Petroglyphs (also called rock engravings) are pictogram A pictograph is an ideogram that conveys its meaning through its pictorial resemblance to a physical object. Earliest examples of pictographs include ancient or prehistoric drawings or paintings found on rock walls. Pictographs are also used in writing and graphic systems in which the characters are to considerable extent pictorial in appearance and logogram A logogram, or logograph, is a grapheme which represents a word or a morpheme . This stands in contrast to phonograms, which represent phonemes (speech sounds) or combinations of phonemes, and determinatives, which mark semantic categories images An image is an artifact, for example a two-dimensional picture, that has a similar appearance to some subject—usually a physical object or a person created by removing part of a rock In geology, rock is a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals and/or mineraloids 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 is a term used to describe the period before recorded history. Paul Tournal originally coined the term Pré-historique in describing the finds he had made in the caves of southern France.[citation needed] It came into use in France in the 1830s to describe the time before writing, and the word "prehistoric" was introduced into peoples. The word comes from the Greek Greek , an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages, is the language of the Greeks. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. In its ancient form, it is the language of classical ancient Greek literature and the New Testament of words petros meaning "stone" and glyphein meaning "to carve", and was originally coined in French French is a Romance language spoken as a first language by about 136 million people worldwide. Around 190 million people speak French as a second language, and an additional 200 million speak it as an acquired foreign language. French speaking communities are present in 57 countries and territories. Most native speakers of the language live in as pétroglyphe.

The term petroglyph should not be confused with pictograph A pictograph is an ideogram that conveys its meaning through its pictorial resemblance to a physical object. Earliest examples of pictographs include ancient or prehistoric drawings or paintings found on rock walls. Pictographs are also used in writing and graphic systems in which the characters are to considerable extent pictorial in appearance, 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 In addition, petroforms and inukshuks are rock art made by aligning or piling natural stones. The stones themselves are used as large markings on the ground and Petroforms Petroforms, also known as boulder outlines or boulder mosaics, are human-made shapes and patterns made by lining up large rocks on the open ground, often on quite level areas. Petroforms in North America were originally made by Indigenous Peoples, who used various terms to describe them. Petroforms can also include a rock cairn or inukshuk, an, or patterns and shapes made by many large rocks and boulders over the ground, are also quite different. Inukshuks An inuksuk (from the Inuktitut: ᐃᓄᒃᓱᒃ, plural ᐃᓄᒃᓱᐃᑦ; alternatively inukshuk in English or inukhuk in Inuinnaqtun) is a stone landmark or cairn built by humans, used by the Inuit, Inupiat, Kalaallit, Yupik, and other peoples of the Arctic region of North America. These structures are found from Alaska to Greenland. This are also unique, and found only in the Arctic (except for reproductions and imitations built in more southerly latitudes).

Contents

History

Composite image of petroglyphs from Scandinavia Scandinavia is a region in northern Europe that includes Denmark, Norway and Sweden. Modern Norway and Sweden form the Scandinavian Peninsula. The name Scandinavia is considered to have the same etymology as Scania. Finland is sometimes considered a Scandinavian country in common English usage, and Iceland and the Faroe Islands are sometimes also (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 Bighorn sheep is a species of sheep in North America with large horns. The horns can weigh up to 30 pounds (14 kg), while the sheep themselves weigh up to 300 pounds (140 kg). Recent genetic testing indicates that there are three distinct subspecies of Ovis canadensis, one of which is endangered: Ovis canadensis sierrae near Moab, Utah Moab is a city in Grand County, in eastern Utah, in the western United States. It is 233 miles southeast of Salt Lake City and 354 miles (569 km) west of Denver, Colorado, about 30 miles south of Interstate 70 at the intersection of U.S. Route 191 and State Route 128. The population was 4,779 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Grand, USA ^ b. English is the de facto language of American government and the sole language spoken at home by 80% of Americans age five and older. Spanish is the second most commonly spoken language; a common theme in glyphs from the desert A desert is a landscape or region that receives an extremely low amount of precipitation, less than enough to support growth of most plants. Deserts are defined as areas with an average annual precipitation of less than 250 millimetres per year, or as areas where more water is lost by evapotranspiration than falls as precipitation. In the Köppen southwest

The oldest petroglyphs are dated to approximately the Neolithic and late 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 10,000 years ago, roughly coinciding with the appearance of behavioural modernity and before the advent of agriculture. The terms "Late Stone Age" and & boundary, about 10,000 to 12,000 years ago, if not earlier (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 systems Writing systems are distinguished from other possible symbolic communication systems in that one must usually understand something of the associated spoken language to comprehend the text. By contrast, other possible symbolic systems such as information signs, painting, maps and mathematics often do not require prior knowledge of a spoken language, such as pictographs A pictograph is an ideogram that conveys its meaning through its pictorial resemblance to a physical object. Earliest examples of pictographs include ancient or prehistoric drawings or paintings found on rock walls. Pictographs are also used in writing and graphic systems in which the characters are to considerable extent pictorial in appearance and ideograms An ideogram or ideograph is a graphic symbol that represents an idea or concept. Some ideograms are comprehensible only by familiarity with prior convention; others convey their meaning through pictorial resemblance to a physical object, and thus may also be referred to as pictograms, began to appear. Petroglyphs were still common though, and some cultures continued using them much longer, even until contact with Western culture Western culture refers to cultures of European origin was made in the 20th century. Petroglyphs have been found in all parts of the globe except Antarctica Antarctica (pronounced /ænˈtɑrktɪkə/ ) is Earth's southernmost continent, underlying the South Pole. It is situated in the Antarctic region of the southern hemisphere, almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle, and is surrounded by the Southern Ocean. At 14.0 million km2 (5.4 million sq mi), it is the fifth-largest continent in area after with highest concentrations in parts of Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second most-populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area. With a billion people (as of 2009, see table) in 61 territories, it accounts for about 14.72% of the world's human population, Scandinavia Scandinavia is a region in northern Europe that includes Denmark, Norway and Sweden. Modern Norway and Sweden form the Scandinavian Peninsula. The name Scandinavia is considered to have the same etymology as Scania. Finland is sometimes considered a Scandinavian country in common English usage, and Iceland and the Faroe Islands are sometimes also, Siberia Siberia , is a vast region, constituting almost all of Northern Asia and currently the massive central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, as it was in the USSR from its beginning, and the Russian Empire since the 16th century, southwestern North America North America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and in the western hemisphere. It is bordered on the north by the Arctic Ocean, on the east by the North Atlantic Ocean, on the southeast by the Caribbean Sea, and on the west by the North Pacific Ocean; South America lies to the southeast and Australia For at least 40,000 years before European settlement in the late 18th century, Australia was inhabited by indigenous Australians, who belonged to one or more of the roughly 250 language groups. After sporadic visits by fishermen from the immediate north and discovery by Dutch explorers in 1606, Australia's eastern half was claimed by the British.

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 is the representation of language in a textual medium through the use of a set of signs or symbols . It is distinguished from illustration, such as cave drawing and painting, and non-symbolic preservation of language via non-textual media, such as magnetic tape audio". 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 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 The Nordic Bronze Age is the name given by Oscar Montelius to a period and a Bronze Age culture in Scandinavian pre-history, c. 1700-500 BC, with sites that reached as far east as Estonia. Succeeding the Late Neolithic culture, its ethnic and linguistic affinities are unknown in the absence of written sources. It is followed by the Pre-Roman Iron in Scandinavia seem to refer to some form of territorial boundary between tribes A tribe, viewed historically or developmentally, consists of a social group existing before the development of, or outside of, states, 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 The runic alphabets are a set of related alphabets using letters known as runes to write various Germanic languages prior to the adoption of the Latin alphabet and for specialized purposes thereafter. The Scandinavian variants are also known as futhark ; the Anglo-Saxon variant is futhorc (due to sound changes undergone in Old English by the same, 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 is physical movement by humans from one area to another, sometimes over long distances or in large groups. The movement of populations in modern times has continued under the form of both voluntary migration within one's region, country, or beyond, and involuntary migration . People who migrate are called migrants or more 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 Analytical psychology is the school of psychology originating from the ideas of Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung, and then advanced by his students and other thinkers who followed in his tradition. It is distinct from Freudian psychoanalysis but also has a number of similarities. Its aim is the apprehension and integration of the deep forces and and the views of 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. His theory that hierophanies form the basis of religion, splitting the human experience of. According to these theories it is possible that the similarity of petroglyphs (and other atavistic 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. Atavisms occur because genes for previously existing phenotypical features are often preserved in DNA, even though the genes are not expressed in some or most of the organisms or archetypal An archetype is an original model of a person, ideal example, or a prototype upon which others are copied, patterned, or emulated; a symbol universally recognized by all. In psychology, an archetype is a model of a person, personality, or behavior symbols A symbol is something such as an object, picture, written word, sound, or particular mark that represents something else by association, resemblance, or convention. For example, a red octagon may be a symbol for "STOP". On maps, crossed sabres may indicate a battlefield. Numerals are symbols for numbers . All language consists of symbols) from different cultures and continents is a result of the genetically Genetics , a discipline of biology, is the science of heredity and 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. However, the modern science of genetics, which seeks to understand the process of inherited structure of the human brain.

Other theories suggest that petroglyphs were made by shamans Shamanism is an anthropological term referencing a range of beliefs and practices regarding communication with the spiritual world. A practitioner of shamanism is known as a shaman in an 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. The expression was used as early as 1969 by Charles Tart and describes induced changes in one's mental state, almost always temporary. A synonymous phrase is "altered states of[4], perhaps induced by the use of natural hallucinogens These classes of psychoactive drugs have in common that they can cause subjective changes in perception, thought, emotion and consciousness. Unlike other psychoactive drugs, such as stimulants and opioids, the hallucinogens do not merely amplify familiar states of mind, but rather induce experiences that are qualitatively different from those of. Many of the geometric Geometry "Earth-measuring" is a part of mathematics concerned with questions of size, shape, relative position of figures, and the properties of space. Geometry is one of the oldest sciences. Initially a body of practical knowledge concerning lengths, areas, and volumes, in the 3rd century BC geometry was put into an axiomatic form by patterns A pattern, from the French patron, is a type of theme of recurring events or objects, sometimes referred to as elements of a set. These elements repeat in a predictable manner. It can be a template or model which can be used to generate things or parts of a thing, especially if the things that are created have enough in common for the underlying (known as form constants A form constant is one of several geometric patterns which are recurringly observed during hallucinations and altered states of consciousness) which recur in petroglyphs and cave paintings 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 Aurignacian, some 32,000 years ago. The purpose of the paleolithic cave paintings is not known. The evidence suggests that they were not merely decorations of living 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 Migraine is a neurological syndrome characterized by altered bodily perceptions, severe headaches, and nausea. Physiologically, the migraine headache is a neurological condition more common to women than to men. The word migraine was borrowed from Old French migraigne . The French term derived from a vulgar pronunciation of the Late Latin word and other stimuli.

Present-day links between shamanism and rock-art amongst the San people of the Kalahari The Kalahari Desert is a large arid to semi-arid sandy area in Southern Africa extending 900,000 square kilometres (350,000 sq mi), covering much of Botswana and parts of Namibia and South Africa, as semi-desert, with huge tracts of excellent grazing after good rains. The Kalahari Desert is the southern part of Africa, and the geography is a desert have been studied by the Rock Art Research Institute (RARI) of the 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. The university has its roots in the mining industry, as does Johannesburg and the Witwatersrand in general [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

Australia

Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park, Australia

part of a 20 metre long petroglyph, at Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park, Australia

Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park, Australia

Mutawintji National Park, Australia
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 Petroglyphs on a rock wall found in the Sierra Madre mountain range, Rizal, Philippines

Asia

Armenia

Azerbaijan

China

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. [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

Hawaii Volcanoes National Park

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

South America

Cave petroglyph near El Abra archaeological site, Colombia

Central America

North America

Petroglyphs on a Bishop Tuff tableland, eastern California, USA

Southern Utah, USA

Southern Utah, USA

Arches National Park

Peterborough, Ontario, Canada

Animal print carvings outside of Barnesville, Ohio

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

Outside Parras, Coahuila, Mexico

Web-like petroglyph on the White Tank Mountain Regional Park Waterfall Trail, Arizona, USA

Chipping petroglyph on the White Tank Mountain Regional Park Waterfall Trail, Arizona, USA

Sample of petroglyphs at Painted Rock near Gila Bend, Arizona off Interstate 8.

Puye Cliff Dwellings, New Mexico
Puerto Rico

Dominican Republic

Saint Kitts & Nevis

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).

Petroglyph at Dalgarven Mill, Ayrshire, Scotland.

England

Cup and ring marked rocks in:

Finland

France

Scotland

Ireland

Italy

Norway

See also: List of rock carvings in Norway

Portugal

Spain

Petroglyphs from Galicia (Spain)

Russia

Sweden

Turkey

Ukraine

Middle East

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. ^ 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.
  6. ^ http://beta.thehindu.com/news/national/article22589.ece?homepage=true
  7. ^ 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

External links

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Why are there almost -0 photographs of the Tanumshede Petroglyphs on the web? 5000 discovered since 1972.?
Q. I have been researching petroglyphs found from all over the world. I just read that the United Nations has declared Tanumshede Sweden, "A World Heritage" site. Archaeologists have discovered 5000 ancient rock drawings in a 3000 sq. mile radius since 1972. They have deciphered their placement is a star map, a map of the heavens. They claim this region is the, 'Dawn of Astronomy.' If these Glyphs are so important, and the UN has referenced this area as A World Heritage site, then why can't I find more than two photographs? There are hundreds of the Anasazi rock drawings in books and on the web but there are no photos of the rock art discovered in the Tanumshede region. I want to know why and if I should be looking somewhere else?
Asked by Sherry M - Mon Dec 31 04:04:56 2007 - - 1 Answers - 0 Comments

A. I'm not an archaeologist but I would be interested in seeing those photos too. Seems to me that the UN likes to make big announcements and not back them up. I see a trend here.
Answered by Elliott J - Mon Dec 31 04:10:43 2007

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