Petroglyph

For other uses, see Petroglyph (disambiguation).
"Rock carving" redirects here. For other uses, see rock art.
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, Spain (4th–2nd millennium BCE), depicting cup and ring marks and deer hunting scenes
Petroglyph of a camel; Negev, southern Israel.
Modern rock relief of Decebalus, king of the Dacians
Reclining Buddha at Gal Vihara, Sri Lanka. The remains of the image house that originally enclosed it can be seen.

Petroglyphs are images created by removing part of a rock surface by incising, picking, carving, or abrading, as a form of rock art. Outside North America, scholars often use terms such as "carving", "engraving", or other descriptions of the technique to refer to such images. Petroglyphs are found world-wide, and are often associated with prehistoric peoples. The word comes from the Greek word 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 petrograph, 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 or parietal 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).

A more developed form of petroglyph, normally found in literate cultures, a rock relief or rock-cut relief is a relief sculpture carved on solid or "living rock" such as a cliff, rather than a detached piece of stone. They are a category of rock art, and sometimes found in conjunction with rock-cut architecture.[1] However, they tend to be omitted in most works on rock art, which concentrate on engravings and paintings by prehistoric peoples. A few such works exploit the natural contours of the rock and use them to define an image, but they do not amount to man-made reliefs. Rock reliefs have been made in many cultures, and were especially important in the art of the Ancient Near East.[2] Rock reliefs are generally fairly large, as they need to be to make an impact in the open air. Most have figures that are over life-size, and in many the figures are multiples of life-size.

Stylistically they normally relate to other types of sculpture from the culture and period concerned, and except for Hittite and Persian examples they are generally discussed as part of that wider subject.[3] The vertical relief is most common, but reliefs on essentially horizontal surfaces are also found. The term typically excludes relief carvings inside caves, whether natural or themselves man-made, which are especially found in India. Natural rock formations made into statues or other sculpture in the round, most famously at the Great Sphinx of Giza, are also usually excluded. Reliefs on large boulders left in their natural location, like the Hittite İmamkullu relief, are likely to be included, but smaller boulders may be called stele or carved orthostats.

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, United States; a common theme in glyphs from the 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.

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".[4]

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 John Collingwood Bruce agreed that the carvings had "... a common origin, and indicate a symbolic meaning, representing some popular thought."[5] In his cataloguing of Scottish rock art, Ronald Morris summarised 104 different theories on their interpretation.[6]

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,[7] 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.[8][9] 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.[10] 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

 Algeria

 Cameroon

 Central African Republic

 Chad

 Republic of the Congo

 Egypt

 Ethiopia

 Gabon

 Libya

 Morocco

 Namibia

 Niger

 South Africa

 Zambia

Asia

 Armenia

Petroglyphs at Ughtasar,Armenia

 Azerbaijan

 China

 Hong Kong

Eight sites in Hong Kong:

 India

Petroglyphs in Ladakh, India

Recently petroglyphs were found from Kollur village 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.[15]

 Iran

Petroglyphs in Teimareh, Khomein, Iran

During recent years a large number of rock carvings has been identified in different parts of Iran. The vast majority depict the ibex.[16][17]

 Israel

 Japan

 Jordan

 Kazakhstan

Hunting scene in Koksu petroglyphs

 Laos

 South Korea

 Kyrgyzstan

 Macau

 Mongolia

 Pakistan

 Philippines

 Saudi Arabia

 Taiwan

 Vietnam

Europe

 Cornwall

 England

Cup and ring marked rocks in:

 Finland

 France

 Ireland

 Italy

 Northern Ireland

 Norway

 Portugal

 Scotland

 Spain

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Petroglyphs in Galicia.

 Russia

Mammoth on the basalt stone in Sikachi-Alyan, Russia

 Sweden

 Turkey

 Ukraine

 Wales

Central and South America and the Caribbean

 Argentina

 Aruba

 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.[25]

 Chile

 Colombia

 Costa Rica

 Dominican Republic

 Nicaragua

 Paraguay

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

 Peru

 Puerto Rico

 Saint Kitts and Nevis

 Suriname

 Trinidad and Tobago

 Venezuela

North America

 Canada

 Mexico

Near Parras, Coahuila

 United States

Petroglyph on western coast of Hawaii
Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park
A color picture of some petroglyphs on a tan sandstone cliff face
Modern Hopi have interpreted the petroglyphs at Mesa Verde National Park's Petroglyph Point as depictions of the Eagle, Mountain Sheep, Parrot, Horned Toad, and Mountain Lion clans, and the Ancestral Puebloans who inhabited the mesa

Oceania

 Australia

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Harmanşah (2014), 5–6
  2. ↑ Harmanşah (2014), 5–6; Canepa, 53
  3. ↑ for example by Rawson and Sickman & Soper
  4. ↑ Ancient Indians made 'rock music'. BBC News (2004-03-19). Retrieved on 2013-02-12.
  5. ↑ J. Collingwood Bruce (1868; cited in Beckensall, S., Northumberland's Prehistoric Rock Carvings: A Mystery Explained. Pendulum Publications, Rothbury, Northumberland. 1983:19)
  6. ↑ Morris, Ronald (1979) The Prehistoric Rock Art of Galloway and The Isle of Man, Blandford Press, ISBN 978-0-7137-0974-2.
  7. ↑ [see Lewis-Williams, D. 2002. A Cosmos in Stone: Interpreting Religion and Society through Rock Art. Altamira Press, Walnut Creek, Ca.]
  8. ↑ Peratt, A.L. (2003). "Characteristics for the occurrence of a high-current, Z-pinch aurora as recorded in antiquity". IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science. 31 (6): 1192. doi:10.1109/TPS.2003.820956.
  9. ↑ Peratt, Anthony L.; McGovern, John; Qoyawayma, Alfred H.; Van Der Sluijs, Marinus Anthony; Peratt, Mathias G. (2007). "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): 778. doi:10.1109/TPS.2007.902630.
  10. ↑ Rockart.wits.ac.za Retrieved on 2013-02-12.
  11. ↑ 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.
  12. ↑ Khechoyan, Anna. "The Rock Art of the Mt. Aragats System | Anna Khechoyan". Academia.edu. Retrieved 2013-08-18.
  13. ↑ Kamat, Nandkumar. "Petroglyphs on the banks of Kushvati". Prehistoric Goan Shamanism. the Navhind times. Retrieved 30 March 2011.
  14. ↑ Petroglyphs of Ladakh: The Withering Monuments. tibetheritagefund.org
  15. ↑ Dolmen with petroglyphs found near Villupuram. Beta.thehindu.com (2009-09-19). Retrieved on 2013-02-12.
  16. ↑ Iranrockart, page by researcher M Naserifard
  17. ↑ Middle East rock art archive- Iran Rock Art
  18. 1 2 3 Nobuhiro, Yoshida (1994) The Handbook For Petrograph Fieldwork, Chou Art Publishing, ISBN 4-88639-699-2, p. 57
  19. ↑ Nobuhiro, Yoshida (1994) The Handbook For Petrograph Fieldwork, Chou Art Publishing, ISBN 4-88639-699-2, p. 54
  20. ↑ Petroglyphic Complexes of the Mongolian Altai – UNESCO World Heritage Centre. Whc.unesco.org (2011-06-28). Retrieved on 2013-02-12.
  21. ↑ Fitzhugh, William W. and Kortum, Richard (2012) Rock Art and Archaeology: Investigating Ritual Landscape in the Mongolian Altai. Field Report 2011. The Arctic Studies Center, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.
  22. ↑ "British Rock Art Blog | A Forum about Prehistoric Rock Art in the British Islands". Rockartuk.wordpress.com. Retrieved 2013-08-18.
  23. ↑ Photos. Celticland.com. (2007-08-13). Retrieved on 2013-02-12.
  24. ↑ "Umeå, Norrfors". Europreart.net. Retrieved 2013-08-18.
  25. ↑ Choi, Charles. "Call this ancient rock carving 'little horny man'." Science on MSNBC. 22 Feb 2012. Retrieved 9 April 2012.
  26. ↑ "The Ascent of Man". Retrieved 28 December 2015.
  27. ↑ "Llamas at La Silla". ESO Picture of the Week. Retrieved 29 April 2014.
  28. ↑ Petroglyph Provincial Park, Nanaimo, Vancouver Island BC. Britishcolumbia.com. Retrieved on 2013-02-12.
  29. ↑ Gabriola Island BC
  30. ↑ Petroglyphs.us. Retrieved on 2013-02-12.
  31. ↑ Keyser, James D. (July 1992). Indian Rock Art of the Columbia Plateau. University of Washington Press. ISBN 978-0-295-97160-5.
  32. ↑ Moore, Donald W. Petroglyph Canyon Tours. Desertusa.com. Retrieved on 2013-02-12.
  33. ↑ Grimes Point National Recreation Trail, Nevada BLM Archaeological Site. Americantrails.org (2012-01-13). Retrieved on 2013-02-12.
  34. ↑ Museums & Historic Sites. ohiohistory.org. Retrieved on 2013-02-12.
  35. ↑ "Paint Lick". Craborchardmuseum.com. Retrieved 2013-08-18.
  36. ↑ Three Rivers Petroglyph Site. Nm.blm.gov (2012-09-13). Retrieved on 2013-02-12.

References

Further reading

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Petroglyphs.
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