Rock art

Rock art is a term in archaeology for any markings that were made on natural stone by human beings. They can be divided into:

• Petroglyphs – carvings into stone surfaces
• Pictographs – rock and cave paintings

In addition, there is rock art made by aligning or piling natural stones. The stones themselves are used as large markings on the ground.

Location

One can find petroglyphs and pictographs on the walls of a cave or on rock in open air.

Similar terms

Rock art has also been described as rock records, rock sculptures, rock inscriptions, rock carvings, rock paintings, rock engravings, rock drawings, or rock pictures.

Gallery

• 
  Buddhist stone carvings at Ili River, Kazakhstan
• 
  Rock Shelters of Bhimbetka rock painting, World Heritage Site
• 
  "The Shoemaker", Brastad, Sweden

Related pages

• Cave painting
• Upper Palaeolithic

References

Further reading

• Malotki, Ekkehart and Weaver, Donald E. Jr., 2002, Stone Chisel and Yucca Brush: Colorao Plateau Rock Art, Kiva Publishing Inc., Walnut, CA, ISBN 1-885772-27-0 (cloth). For the "general public", this book has well over 200 color prints with commentary on each site where the photos were taken; the organization begins with the earliest art and goes to modern times.
• Rohn, Arthur H. and Freguson, William M, 2006, Puebloan ruins of the Southwest, University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque, NM, ISBN 0-8263-3970-0 (pbk, : alk. paper). Adjunct to the primary discussion of the ruins, contains color prints of rock art at the sites, plus interpretations.
• Schaafsma, Polly, 1980, Indian Rock Art of the Southwest, School of American Research, Sana Fe, University of New Mexico press, Albuquerque, NM, ISBN 0-8263-0913-5. Scholarly text with 349 references, 32 color plates, 283 black and white "Figures", 11 Maps, and 2 Tables.

Other websites

• Ekaterina, Devlet. 2001. Rock Art and the material culture of Siberian and central Asian shamanism. In The Archaeology of Shamanism. 43-54. 01/04/2007. Archived 2006-08-28 at the Wayback Machine
• Rock Art studies Archived 2002-01-27 at the Wayback Machine - A Bibliographic database at the Bancroft Library containing over 10,000 citations to the world's rock art literature.
• The website of Rock Art Foundation - Native American Rock Art Archived 2011-07-22 at the Wayback Machine
• Trust for African Rock Art Archived 2020-11-26 at the Wayback Machine
• British Rock Art Collection Archived 2006-04-22 at the Wayback Machine
• ARARA American Rock Art Research Association.
• Rupestre.net A rock art site, mainly devoted to Valcamonica and Alpine Rock Art.
• EuroPreArt The database of European Prehistoric Art.
• Art and Archaeology of the Dampier Archipelago Archived 2021-03-28 at the Wayback Machine
• Bradshaw Foundation Supports dissemination of information on rock art, migration, and the study of artistic man around the world.
• Rock Art in South Africa http://rockart.wits.ac.za/origins/ Archived 2005-07-15 at the Wayback Machine
• UNESCO World Heritage: Rock Shelters of Bhimbetka