A petroglyph is an image 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, estimated to be 20,000 years old are classified as protected monuments and have been added to the tentative list of UNESCO's World Heritage Sites. Petroglyphs are found worldwide, and are often associated with prehistoric peoples. The word comes from the Greek prefix petro-, from πέτρα petra meaning "stone", and γλύφω glýphō meaning "carve", and was originally coined in French as pétroglyphe.
Winnemucca Lake is a dry lake bed in northwest Nevada that features the oldest known petroglyphs in North America. Located astride the border between Washoe and Pershing counties, it was a shallow lake until the 1930s, but was dried when a dam and a road were built that combined to restrict and block water flow. It was formerly designated as a National Wildlife Refuge, but its status as a refuge was removed due to the lack of water.
In archaeology, rock arts are human-made markings placed on natural surfaces, typically vertical stone surfaces. A high proportion of surviving historic and prehistoric rock art is found in caves or partly enclosed rock shelters; this type also may be called cave art or parietal art. A global phenomenon, rock art is found in many culturally diverse regions of the world. It has been produced in many contexts throughout human history. In terms of technique, the four main groups are:
Empusidae is a family of plant-mimicking mantises, consisting of 10 genera, in two subfamilies. Unlike many other mantis families, the Empusidae are a monophyletic lineage. Empusidae mantises are ambush predators, with mouthparts adapted to feeding on other insects and small animals. The majority of Empusidae species are distributed throughout Africa, but they are also found in Southeast Asia and in the southern parts of Europe.
Khomeyn County is in Markazi Province, Iran. Its capital is the city of Khomeyn.
Golpayegan County is in Isfahan province, Iran. Its capital is the city of Golpayegan.
Writing Rock State Historic Site, located twelve miles (19 km) northeast of Grenora, North Dakota in Divide County near the Montana border, is the site of two large granite boulders, carved with petroglyphs featuring thunderbirds, mythological creatures that are of importance in the culture of Plains Indian tribes.
The Edakkal caves are two natural caves at a remote location at Edakkal, 25 km (15.5 mi) from Kalpetta in the Wayanad district of Kerala in India. They lie 1,200 m (3,900 ft) above sea level on Ambukutty Mala, near an ancient trade route connecting the high mountains of Mysore to the ports of the Malabar Coast. Inside the caves are paintings believed to date to at least 6,000 BCE, from the Neolithic man, indicating the presence of a prehistoric settlement in this region. The Stone Age carvings of Edakkal are rare and are the only known examples from South India besides those of Shenthurini, Kollam, also in Kerala. The cave paintings of Shenthurini (Shendurney) forests in Kerala are of the Mesolithic era.
Sydney rock engravings, or Sydney rock art, are a form of Australian Aboriginal rock art in the sandstone around Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, that consist of carefully drawn images of people, animals, or symbols. Many thousands of such engravings are known to exist in the Sydney region, although the locations of most are not publicised to prevent damage by vandalism, and to retain their sanctity, as they are still regarded as sacred sites by Indigenous Australians. There are two art environments in Sydney Basin, rock shelters and engraving sites.
Chumash rock art is a genre of paintings on caves, mountains, cliffs, or other living rock surfaces, created by the Chumash people of Southern California. Pictographs and petroglyphs are common through interior California, the rock painting tradition thrived until the 19th century. Chumash rock art is considered to be some of the most elaborate and plentiful rock art tradition in the region.
Yafteh is an Upper Paleolithic cave located at the foot of Yafteh Mountain in the Zagros Mountains range, located northwest of Khoramabad in western Zagros, Lorestan Province of western Iran.
American Indian Rock Art in Minnesota MPS is a Multiple Property Submission (MPS) of the eligibility of many rock art properties for listing on the National Register of Historic Places. The listing is to protect and preserve Native American petroglyphs, pictographs and petroform rock art sites in the present day U.S. state of Minnesota.
Aboriginal sites of New South Wales consist of a large number of places in the Australian state of New South Wales where it is still possible to see visible signs of the activities and culture of the Aboriginal Australian peoples who previously occupied these areas.
The prehistory of the Iranian plateau, and the wider region now known as Greater Iran, as part of the prehistory of the Near East is conventionally divided into the Paleolithic, Epipaleolithic, Neolithic, Chalcolithic, Bronze Age and Iron Age periods, spanning the time from the first settlement by archaic humans about a million years ago until the beginning of the historical record during the Neo-Assyrian Empire, in the 8th century BC.
Darreh Shahr Ancient City, also known as Madaktu and Seymareh, is the name of a 200 hectares ruined area next to the existing city of Darreh Shahr in southwest Iran, in Ilam Province. The ruins belong to an ancient city of the late Sassanid era and is believed to be built on remnants of the Elamite capital, Madaktu. Historic texts and also recent findings reveal the fact that the city included about 5,000 houses with some modern aspects such as a water distribution system through clay pipes and underground sewers. The city was destroyed and deserted after a huge earthquake around 950 AD.
The Picture Rock Pass Petroglyphs Site is in northern Lake County, Oregon, United States. The site is located near the summit of Picture Rock Pass on land administered by the Bureau of Land Management. The designs were scraped into a basalt boulder by ancient Native Americans, probably between 7,500 and 12,000 years ago. No one knows the meaning of the petroglyph designs. Because of its unique archaeological and cultural significance, the Picture Rock Pass Petroglyph Site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975.
Aiken's Wash is an archaeologically and geologically significant wash located in the Mojave National Preserve in San Bernardino County, California. The wash includes several pictograph and petroglyph sites dating from the late pre-Columbian period. The proximity of pictographs and petroglyphs is unusual in the Mojave Desert region. The area was added to the National Register of Historic Places as the Aiken's Wash National Register District. The district comprises 1,450 acres (590 ha), including all major archaeological sites in the wash.
The East Lake Abert Archeological District is an area in Lake County, Oregon, United States, that features numerous prehistoric camp sites and petroglyphs. It is located along the eastern shore of Lake Abert on land administered by the Bureau of Land Management and the Oregon Department of Transportation. The site includes stone-walled house pits and prehistoric rock art made by ancient Native Americans who occupied the site for approximately 11,000 years. Because of its unique archaeological and cultural significance, the East Lake Abert Archaeological District was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.
The Ambadevi rock shelters are part of an extensive cave site, where the oldest yet known traces of human life in the central province of the Indian subcontinent were discovered. The site is located in the Satpura Range of the Gawilgarh Hills in Betul District of the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, north of Dharul village in Amravati district of Maharashtra. Studies of various rock paintings and petroglyphs present in the caves suggest, that the Ambadevi rock shelters were inhabited by prehistoric human settlers since around 25,000 years ago. First discoveries of clusters of numerous rock shelters and caves were made by Vijay Ingole and his team beginning on 27 January 2007. Named after the nearby ancient Ambadevi Cave Temple, the site has also been referred to as the Satpura-Tapti valley caves and the Gavilgarh-Betul rock shelters. The Ambadevi rock shelters rank among the most important archaeological discoveries of the early 21st Century in India, on par with the 20th Century discovery of the Bhimbetka rock shelters.
The Museum of Ancient Iran is located at the western part of Mashhq Square in Tehran, Iran. It was designed by André Godard by the order of Ali-Asghar Hekmat, then Minister of Education of Pahlavi Iran. Two Iranian master builders, Ostad Morad Tabrizi and Abbas Ali Memar, constructed the building. Construction of the museum was started in 1934 and was completed in 1937. It was subsequently opened for the public.
