Rock art
Rock art is a term in archaeology for any markings that were made on natural stone by human beings.[1] 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
[change | change source]One can find petroglyphs and pictographs on the walls of a cave or on rock in open-air.
Similar terms
[change | change source]Rock art has also been described as rock records,[2] rock sculptures,[3] rock inscriptions,[4] rock carvings,[5] rock paintings,[6] rock engravings,[7] rock drawings,[8] rock pictures,[9]
Gallery
[change | change source]-
Buddhist stone carvings at Ili River, Kazakhstan -
Rock Shelters of Bhimbetka rock painting, World Heritage Site -
"The Shoemaker", Brastad, Sweden
Related pages
[change | change source]References
[change | change source]- ↑ The term "rock art" appears to have been used first used in about 1959: "The rock art tells us little for certain about marriage customs." J D. Clark, Prehist. S. Afr. ix. 248, 1959
- ↑ Moore G. 1861. The lost tribes and the Saxons of the East: with translations of rock-records in India.
- ↑ Tylor 1865. Early history of Man. v. 88, "Rock-sculptures may often be symbolic boundary marks".
- ↑ Deutsch, Rem. 177, 1874: The long rock-inscription of Hamamât.
- ↑ Chadwick H.M. 1907. The rock-carvings at Tegneby. Origin Eng. Nation xii. 306.
- ↑ Encycl. Relig. & Ethics I. 822/2, 1908: "The rock-paintings are either stencilled or painted in outline".
- ↑ Wells H.G. 1920 Outl. Hist. I. xvii. 126/1: "From rock engravings we may deduce the theory that the desert was crossed from oasis to oasis".
- ↑ Winkler H.A. 1938. Rock-drawings of southern Upper Egypt I. 26.
- ↑ Man No. 119. 178/2, 1939: "On one of the stalactite pillars was found a big round stone with traces of red paint on its surface, as used in the rock-pictures"
Further reading
[change | change source]- 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
[change | change source]- 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