🇨🇳 China · Rock art
Chifeng Ongniud Banner Petroglyphs
Neolithic to Medieval (Hongshan to Liao-Jin) · Hongshan, Lower Xiajiadian, Ordos and Khitan Liao
Eastern Yinshan steppe granite with 3000 Neolithic–Khitan images, Hongshan–Yinshan bridge.
🇨🇳 China · Rock art
Yinshan West Wulashan Rock Art
Bronze Age to Early Medieval · Ordos, Xiongnu, Xianbei, Turkic (Yinshan frontier)
West mesa of Wulashan with naturalistic tiger and chariot rut petroglyphs.
🇸🇪 Sweden · Megalith
Tanum Rock Carvings (Hällristningar Tanum)
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.
🇰🇿 Kazakhstan · Rock art
Tamgaly II Central Gorge Petroglyphs
Late Bronze Age to Early Medieval · Andronovo, Saka, Wusun, Turkic
Central tributary gorge of the Tamgaly (Tanbaly) UNESCO landscape 170 km NW Almaty, comprising 4.5 km of northwest-facing Chu-Ili schist panels with ~800 engravings.
🇰🇬 Kyrgyzstan · Rock art
Saimaluu-Tash West Ashu Pass Petroglyphs
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
Checta Petroglyphs
Initial Period to Late Horizon ~1500 BCE–1532 CE · Andean (Chavín-influenced to Inca)
450 boulder petroglyph field above Chillón River with 3,500-year rayed-head tradition.
🇰🇿 Kazakhstan · Rock art
Tamgaly-Tas II Upper Cliff Petroglyphs
Late Bronze to Dzungar · Wusun, Turkic, Mongol-Oirat, Tibetan Buddhist
Upper limestone cliff 35 m above the Ili left bank at Tamgaly-Tas (Kapchagai), 800 m upstream from the famous 17th-century Tibetan Buddhist panels.
🇿🇦 South Africa · Rock art
Wildebeest Kuil Rock Art
Later Stone Age to Colonial ~8000 BP–19th c. · San ( ancestral Bushman) and Khoe
Kimberley andesite engravings with 1,500 eland-rhino figures and living San custodianship.
🇹🇿 Tanzania · Rock art
Kondoa Rock Art Sites
Late Stone Age to recent (~3000 BCE – 19th century CE; most 1500 BCE onward) · Sandawe hunter-gatherer to Bantu pastoralist, later Warangi
Over 150 shelters scattered across the Kondoa escarpment display stratified painting traditions: early naturalistic eland and human figures with elongated heads (hunter-gatherer), later white…
🇦🇺 Australia · Rock art
Murujuga (Burrup Peninsula) Rock Art
Pleistocene to Historic ~50 ka–present · Australian Aboriginal (Ngarluma, Yindjibarndi, Yaburara)
Million-engraving petroglyph province on Pilbara gabbro archipelago, 50 kyr continuous record.
🇮🇳 India · Rock art
Edakkal Caves
Neolithic to Iron Age (~6000 BCE – 1000 BCE; inscriptions to 1st century CE) · South Indian Neolithic to Iron Age; Sangam to Tamil-Brahmi
Natural cleft formed by a 4-m boulder bridging a rift in Ambukuthimala hill reveals Old Kannada petroglyphs: over 400 engravings of ibex-like 'Indus-style' jar, stickmen, Sun Plan wheels and a…
🇩🇪 Germany · Megalith
Externsteine
Natural Cretaceous (85 Ma); human modification medieval, hypothesized pre-Christian · Natural geology; medieval Christian hermitage; contested Germanic cult
Teutoburg Forest sandstone pillars with carved grottoes and medieval relief, debated as Germanic solar sanctuary.
🇱🇾 Libya · Rock art
Messak Settafet Rock Art
Neolithic Pastoral ~8000–2000 BP · Pastoral Neolithic Saharan
Fezzan escarpment's elephant and giraffe engravings marking Holocene Sahara greening.
🇵🇹 Portugal · Rock art
Côa Valley Rock Art
Upper Paleolithic to Iron Age (~25,000 BCE – 1000 BCE; main 20,000–10,000 BCE) · Solutrean/Magdalenian to Atlantic Iron Age
Largest open-air Paleolithic art complex known, spread over 17 km of the Côa tributary with over 1,000 engraved schist panels bearing thousands of zoomorphs.
🇳🇴 Norway · Rock art
Alta Rock Art
Late Stone Age to Early Iron Age (~7000 BCE – 0 CE) · Finnmark hunter-gatherer/fisher to early Sami ancestors
Northern Europe's largest petroglyph field preserves some 6,000 carved figures along the Alta Fjord raised shorelines, tracking post-glacial rebound chronology.
🇪🇸 Spain · Rock art
Siega Verde Rock Art
Gravettian to Magdalenian ~20–11 ka BP · Upper Paleolithic Iberian
2 km open-air schist engravings paired with Côa Valley, 443 Paleolithic pecked figures.
🇱🇾 Libya · Rock art
Tadrart Acacus Rock Art
Early Holocene to Garamantian (~12,000 BCE – 100 CE) · Saharan hunter-gatherer to Pastoral Neolithic (Kel Essuf, Round Head, Pastoral)
150-km sandstone plateau on the Algerian border preserves thousands of paintings and engravings in styles paralleling nearby Tassili n'Ajjer: giant Kel Essuf headless figures, Round Head masked…
🇫🇷 France · Rock art
Cussac Cave
Gravettian ~28–25 ka BP · Gravettian
Sealed 1.6 km Gravettian engraved gallery with 4 m bison and bear nests intact since 25 ka.
🇨🇳 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…
🇰🇿 Kazakhstan · Rock art
Tamgaly-Tas II Ili River Bend North Petroglyphs
Bronze Age to Oirat · Andronovo, Saka, Wusun, Oirat
North river-bend schist slabs at the Kurta confluence on the Ili, 1.2 km north of the main Tamgaly-Tas Buddha, comprising 90 panels on flood-scoured boulders and low cliff.
🇫🇷 France · Rock art
Les Combarelles Cave
Mid–Late Magdalenian ~14–12 ka BP · Magdalenian
Dense 600-figure engraved gallery opposite Font-de-Gaume, core Magdalenian engraving reference.
🇦🇿 Azerbaijan · Rock art
Gobustan Rock Art Cultural Landscape
Upper Paleolithic to Middle Ages (~14,000 BCE – 1300 CE) · Caspian hunter-gatherer to nomadic pastoralist
Semi-desert limestone plateau on the Caspian littoral with over 6,000 engravings distributed across Boyukdash, Kichikdash and Jingirdag mesas.
🇰🇿 Kazakhstan · Rock art
Tamgaly Petroglyphs
Bronze Age to early nomadic (~2000 BCE – 1000 CE) · Andronovo, Karasuk, Saka and Turkic nomadic
Arid gorge in the Chu-Ili massif preserving five major groups with over 5,000 petroglyphs, famed for anthropomorphic sun-headed figures up to 80 cm tall with rayed haloes.
🇵🇪 Peru · Rock art
Toro Muerto Petroglyphs
Middle Horizon to Late Intermediate ~900–1450 CE · Wari to Collagua / Inca fringe
5,000-boulder petroglyph desert - world's densest - Wari-Collagua dancers over 10 km².