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CategoriesRock art sites
Paintings and engravings from the deepest human past.
🇮🇹 Italy · Rock art
Hellenistic (323–31 BCE) · Hellenistic
Rock Art of Torr Workshop Midfield in Sicily, Italy is a Hellenistic (323–31 BCE) rock art attributed to Hellenistic culture.
🇮🇳 India · Cave
Mesolithic (10000–6000 BCE) · Mesolithic
Arhar — Son Valley Microlithic in Madhya Pradesh, Son valley, India is a Mesolithic (10000–6000 BCE) cave attributed to Mesolithic culture.
🇲🇽 Mexico · Ancient city
Late Formative–Early Classic 600 BCE–200 CE · Zapotec (Dainzú phase)
Zapotec ballplayer gallery: 47 helmed player reliefs with trophy heads and jaguar deities on Building A.
🇦🇺 Australia · Rock art
Pleistocene to Holocene (c.45,000 BCE–present; classic Panaramitee tradition) · Aboriginal Australian (Adnyamathanha, etc)
Panaramitee – pan-continental pecking tradition (Panaramitee style) of classic circle, dot, crescent, track and line motifs on desert varnished rocks; type site Panaramitee Station South Australia.
🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Megalith
Neolithic to Early Medieval · Dál Riata (Gaelic) over Neolithic substratum
Hillfort capital of Dál Riata atop rock in Moine Mhòr, with Neolithic art and royal footprint carving.
🇳🇬 Nigeria · Rock art
Iron Age to Historic (500 BCE–19th c.) · Nok-derived / Bauchi hunters
Granite cliff with 300 inscriptions and cattle engravings (hunters' oath site).
🇧🇼 Botswana · Rock art
Later Stone Age to recent (~8000 BCE – historical) · San (Basarwa) hunter-gatherer and Bantu pastoralist
Four quartzite inselbergs rising abruptly from the Kalahari sandveldt preserve over 4,500 paintings across 500 sites, dominated by the 1,400-m Male Hill.
🇸🇴 Somalia · Archaeological wonder
Neolithic Pastoral (c.5000–3000 BCE; dated by stratum ceramics) · Early Cushitic Pastoral Neolithic / Horn of Africa pastoralists
Exceptionally preserved Neolithic rock art shelters discovered 2002 by French team (Xavier Gutherz): 10 granite alcoves with polychrome paintings 5000–3000 BCE – long-horned cattle with udders,…
🇧🇴 Bolivia · Rock art
Ubaid (6500–3800 BCE) · Ubaid
Narrow-Moat Rock Shelter in Oruro, Bolivia is a Ubaid (6500–3800 BCE) rock art attributed to Ubaid culture.
🇴🇲 Oman · Rock art
Harappan (2600–1900 BCE) · Harappan
Hillfort Bagh Petroglyph Field in Dhofar, Oman is a Harappan (2600–1900 BCE) rock art attributed to Harappan culture.
🇨🇳 China · Rock art
Neolithic to Xiongnu–Han (3000 BCE – 200 BCE) · Hetao farming to steppe nomad Xiongnu transition
South scarp with 800+ vehicle and mask panels above Hetao bend at 1850 m.
🇫🇷 France · Rock art
Yayoi (300 BCE–300 CE) · Yayoi
Moor Bal Petroglyph Field in Occitanie, France is a Yayoi (300 BCE–300 CE) rock art attributed to Yayoi culture.
🇪🇸 Spain · Rock art
Moche (100–800 CE) · Moche
Rock Art of Bryn Thornby in Andalusia, Spain is a Moche (100–800 CE) rock art attributed to Moche culture.
🇮🇹 Italy · Rock art
Paleolithic to Iron Age (8,000 BCE–16th c. CE peak; Epipaleolithic to medieval) · Camunni (Iron Age Alpine) and earlier hunter groups
Valcamonica – 140,000+ petroglyphs carved over 8,000 years (8th millennium BCE–16th c.) across 250 km² Brescia Alps. 8 parks (Naquane 104 rocks, Seradina-Bedolina map).
🇾🇪 Yemen · Rock art
Roman (300 BCE–500 CE) · Roman
Rock Art of Ault in Hadramawt, Yemen is a Roman (300 BCE–500 CE) rock art attributed to Roman culture.
🇳🇬 Nigeria · Ancient village
Hausa hill tradition (c. 1200–1900 CE) · Hausa (Katsina frontier villages)
Sandstone ridge fort village with Holocene rock gongs (cupules ringing when struck) and Hausa rubble forts against bandits, near Katsina corridor.
🇵🇪 Peru · Rock art
Paracas to Early Nazca ~800 BCE–400 CE · Paracas–Nazca
Nazca-basin boulder petroglyphs bridging Paracas trophy-head art to Nazca geoglyphs.
🇪🇬 Egypt · Rock art
Early to Middle Holocene (8000–3000 BCE) · Saharan hunter-pastoral (Gilf Kebir tradition)
Jebel Uweinat (1,934m) – tri-border massif (Egypt-Libya-Sudan) with Gilf Kebir hunter-pastoral rock art (8000–3000 BCE): cattle, giraffe, ostrich and archer scenes; Ayrton-McMahon 1900s surveys;…
🇿🇦 South Africa · Rock art
Classical Antiquity (800 BCE–500 CE) · Iron Age
Musawwarat es-Sufra Temple Annex in Limpopo, South Africa is a Classical Antiquity (800 BCE–500 CE) rock art attributed to Iron Age culture.
🇦🇲 Armenia · Rock art
Bronze Age (3500–1000 BCE) · Syunik Bronze to Urartian pastoral
Crater tarn shore with bull, net and 3-m wheel calendar at 3220 m.
🇪🇬 Egypt · Rock art
Predynastic to Islamic (4000 BCE–1000 CE) · Predynastic Egyptian and later quarrying expeditions
Wadi Hammamat – Eastern Desert wadi between Nile and Red Sea dense with 5,000+ petroglyphs (Predynastic hunters, 4000 BCE ostrich boats, Pharaonic quarrying inscriptions Old Kingdom–Roman).
🇿🇼 Zimbabwe · Rock art
Stone Age 13,000 BCE–19th c. CE · San and Iron Age farmers
Matobo Hills Pomongwe (Pondongwe) Cave – granite kopje landscape with 3,000+ rock art sites; Pomongwe frieze of kudu, giraffe and white bovid panels; Bambata Cave MSA 125 ka deposits.
🇳🇬 Nigeria · Rock art
Classical Antiquity (800 BCE–500 CE) · Local Neolithic
Rhapta Submerged Harbour in Nok Valley, Nigeria is a Classical Antiquity (800 BCE–500 CE) rock art attributed to Local Neolithic culture.
🇰🇭 Cambodia · Rock art
Classical Antiquity (800 BCE–500 CE) · Local Neolithic
News Paper Rock Panel East in Angkor, Cambodia is a Classical Antiquity (800 BCE–500 CE) rock art attributed to Local Neolithic culture.
