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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.
Petroglyphs (also called rock engravings) are images created by removing part of a 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 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 only in the Arctic (except for reproductions and imitations built in more southerly latitudes).
History
Composite image of petroglyphs from
Scandinavia (Häljesta, Västmanland in Sweden). Nordic Bronze Age. The glyphs have been painted to make them more visible.
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.
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 terrian 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 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 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.
List of petroglyph sites
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, 250 km 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
- Driekops Eiland near Kimberley, South Africa[5]
- ǀXam and ǂKhomani heartland in the Karoo, Northern Cape, South Africa
- Wildebeest Kuil Rock Art Centre near Kimberley, Northern Cape, South Africa
- Nyambwezi Falls in the north-west province of Zambia.
Australia
Asia
Azerbaijan
China
India
- Bhimbetka Rock Shelters, Raisen District, Madhya Pradesh, India.
- Edakkal Caves, Wayanad District, Kerala, India.
- Perumukkal, Thindivanam District, Tamil Nadu, India.
- Kollur, Villupuram, Tamil Nadu.
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 Tamilnadu, India. [6]
Kazakhstan
Korea
Kyrgyzstan
Pakistan
Philippines
Taiwan
The Wanshan Petroglyphs near Maolin, Kaohsiung, were discovered between 1978 and 2002.
Pacific
Petroglyph on western coast of Hawaii
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South America
Central America
North America
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Web-like petroglyph on the White Tank Mountain Regional Park Waterfall Trail, Arizona, USA
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Chipping petroglyph on the White Tank Mountain Regional Park Waterfall Trail, Arizona, USA
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Sample of petroglyphs at Painted Rock near Gila Bend, Arizona off Interstate 8.
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- California Petroglyphs & Pictographs [2]
- 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[7]
- The Cove Palisades State Park, Oregon
- Grimes Point, Nevada [3]
- Jeffers Petroglyphs, Minnesota
- Kanopolis State Park, Kansas
- Kejimkujik National Park, Nova Scotia
- La Proveedora, Caborca, Mexico
- Lava Beds National Monument, Tule Lake, California
- Legend Rock Petroglyph Site, Thermopolis, Wyoming
- Leo Petroglyph, Leo, Ohio [4]
- Newspaper Rock State Historic Monument, Utah
- Maturango Canyon, Coso Range, Northern Mojave, California [5]
- Boca de Potrerillos Park, Mina, Nuevo Leon, Mexico
- Olympic National Park, Washington
- Paintlick Mountain, Tazewell, Virginia [6]
- 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 [7]
- Puye Cliff Dwellings, New Mexico
- Ring Mountain, Marin County, California
- 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
- Saint John, U.S. Virgin Islands
- Stuart Lake, British Columbia
- Three Rivers Petroglyphs, New Mexico [8]
- West Virginia glyphs
- Writing Rock State Historical Site, North Dakota
- Writing-on-Stone Provincial Park, East of Milk River, Alberta
- Oiseau Rock Petroglyphs on the Ottawa River, Canada
- White Tank Mountain Regional Park, Waddell, 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
Saint Kitts & Nevis
- Carib Petroglyphs - Wingfield Manor Estate, Saint Kitts
Europe
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Carving "The Shoemaker", Brastad, Sweden
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Petroglyph in Roque Bentayga, Gran Canaria (Canary Islands).
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England
Cup and ring marked rocks in:
Finland
France
Scotland
Ireland
Italy
Norway
Portugal
Spain
Petroglyphs from Galicia (Spain)
Russia
Sweden
Turkey
- Kars - Kagizman Cave
- Kars - Camuslu Village
- Erzurum - Cunni Cave
- Ordu - Esatli
- Hakkari - Gevaruk Walley
Ukraine
Middle East
Notes
- ^ Ancient Indians made 'rock music', BBC News Friday, 19 March, 2004
- ^ J. Collingwood Bruce (1868; cited in Beckensall, S., Northumberland's Prehistoric Rock Carvings: A Mystery Explained. Pendulum Publications, Rothbury, Northumberland. 1983:19)
- ^ Ronald Morris, The Prehistoric Rock Art of Galloway and The Isle of Man (ISBN 978-0-7137-0974-2 , Blandford Press 1979
- ^ [see Lewis-Williams, D. 2002. A Cosmos in Stone: Interpreting Religion and Society through Rock Art. Altamira Press, Walnut Creek, Ca.]
- ^ 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.
- ^ http://beta.thehindu.com/news/national/article22589.ece?homepage=true
- ^ Keyser, James D. (July 1992). Indian Rock Art of the Columbia Plateau. University of Washington Press. pp. 139pp.. ISBN 978-0295971605.
See also
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
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