🇪🇸 Spain · Rock art
El Castillo Cave
Mousterian to Magdalenian ~150–11 ka BP · Neanderthal then Aurignacian to Magdalenian
Monte Castillo reference sequence cave with 40 ka red disks and 150 kyr stratigraphy.
🇨🇳 China · Rock art
Yinshan Rock Art
Neolithic to Qing (6000 BCE – 1800 CE) · Yangshao, Ordos, Xiongnu, Xianbei, Turkic, Mongol
Inner Mongolian 300-km granite gallery 15,000 masks and Ordos chariots 6 ka BCE–Qing.
🇿🇦 South Africa · Rock art
Drakensberg uKhahlamba Rock Art
Later Stone Age ~4000 BP–1800 CE · San (Bushman) hunter-gatherer
35,000 San paintings in 600 Drakensberg shelters - shamanic eland dance archive.
🇮🇹 Italy · Rock art
Valcamonica Rock Engravings – Naquane National Park
Epipalaeolithic to modern with Iron Age peak · Camunni (Rhaetic-adjacent Alpine) and predecessors
140,000 figures on 2,000 Alpine slabs—world's densest European rock art valley (UNESCO 1979 No.1 Italy).
🇷🇺 Russia · Rock art
Kalbak-Tash Petroglyph Complex
Neolithic to Early Medieval (6000 BCE – 800 CE) · Neolithic Altai, Afanasievo, Okunev, Karasuk, Pazyryk, Kok-Pash, Turkic Khaganate
Chuysky gorge 5,000-image palimpsest 6 ka BCE to Turkic across Katun-Chuya confluence.
🇪🇸 Spain · Rock art
La Pasiega Cave
Middle Paleolithic to Magdalenian ~64–11 ka BP · Neanderthal and later Solutrean/Magdalenian
Monte Castillo cave with 64 ka Neanderthal ladder motif and 700 parietal figures.
🇪🇸 Spain · Rock art
Albarracín Rock Art — Pinsapar and Prado del Navazo
Epipalaeolithic to Iberian (8000 BCE – 500 CE) · Epipalaeolithic hunters, Neolithic, Chalcolithic Schematic, Iberian
Aragon pine forest 22 shelters Levantine white archers and schematic bull 6 ka BCE–Iberian, UNESCO 874.
🇨🇳 China · Rock art
Zuojiang Huashan Rock Art Cultural Landscape
Bronze Age to Eastern Han (Warring States 400 BCE – Han) · Luoyue (proto-Zhuang Baiyue)
Guangxi karst cliffs 38 panels 1900 frog-shaman figures 5th c. BCE–2nd c. CE, UNESCO 1508.
🇫🇷 France · Rock art
Lascaux Hall of Bulls Frieze South Panel
Upper Palaeolithic to Iron Age (30000 BCE–500 CE) · Multi-period rock art
Lascaux Hall of Bulls Frieze South Panel in Dordogne, Lascaux, France is a Upper Palaeolithic to Iron Age (30000 BCE–500 CE) rock art attributed to Multi-period rock art.
🇲🇦 Morocco · Ancient village
Taforalt Cave (Grotte des Pigeons)
Middle Paleolithic to Epipalaeolithic (85,000–8,000 BP; cemetery 13,000 BCE) · Aterian / Iberomaurusian
Iberomaurusian cemetery cave Taforalt with oldest African funerary bundle and Natufian-linked DNA.
🇹🇩 Chad · Rock art
Ennedi Plateau & Niola Doa Rock Art
Neolithic to Islamic (6000 BCE–16th c CE) · Saharan herders (Bovid, Horse, Camel groups)
600-km Saharan massif with Niola Doa 200-m cattle-horse frieze and 3,000 images 6th millennium–16th c.
🇦🇺 Australia · Submerged site
Murujuga — Submerged Petroglyph Terrace (Dampier, Australia)
Bronze Age to Classical (2000 BCE–500 CE) · Bronze–Iron Age maritime
Murujuga — Submerged Petroglyph Terrace (Dampier, Australia) in Western Australia, Murujuga, Dampier, Australia is a Bronze Age to Classical (2000 BCE–500 …
🇪🇬 Egypt · Rock art
Wadi Hammamat — Quarry and Rock Inscriptions
Predynastic to Roman (3000 BCE–400 CE) · Egyptian Pharaonic → Roman
Wadi Hammamat is the 80 km Nile–Red Sea desert wadi with sole greywacke (bekhen-stone) quarries for Egyptian sarcophagi since 3000 BCE and 2,500 rock inscriptions from Naqada III to Roman: Qadesh,…
🇳🇬 Nigeria · Megalith
Ikom Monoliths (Ejagham)
Late Iron Age to Modern (500–1800 CE) · Ejagham (Cross River)
Ikom Monoliths (Akwanshi, Ataal) are 300 basalt monoliths 0.3–1.8 m high carved 500–1800 CE by Ejagham peoples in Cross River forest, stylized janus faces, spiral navels and diadems around…
🇨🇳 China · Rock art
Helan Mountains Rock Art
Neolithic to Xixia (~4000 BCE – 1200 CE) · North Chinese pastoral–agricultural; Xiongnu, Xianbei, Tangut
20-km sandstone rift on the Helan fault scarp preserving over 10,000 petroglyphs from 6 major phases: masked faces 4 ka, northern hunter reindeer, Zhou chariots, Xiongnu horse archers and Tangut…
🇩🇿 Algeria · Archaeological wonder
Tassili n'Ajjer
Epipaleolithic to Late Pastoral (c.8000 BCE–1000 CE; major painting phases Round Head 6000 BCE–5000 BCE, Pastoral 4500–2000 BCE) · Kel Tamasheq predecessor hunter-gatherer / Pastoral Neolithic / Garamantes
72,000 km² sandstone plateau with one of world's largest rock art concentrations: 15,000 engravings and paintings spanning 6000 BCE–first centuries CE – Bubalus, Round Head (10,000–6000 BCE,…
🇦🇺 Australia · Rock art
Kimberley Gwion Gwion Rock Art
Late Pleistocene to Holocene (c.12,000–4000 BCE Gwion phase) · Aboriginal Australian (Kimberley)
Kimberley Gwion (Bradshaw) – elegant, tasselled dancing figures with elaborate headdresses and dillybag (c.12,000–4,000 BCE), 2,800+ sites on Kimberley Plateau.
🇵🇰 Pakistan · Rock art
Chilas Rock Inscriptions — Upper Indus
Maurya? Kharosthi to Islamic (300 BCE–1700 CE, peak Sogdian 5th–9th c. Silk Road) · Dardic Chilasi plus Indian, Persian, Sogdian, Chinese, Tibetan travelers (Silk Road)
30,000 inscriptions in 12 scripts 300 BCE–1700 CE on Indus granodiorite, Silk Road epigraphy archive threatened by Diamer dam.
🇪🇸 Spain · Rock art
Siega Verde Rock Engravings – Águeda River
Upper Palaeolithic (Solutrean–Magdalenian) · Solutrean–Magdalenian hunter-gatherers of western Iberia
443 Palaeolithic figures on Águeda schist—UNESCO trans-frontier extension of Côa Valley (20–10k BCE).
🇰🇬 Kyrgyzstan · Rock art
Cholpon-Ata Petroglyph Goat Hunting Panel 44
Upper Palaeolithic to Iron Age (30000 BCE–500 CE) · Multi-period rock art
Cholpon-Ata Petroglyph Goat Hunting Panel 44 in Issyk-Kul, Cholpon-Ata, Kyrgyzstan is a Upper Palaeolithic to Iron Age (30000 BCE–500 CE) rock art attributed to Multi-period rock art.
🇺🇸 United States · Rock art
El Morro Inscription Rock West Face
Upper Palaeolithic to Iron Age (30000 BCE–500 CE) · Multi-period rock art
El Morro Inscription Rock West Face in New Mexico, El Morro, United States is a Upper Palaeolithic to Iron Age (30000 BCE–500 CE) rock art attributed to Multi-period rock art.
🇦🇺 Australia · Rock art
Ku-ring-gai Chase Rock Engravings
Mid Holocene to Contact (3000 BCE – 19th c.) · Aboriginal Sydney (Guringai, Darramuragal, Awabakal)
Sydney Hawkesbury platforms 1500+ Daramulan whale-fish engravings 3000 BCE–contact.
🇵🇹 Portugal · Rock art
Foz Côa Canada do Inferno Panel 11
Upper Palaeolithic to Iron Age (30000 BCE–500 CE) · Multi-period rock art
Foz Côa Canada do Inferno Panel 11 in Guardia, Côa, Portugal is a Upper Palaeolithic to Iron Age (30000 BCE–500 CE) rock art attributed to Multi-period rock art.
🇮🇹 Italy · Rock art
Val Camonica Rock Art Dos Sotto Panel 44 — Southern Extension
Bronze-Iron Age (2000-500 BCE) · Camunian
Val Camonica Rock Art Dos Sotto Panel 44 — Southern Extension in Lombardy, Brescia, Italy is a Bronze-Iron Age (2000-500 BCE) rock art attributed to Camunian.