Petroglyphs on Newspaper Rock State Historic Monument, southern Utah, USA
_Petroglyphs_Wadi_Methkandoush_Luca_Galuzzi_2007.jpg)
Rock carving known as "Meercatze" (named by archaeologist Leo Frobenius) in Wadi Methkandoush, Mesak Settafet region of Libya.
'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 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.
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
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". 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.''
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, 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
Australia
★
Arnhem Land /
Kakadu National Park, Northern Australia
★
Murujuga,
Western Australia - world heritage assessed
★
Sydney Rock Engravings, New South Wales
Asia
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
India
★
Rock Shelters of Bhimbetka
★
Edakkal Caves
Kazakhstan
★
Chumysh River basin,
★
Tamgaly on the
Ili River - a
World Heritage Site
Korea
★
Bangudae Petroglyphs,
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
Pakistan
★
Rock art and petroglyphs in Northern Areas,
Philippines
العربية
中国
Français
Deutsch
Ελληνική
हिन्दी
Italiano
日本語
Português
Русский
Español
