Rock art sites

Mysteria

Rock art sites · Mysteria

316 places · page 1 of 14

🇨🇱 Chile · Geoglyph

Cerro Unita Giant

Late Intermediate Pica-Tarapaca 900-1450 CE · Tarapaca caravan and Pica oasis

86-m Atacama anthropomorphic giant (900-1450 CE) on Cerro Unita, largest prehistoric figure in Americas.

🇮🇱 Israel · Rock art

Har Karkom — Paran Desert Rock Art

Bronze Age to Iron Age (3000–1000 BCE) · Negev pastoral nomads (Timnian to Midianite); Amalek hypothesis

Paran mesa 626 panels with 4000 ibex and Anati's 12-stone 'Mount Sinai' sanctuary hypothesis 3000–1000 BCE.

🇪🇬 Egypt · Rock art

Wadi Sura – Cave of Swimmers & Cave of Beasts (Gilf Kebir)

Epipalaeolithic to Neolithic (Holocene humid A, B) · Gilf Kebir Holocene hunter-herders (pre-pastoral)

7,000 BCE Gilf Kebir painted shelters—8,000 hand stencils, 'swimmers' and therianthropic beasts in hyper-arid heart of Sahara.

🇯🇴 Jordan · Rock art

Jebel Qurma Safaitic Rock Art — Black Desert

Hellenistic to Early Islamic (Safaitic literacy 100 BCE–400 CE) · Nomadic Safaitic pastoralists (North Arabian Old Arabic literate nomads)

Harra Black Desert 4500 Safaitic basalt camel–kite petroglyphs 200 BCE–800 CE, Leiden Jebel Qurma project.

🇨🇱 Chile · Geoglyph

Alto Ramírez East Pampa Gallinazo Geoglyphs (Gallinazo Plain Figures)

Middle Horizon to Late Intermediate (Cabuza–Maitas 650–1200 CE) · Lluta Cabuza–Maitas–San Miguel valley traders

31 eastern pampa figures on Gallinazo plain 2.2 km east of Alto Ramírez: rhomb anthropomorphs plus 140 m solstice corridor.

🇦🇲 Armenia · Rock art

Tirinkatar Vishaps and Cultural Landscape

Chalcolithic to Middle Bronze Age (Kura-Araxes, Early Bronze–Lchashen) · Kura-Araxes to Trialeti pastoralists; later Garni-Shengavit

2850 m Aragats: 20 fish–bull dragon stones (vishaps) 5th–2nd mill BCE with libation holes at Aragats springs.

🇮🇷 Iran · Rock art

Behistun (Bisotun) Inscription of Darius I

Achaemenid Empire (Darius I) to Sassanian · Achaemenid Persian; Parthian Arsacid; Sassanian

522 BCE Darius trilingual on cliff 66 m high — cuneiform Rosetta for decipherment, Parthian–Sassanian roadside fringe.

🇵🇪 Peru · Geoglyph

Chaviña Pampa West Quebrada Jaccra Geoglyphs (Quebrada Jaccra Canyon Head)

Early Intermediate (Nazca 5–7, 200 BCE–600 CE) · Lucanas Nazca–Huarpa canyon groups

24 western gorge-head figures at Jaccra 3650 m: arms-aloft giants + spiral and 110 m gorge-arrow to springs.

🇷🇺 Russia · Tumulus

Kalbak-Tash Kurgan Field

Early Bronze to Early Saka, Afanasievo to Saka · Afanasievo to Early Saka Altai

Kalbak-Tash multi-period kurgan field (2800-600 BCE) of 22 cromlechs co-located with 500-panel rock-art gorge on Chuya River.

🇩🇿 Algeria · Rock art

Rock Art of Djelfa — Atlas Saharan

Neolithic to Protohistoric (Bubalus → Bovid pastoral → Libyco-Berber) · Capsian Neolithic pastoralists then Garamantian–Libyco-Berber

Ouled Nail Atlas 1162 ram-engravings 7000–3000 BCE, Bubalus ram 1.2 m with headdress, CapSian cattle pastoral transition.

🇨🇳 China · Rock art

Zuojiang Huashan East Cliff — Fusui Mingjiang Rock Paintings

Bronze Age to Iron Age (Luoyue) · Luoyue (proto-Zhuang) Dian-related

Fusui east cliff of UNESCO Huashan 170-m hematite painting with 1100 frog-shamans and bronze drums, 500 BCE–200 CE.

🇨🇳 China · Rock art

Lianyungang Jiangjunya Rock Art — Mount Kongwang

Longshan Late Neolithic to Eastern Han (2500 BCE–200 CE) · Haidai Longshan (Dongyi) to Han Chinese Buddhist

Lianyungang 15-m General Cliff with 70 Longshan faces and earliest Han Buddha 68 CE overlay on Yellow Sea granite.

🇨🇳 China · Rock art

Yinshan East Panel — Daqingshan Wolf Mountain Petroglyphs

Bronze Age to Iron Age · Andronovo-influenced Ordos, Xiongnu

Daqingshan east Yinshan with 1500 petroglyphs, Andronovo chariot and Ordos deer-stone stags, Shang–Xiongnu.

🇹🇿 Tanzania · Rock art

Kondoa Irangi Rock Paintings (Kolo)

Middle Stone Age to Iron Age (40,000 BCE–500 CE paintings peak) · Hunter-gatherer (Sandawe ancestors) / Pastoral Cushitic / Bantu Isanzu

Sub-cluster of Kondoa WH 150 shelters at Kolo with Kisese II stratified 40 ka to 1,500 CE and layered hunter-to-pastoral-to-Bantu style sequence.

🇦🇲 Armenia · Rock art

Ughtasar High Plateau — Pilgrim Mountain Petroglyph Field

Chalcolithic to Iron Age · Kura-Araxes, Trialeti-Vanadzor, Lchashen-Metsamor

Syunik 3300-m crater-lake plateau with >4000 black basalt petroglyphs, chariot and solar calendar boulders.

🇲🇳 Mongolia · Rock art

Khoit Tsenkher North Cave — Terkhiin Tsagaan Extension

Upper Palaeolithic to Bronze Age · Palaeolithic Altai hunter-gatherers

North branch of Mongolia's only Palaeolithic painted cave, 15000 BCE ochre ostriches and mammoths in limestone.

🇲🇳 Mongolia · Rock art

Orkhon Valley Petroglyphs — Kharkhorin Fringe

Bronze Age to Mongol (Deer stone–Xiongnu–Turkic–Uyghur–Mongol) · Steppe nomadic: Bronze Deer stone culture, Xiongnu, First Turkic Khaganate, Uyghur, Mongol

Orkhon steppe 300 panels Bronze deer-stags to Turkic tamga 1500 BCE–1200 CE on Kharkhorin fringe, UNESCO buffer 1081.

🇨🇱 Chile · Geoglyph

Camarones North Terrace Geoglyphs (Northern Camarones Bluff)

Early Intermediate (Alto Ramírez 400 BCE–350 CE) with Archaic midden · Camarones Alto Ramírez valley fishers–farmers (Chinchorro descendant)

18 north bluff figures 200 m above Camarones gorge: round-head giants + llama and 62 m trapezoid to coastal springs.

🇹🇭 Thailand · Rock art

Phu Phra Bat Historical Park — Sima Stone Tradition

Prehistoric to Dvaravati (7th–13th c.) to Lan Xang · Khorat Bronze to Dvaravati Mon–Khmer Buddhist; Khmer Angkor influence

Udon Thani mushroom boulders with 3000 BCE cattle paintings and 68 Dvaravati Sīma stones 7th–9th c., UNESCO 1507.

🇨🇱 Chile · Geoglyph

Azapa Cerro Moreno Geoglyphs (Mid-Valley Headland Figures)

Formative to Middle Horizon (Alto Ramírez–Tiwanaku 400–1000 CE) · Azapa Tiwanaku–Cabuza–San Miguel valley oasis

26 mid-A with plumed giants + feline on Cerro Moreno 420 m, above Azapa fertile oasis 18 km from Pacific.

🇪🇬 Egypt · Rock art

El-Hosh Rock Inscriptions — Wadi el-Hosh

Epipaleolithic to Predynastic (Naqada I–II, Dynasty 0) · Naqada culture (Upper Egyptian elite) with Eastern Desert Nubian pastoral contact

Wadi el-Hosh 550 Naqada 4000–3000 BCE boats–falcon serekh to smiting, predecessor to Narmer, Huyge 1998.

🇮🇷 Iran · Rock-cut

Karaftu Caves — Heraclean Greek Inscription

Hellenistic–Parthian (Seleucid to Mithridates I) · Seleucid Greek–Iranian magus syncretism (Heracles–Verethragna)

Zagros cave 4 triple chambers with koine 'Heracles rests here' inscription 3rd–1st BCE and spring cistern.

🇪🇬 Egypt · Rock art

Gebel el-Silsila Quarry and Rock Inscriptions

New Kingdom to Roman (1550 BCE–30 BCE–300 CE) · Egyptian Theban; 18th Dynasty onward

Nile's 50-ha sandstone quarry-narrow with 32 shrines 1500 BCE–300 CE; Horemheb speos and flood stelae at 400-m gorge.

🇷🇺 Russia · Rock art

Sagan-Zaba Bay — Lake Baikal White Rock Petroglyphs

Neolithic to Iron Age · Kitoi, Serovo, Glazkovo, Kurumchin

Baikal white marble 20-m cliff with 70 anthropomorphs 6000–800 BCE and surviving red ochre, Okladnikov corpus.

Notable rock art sites

Bir Hima Rock Petroglyphs and Inscriptions

Tsagaan Salaa — White Pass Rock Paintings

Valcamonica Rock Engravings – Naquane National Park

Gobustan Kichikdash South Petroglyphs

Valltorta — Cova dels Cavalls and Culture Park

Bandiagara Escarpment (Land of the Dogon)

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316 places · page 1 of 14

Cerro Unita Giant

Har Karkom — Paran Desert Rock Art

Wadi Sura – Cave of Swimmers & Cave of Beasts (Gilf Kebir)

Jebel Qurma Safaitic Rock Art — Black Desert

Alto Ramírez East Pampa Gallinazo Geoglyphs (Gallinazo Plain Figures)

Tirinkatar Vishaps and Cultural Landscape

Behistun (Bisotun) Inscription of Darius I

Chaviña Pampa West Quebrada Jaccra Geoglyphs (Quebrada Jaccra Canyon Head)

Kalbak-Tash Kurgan Field

Rock Art of Djelfa — Atlas Saharan

Zuojiang Huashan East Cliff — Fusui Mingjiang Rock Paintings

Lianyungang Jiangjunya Rock Art — Mount Kongwang

Yinshan East Panel — Daqingshan Wolf Mountain Petroglyphs

Kondoa Irangi Rock Paintings (Kolo)

Ughtasar High Plateau — Pilgrim Mountain Petroglyph Field

Khoit Tsenkher North Cave — Terkhiin Tsagaan Extension

Orkhon Valley Petroglyphs — Kharkhorin Fringe

Camarones North Terrace Geoglyphs (Northern Camarones Bluff)

Phu Phra Bat Historical Park — Sima Stone Tradition

Azapa Cerro Moreno Geoglyphs (Mid-Valley Headland Figures)

El-Hosh Rock Inscriptions — Wadi el-Hosh

Karaftu Caves — Heraclean Greek Inscription

Gebel el-Silsila Quarry and Rock Inscriptions

Sagan-Zaba Bay — Lake Baikal White Rock Petroglyphs

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Notable rock art sites

Bir Hima Rock Petroglyphs and Inscriptions

Tsagaan Salaa — White Pass Rock Paintings

Valcamonica Rock Engravings – Naquane National Park

Gobustan Kichikdash South Petroglyphs

Valltorta — Cova dels Cavalls and Culture Park

Bandiagara Escarpment (Land of the Dogon)

Country

Heritage

Excavation

Tags

316 places · page 1 of 14