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CategoriesRock art sites
Paintings and engravings from the deepest human past.
🇹🇭 Thailand · Archaeological wonder
Late Pleistocene to Early Holocene Hoabinhian 12000–7500 BCE · Hoabinhian (northwest Thailand hunter-gatherer, proto-Austroasiatic?)
Hoabinhian hunter-gatherer cave (c.12000–7500 BCE) in the Shan Hills karst near Pang Mapha, Mae Hong Son — type-site where Chester Gorman (1966) defined Hoabinhian.
🇪🇬 Egypt · Rock art
Neolithic to Middle Holocene (6000–1000 BCE) · Saharan Neolithic pastoral
1,940-m granite triple-border massif with Karkur Talh 25 km and bovid-hunter rock art 6000 BCE.
🇲🇷 Mauritania · Rock art
Neolithic to Pastoral (6000–1000 BCE) · Neolithic pastoralists / Libyco-Berber
Adrar plateau quartzite guelb rock engravings west of Atar with Neolithic interdune settlement.
🇪🇬 Egypt · Archaeological wonder
Middle to Late New Kingdom and beyond (2100–1000 BCE cult) · Ancient Egyptian
420-m natural pyramid capping Thebes, shaping Valley of Kings orientation as Ta Dehent.
🇬🇷 Greece · Rock art
Upper Paleolithic to Neolithic (c.38,000–3000 BCE) · Paleolithic–Mesolithic Greek and Early Aegean Neolithic
Franchthi Cave (Upper Paleolithic to Final Neolithic c.38,000–3000 BCE) is a vast 30-m wide limestone cavity on the Koilada Bay cliff 10 m above the now-submerged plain, containing a 5-m stratified…
🇸🇪 Sweden · Megalith
Bronze Age · Nordic Bronze Age (Bohuslän rock art tradition)
UNESCO Bohuslän rock art — 600 panels / 2500 pecked figures (ships, sun, ploughs) on granite, 1700–500 BCE.
🇫🇷 France · Rock art
Upper Palaeolithic to Iron Age (30000 BCE–500 CE) · Palaeolithic to Iron Age
Grottes de Gargas — Upper Talc Panel (Hautes-Pyrénées) in Occitanie, Hautes-Pyrénées, Aventignan, France is a Upper Palaeolithic to Iron Age (30000 BCE–500…
🇿🇼 Zimbabwe · Rock art
Early Historic (regional) · Early Historic
Royal Great Zimbabwe Enclosure South — Great Zimbabwe (57-09) at Great Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe is a Early Historic (regional) rock art of the Early Historic tradition, built c.
🇿🇼 Zimbabwe · Rock art
Chalcolithic (regional) · Chalcolithic
Central Great Zimbabwe Village South — Great Zimbabwe (57-12) at Great Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe is a Chalcolithic (regional) rock art of the Chalcolithic tradition, built c.
🇸🇪 Sweden · Megalith
Early Nordic Bronze Age · Nordic Bronze Age (Scania elite)
Scandinavian Bronze Age masterpiece — 75 m cairn with cist bearing eight slabs of ship and solar carvings, c.1400 BCE.
🇦🇷 Argentina · Rock art
Paleo-Indian – Inca (c.10,620 BP – 1532 CE) · South Andean hunter-gatherer → Humahuaca → Inca (Coyas)
High puna painted cave system (10,620 BP – Inca 1450) in Humahuaca gorge: 6 caves (Inca Cueva 1,4,7) at 3680 m with stratified sequence: Fell-type projectile points 10.6k, early paintings of…
🇫🇷 France · Rock art
Upper Palaeolithic to Iron Age (30000 BCE–500 CE) · Palaeolithic to Iron Age
Lascaux — Ancillary Gallery Cheval Tache (Dordogne) in Nouvelle-Aquitaine, Dordogne, Montignac, France is a Upper Palaeolithic to Iron Age (30000 BCE–500 C…
🇪🇬 Egypt · Archaeological wonder
Old to Middle Kingdom (2700–1750 BCE peak Twelfth Dynasty) · Ancient Egyptian
14th nome ridge tombs with Senbi-Ukh-hotep 1970 BCE earliest daily-life genre scenes and pilgrimage frieze.
🇹🇷 Turkey · Rock art
Pre-Pottery Neolithic · Taş Tepeler PPN
Sayburc Reliefs Karahan Hills at Adıyaman, Sayburc, Turkey is a Pre-Pottery Neolithic rock art of the Taş Tepeler PPN tradition, built c. 9000 BCE for bedrock narrative relief human/animal/leopard.
🇹🇿 Tanzania · Rock art
Upper Palaeolithic to Iron Age (30000 BCE–500 CE) · Palaeolithic to Iron Age
Kondoa Irangi — Rock Paintings Ancillary Panel (Kolo) in Dodoma, Kondoa, Kolo, Tanzania is a Upper Palaeolithic to Iron Age (30000 BCE–500 CE) rock art att…
🇪🇸 Spain · Rock art
Upper Palaeolithic to Iron Age (30000 BCE–500 CE) · Palaeolithic to Iron Age
Altamira — Ancillary Polychrome Ceiling Segment in Cantabria, Santillana del Mar, Spain is a Upper Palaeolithic to Iron Age (30000 BCE–500 CE) rock art att…
🇮🇳 India · Rock art
Upper Palaeolithic to Iron Age (30000 BCE–500 CE) · Palaeolithic to Iron Age
Chandra Shila — Rock Shelter West Face (Mizoram) in Mizoram, Lunglei, Chandra Shila, India is a Upper Palaeolithic to Iron Age (30000 BCE–500 CE) rock art …
🇰🇬 Kyrgyzstan · Rock art
Saka to Turkic Medieval · Saka, Wusun, Turkic
Western cirque shelf of Saimaluu-Tash at Ashu Pass, a glacial hanging valley 2 km west of Saimaluu-Tash I main valley floor at 3420 m.
🇵🇪 Peru · Rock art
Upper Palaeolithic to Iron Age (30000 BCE–500 CE) · Palaeolithic to Iron Age
Checta — Rock Art North Panel (Lima, Peru) in Lima, Checta, Peru is a Upper Palaeolithic to Iron Age (30000 BCE–500 CE) rock art attributed to Palaeolithic…
🇪🇬 Egypt · Temple complex
Iron Age IIB (single-period) · Kingdom of Israel/Judah (Israelite)
Desert Israelite fortress (c.800 BCE) with 'YHWH and his Asherah' inscriptions and Bes frescoes.
🇦🇺 Australia · Rock art
Late Pleistocene to present (~4000 BCE – contemporary) · Bininj/Mungguy (Aboriginal Australian)
Five main sandstone galleries on the Nadab floodplain edge of the Arnhem escarpment display the classic X-ray style: translucent kangaroo, emu, long-necked turtles and thylacine (Tasmanian tiger)…
🇪🇬 Egypt · Rock art
Early to Mid Holocene (6000–3000 BCE) · Saharan pastoral Neolithic (Gilf Kebir)
Wadi Sora (Wadi Sura) Cave of Swimmers (Cave II) in Gilf Kebir is Saharan pastoral rock art 6000–3000 BCE, famous for 1933 Almasy discovery of 'swimming' floating figures (actually swimming in wadi…
🇮🇳 India · Rock shelter
Mesolithic (7000 BCE) · Mesolithic
Bhimbetka Satellite Shelter — IIB-33 in Madhya Pradesh, Bhimbetka outlier, India is a Mesolithic (7000 BCE) rock shelter attributed to Mesolithic culture.
🇪🇸 Spain · Rock art
Solutrean to Magdalenian ~18–11 ka BP · Magdalenian Cantabrian
Ribadesella polychrome Magdalenian cave sealed until 1968 with 14 ka harpoon culture art.