rock art
Ancient stone imagery
Rock art refers to images created on natural stone surfaces, including paintings, drawings, carvings, and engravings made by humans throughout history.
The term encompasses both pictographs (painted or drawn images) and petroglyphs (images carved or pecked into rock).
Rock art appears on every inhabited continent and spans from prehistoric times to the present, serving purposes that may have been ceremonial, communicative, or artistic.
The canyon walls were covered with rock art depicting hunting scenes.
Carvings on natural stone
- pictographsSymbols depicting concepts visually
- engravingsIncised designs on surfaces
- carvingsSculpted decorative shapes
- peckingJabbing with beak
incising · etching · ochre · pigments · charcoal · handprints · stencils · bas-relief
Originating in a region
- AboriginalsOriginal inhabitants of land
- Ancestral PuebloansPre-Columbian Four Corners people
- hunter-gatherersSubsistence through wild resources
- shamanismMediation between worlds
dreamtime · totems · oral tradition · ceremonial · sacred sites · tribal · animism · cosmology
Act of unearthing
- datingPursuing romantic connections
- stratigraphyStudy of rock layers
- prehistoricBefore documented civilization
- paleolithicEarliest tool-making period
neolithic · conservation · documentation · cultural heritage · preservation · superimposition · chronology · radiocarbon
Representing concepts through images
- iconographyAnalysis of artistic symbols
- meaningWhat something signifies
- narrativeAccount of events
- mythologyBody of traditional tales
cosmology · semiotics · shamanic · trance · fertility · storytelling · ceremonial · astronomical
Paleolithic painted cavern
- AltamiraSpanish cave with paintings
- cavernsLarge underground hollows
- overhangsSections projecting beyond base
- canyon wallsSteep sides of gorges
Large wild ox
- aurochsExtinct wild cattle species
- mammothExtinct elephant with curved tusks
- horsesLarge domesticated hoofed mammals
- handprintsMarks made by hands
spirals · concentric circles · anthropomorphs · hunting scenes · geometric patterns · bighorn sheep · eland · kangaroo
petroglyphs
Carvings on natural stone
- pictographsSymbols depicting concepts visually
- engravingsIncised designs on surfaces
- carvingsSculpted decorative shapes
pecking · incising · etching · ochre · pigments · charcoal · handprints · stencils · bas-relief · chiseling
indigenous
Originating in a region
- AboriginalsOriginal inhabitants of land
- Ancestral PuebloansPre-Columbian Four Corners people
- hunter-gatherersSubsistence through wild resources
shamanism · dreamtime · totems · oral tradition · ceremonial · sacred sites · tribal · animism · cosmology · ritual
excavation
Act of unearthing
- datingPursuing romantic connections
- stratigraphyStudy of rock layers
- prehistoricBefore documented civilization
paleolithic · neolithic · conservation · documentation · cultural heritage · preservation · superimposition · chronology · radiocarbon
symbolism
Representing concepts through images
- iconographyAnalysis of artistic symbols
- meaningWhat something signifies
- narrativeAccount of events
mythology · cosmology · semiotics · shamanic · trance · fertility · storytelling · ceremonial · astronomical · communication
Lascaux
Paleolithic painted cavern
bison
Large wild ox
- aurochsExtinct wild cattle species
- mammothExtinct elephant with curved tusks
- horsesLarge domesticated hoofed mammals
handprints · spirals · concentric circles · anthropomorphs · hunting scenes · geometric patterns · bighorn sheep · eland · kangaroo · serpents
- Aboriginal Australiaboomerang, didgeridoo, corroboree, songlines, song lines
- Nordic artifactsrunestones, rune stones, Oseberg ship, burial goods, ship burials
- Northern TerritoryDarwin, Alice Springs, Uluru, Katherine, Red Centre
- rock artpetroglyphs, pictographs, hand stencils, stone carvings, cave carvings
- Southern African HistoryDutch settlers, indigenous tribes, Iron Age, Cape of Good Hope, Dutch East India Company
- Southwest antiquitiescliff dwellings, pottery shards, petroglyphs, ancient dwellings, Ancestral Puebloans
rock artcanvas painting
Art on stretched fabric
digital art · oil painting · watercolor · paper art · textile art
rock artdigital art
Computer-generated visual work
video art · contemporary art · modern art · electronic art · CGI
rock artsand mandala
Colored granules arranged spiritually
ice sculpture · performance art · chalk art · sidewalk art · land art
art, rock, artist, rocky, artistic, arts, rocks, artistry, artisan