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CategoriesRock art sites
Paintings and engravings from the deepest human past.
🇨🇳 China · 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
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
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.
🇸🇳 Senegal · Rock art
Early Medieval (500–1000 CE) · Medieval
Old Dongola Church Annex in Burr, Senegal is a Early Medieval (500–1000 CE) rock art attributed to Medieval culture. Systematic survey and LiDAR document architectural phasing and stratified deposits.
🇷🇺 Russia · Rock art
Bronze Age to Early Iron (2000 BCE – 500 BCE) · Karasuk to Pazyryk
River-level terrace with sun disks and yak riders opposite main cliffs.
🇹🇷 Turkey · Rock art
Jomon · Jomon
Jomon rock-art at Central Anatolia.
🇷🇺 Russia · Tumulus
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
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.
🇨🇱 Chile · Geoglyph
Formative Alto Ramirez to Late Intermediate San Miguel · Azapa (Alto Ramirez, Cabuza, San Miguel)
40+ Azapa Valley terrace geoglyphs (500 BCE-1350 CE) viewed at short range, bridging Formative to Late Intermediate.
🇵🇰 Pakistan · Rock art
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.
🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia · Rock art
Neolithic to Islamic (7000 BCE–1000 CE, peak South Arabian caravan 500 BCE–600 CE) · Neolithic hunter-pastoralists then South Arabian caravaneers (Qataban, Saba, Nabataean)
Caravan UNESCO 2021 on Najran incense route: 550 panels 100k petroglyphs 7000 BCE–Islamic with 28 caravan wells.
🇮🇳 India · Archaeological wonder
Mesolithic (7000–2800) → Chalcolithic (2800 BCE–500 BCE) · Mesolithic Mewar microlithic → Ahar-Chalcolithic (Mewar)
Type-site for Mewar Mesolithic (c.7000–500 BCE) on the Mahasati dune above the Kothari River west of Bhilwara — India's largest excavated Mesolithic habitation (1967–70 by V.N. Misra and L.S.
🇸🇴 Somalia · Rock art
Early to Mid Holocene (7000–3000 BCE) · Early Pastoral Neolithic of the Horn (pre-Cushitic pastoralists)
Somaliland granite shelters 20 panels polychrome longhorn cattle 7000–3000 BCE.
🇪🇸 Spain · Rock art
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).
🇰🇿 Kazakhstan · Rock art
Bronze Age to Turkic · Andronovo-Fedorovo, Saka, Turkic
Kungei secondary gorge 800 m north of Tamgaly UNESCO site with 400 Middle Bronze sun-head petroglyphs.
🇵🇪 Peru · Hypothetical site
Hypothetical Inka Late Horizon · Hypothetical Inka / Amazónico
Hypothetical Inambari petroglyph ridge — 22 boulder claim vs erratics and fault scarp.
🇺🇦 Ukraine · Rock art
Mesolithic to Bronze Age · Kukrek, Sredny Stog, Yamnaya and Catacomb
South ridge of Kamyana Mohyla sandstone hill with 30 grottoes, Mesolithic–Bronze Age pecked aurochs and horse-heads.
🇰🇬 Kyrgyzstan · Rock art
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.
🇵🇪 Peru · Geoglyph
Middle Horizon to Late Intermediate (Wari–Chuquibamba) · Siguas / Wari / Chuquibamba
22 cleared-pavement anthropomorphs and trapezoids (600–1200 CE) on Sihuas bluffs above Toro Muerto.
🇰🇬 Kyrgyzstan · Rock art
Bronze Age to Medieval · Andronovo, Saka, Turkic, Karakhanid
East ridge cirque 900 m east of main lake with Turkic falconry medieval phase.
🇮🇷 Iran · Temple complex
Sassanian Empire (224–651 CE), late Sassanian zenith · Sassanian Zoroastrian (Ahura Mazda, Anahita, Mithra) court art
Sassanian Zagros spring iwans: Shapur II/III small and Khosrow II great with boar hunt and armored cavalry.
🇺🇸 United States · Rock art
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.
🇲🇳 Mongolia · Rock art
Upper Palaeolithic · Altai Palaeolithic (Mal'ta–Afontova horizon)
Central painted gallery 40 m inside Khoit Tsenkher cave with Palaeolithic polychrome bison.
🇦🇺 Australia · Rock art
Mid Holocene to Contact (3000 BCE – 19th c.) · Aboriginal Sydney (Guringai, Darramuragal, Awabakal)
Sydney Hawkesbury platforms 1500+ Daramulan whale-fish engravings 3000 BCE–contact.
