora as Recorded in Antiquity’, IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science, 31. 6 (December 2003), 1192-1214
      6. ^ Peratt, A. L., J. McGovern, A. H. Qöyawayma, M. A. van der Sluijs & M. G. Peratt, ‘Characteristics for the Occurrence of a High-Current Z-Pinch Aurora as Recorded in Antiquity Part II: Directionality and Source’, IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science, 35. 4 (2007), 778-807
      7. ^ Rockart.wits.ac.za
      8. ^ Parkington, J. Morris, D. & Rusch, N. 2008. Karoo rock engravings. Clanwilliam: Krakadouw Trust; Morris, D. & Beaumont, P. 2004. Archaeology in the Northern Cape: some key sites. Kimberley: McGregor Museum.
      9. ^ Kamat, Nandkumar. "Petroglyphs on the banks of Kushvati". Prehistoric Goan Shamanism. the Navhind times. http://www.navhindtimes.in/panorama/prehistoric-goan-shamanism. Retrieved 30 March 2011. 
      10. ^ http://www.tibetheritagefund.org/media/download/petroglyphs.pdf
      11. ^ Dolmen with petroglyphs found near Villupuram
      12. ^ Yoshida Nobuhiro, The Handbook For Petrograph Fieldwork, CHUO ART PUBLISHING CO.,LTD(1994), ISBN4-88639-699-2, p.57
      13. ^ Yoshida Nobuhiro, The Handbook For Petrograph Fieldwork, CHUO ART PUBLISHING CO.,LTD(1994), ISBN4-88639-699-2, p.57
      14. ^ Yoshida Nobuhiro, The Handbook For Petrograph Fieldwork, CHUO ART PUBLISHING CO.,LTD(1994), ISBN4-88639-699-2, p.57
      15. ^ Yoshida Nobuhiro, The Handbook For Petrograph Fieldwork, CHUO ART PUBLISHING CO.,LTD(1994), ISBN4-88639-699-2, p.54
      16. ^ http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1382
      17. ^ Celticland.com
      18. ^ Choi, Charles. "Call this ancient rock carving 'little horny man'." Science on MSNBC. 22 Feb 2012. Retrieved 9 April 2012.
      19. ^ Britishcolumbia.com
      20. ^ Petroglyphs.us
      21. ^ Keyser, James D. (July 1992). Indian Rock Art of the Columbia Plateau. University of Washington Press. pp. 139pp. ISBN 978-0-295-97160-5. 
      22. ^ Desertusa.com
      23. ^ Friendsofoiseaurock.ca
      24. ^ Craborchardmuseum.com

      [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

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