Rock art sites

Mysteria

🇲🇽 Mexico · Ancient city

Dainzú

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.

🇪🇸 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

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…

🇨🇱 Chile · Rock art

Punta Lobos

Archaic to Late Intermediate 5000 BCE–1500 CE · Chango-Chinchorro maritime

Coastal Changos maritime promise rock art and 4 m shell mounds on Atacama sea cliff, 5000 BCE–1500 CE.

🇰🇿 Kazakhstan · Rock art

Tamgaly III — Karatau Ridge Petroglyphs

Bronze Age to Turkic (1400 BCE – 900 CE) · Andronovo to Saka-Scythian to Turkic, Chu valley pastoralists

Karatau outlier with 120+ sun-head and deer panels on basalt knolls SW of main gorge.

🇰🇿 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.

🇰🇬 Kyrgyzstan · Rock art

Saimaluu-Tash East Summit — Upper Fergana Crest Petroglyphs

Bronze Age to Early Turkic (2000 BCE – 800 CE) · Fergana pastoralist to Saka to Kyrgyz proto

Skyline crest 3200 m with 200+ ibex and deer blocks above main lake field.

🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Megalith

Dunadd Fort

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.

🇸🇪 Sweden · Rock art

Vitlycke Rock Carvings

Neolithic–Bronze Age (4000–1000 BCE) · Hunter-gatherer rock art tradition

Vitlycke Rock Carvings is a rock art site in Västra Götaland, Sweden featuring carvings and paintings on exposed bedrock dating from the Neolithic to Bronze Age (c.4000–1000 BCE).

🇦🇿 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.

🇵🇪 Peru · Rock art

Toquepala Caves

Early Holocene (~9500–7000 BCE) · Andean high-desert hunter-gatherer (Toquepala tradition)

Shallow Andean quebrada cave where Roger Ravines documented polychrome paintings of camelids, deer and corpulent hunters brandishing bows, one of the earliest figurative traditions on the Pacific…

🇧🇼 Botswana · Rock art

Tsodilo Hills 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.

🇬🇭 Ghana · Fortress

Bono Manso Rock Citadel (Adansi–Bono Hill Fort)

Medieval Akan (Bono) (11th–18th c. CE) · Akan (Bono–Adansi)

Granite dome fortress refuge of Bono state with white dot art shelters.

🇰🇿 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.

🇩🇿 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,…

🇸🇴 Somalia · Archaeological wonder

Laas Geel

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,…

🇹🇩 Chad · Rock art

Ennedi Rock Art

Neolithic Pastoral to Iron Age ~7000 BP–1000 CE · Saharan Pastoralist to Toubou ancestors

Ennedi sandstone shelters with 7 kyr cattle-to-camel paintings around Saharan guelta lakes.

🇸🇪 Sweden · Rock art

Viksjö Rock Carvings

Neolithic–Bronze Age (4000–1000 BCE) · Hunter-gatherer rock art tradition

Viksjö Rock Carvings is a rock art site in Uppland, Sweden featuring carvings and paintings on exposed bedrock dating from the Neolithic to Bronze Age (c.4000–1000 BCE).