Petroglyphs Research Papers - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

In light of global trends in human population growth and urbanization, burgeoning cultural heritage tourism industries, and climate change, cultural heritage places in nearly every corner of the world are significantly threatened, and will remain so into the foreseeable future. Rock art sites are some of the most imperiled, with their exposed contexts posing unique challenges to conservation. Consequently, effective management of publically accessible rock art sites necessitates a sustainable approach that weighs visitation in regard to cultural significance and site stability. This essay integrates rock art stability and sustainability assessment methodologies at the Painted Rock Petroglyph Site in southwestern Arizona. The study specifically applies the Rock Art Stability Index (RASI) to evaluate the natural and anthropogenic weathering forces impacting the site, and the Heritage Asset Sensitivity Gauge (HASG) to assess site sustainability under existing management practices in relation to current and forecasted rates of visitation. A spatial analysis of aggregated RASI data shows that visitor foot traffic has had some of the most profound impacts to the petroglyphs. Unrestricted access to the site area is also highly correlated with the presence and location of vandalism and graffiti, and visitor-related trampling has adversely affected the site’s surface artifact assemblage. Application of the HASG projects that, while existing management practices are fairly sustainable, they become less so under forecasted increases in visitation. Further, the HASG appraises the site’s cultural significance as outweighing its market appeal, indicating management efforts should prioritize conservation over tourism-related development.

Hohokam anthropomorphs in Tucson area rock art have been characterized as having little detail and rare indications of female gender. New information from 28 loci in the Sutherland Wash Rock Art District based on a recently completed recording project has provided an opportunity to compare 419 anthropomorphs, of which 129 (32%) were clearly gendered in approximately equal numbers, either male or female. Vulva forms and apparent attempts to illustrate "family" and "birthing" are also pictured repeatedly. In addition, the site includes a granitic landscape with natural yoni and phallus formations and boulders with a large number of cupules.

- by Janine Hernbrode
- •
- Iconography, Petroglyphs, Hohokam

This article considers the symbol of deer in the ancient art of Azerbaijan during Bronze, Iron and Early medieval eras; it researches the significance of the symbol in the culture and history of people who inhabited the territory that is now modern Azerbaijan.
The symbol is depicted on rock engravings of Gobustan (about 60 kilometers south of Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan) and Gemi-Qaya (territory of Nakhichevan Autonomous Republic of Azerbaijan); it is represented in different decorations, zoomorphic vessels, décor on bronze belts and ceramic artifacts. It is discovered that for the ancient inhabitants of Azerbaijan the deer was one of the most honored animals and, in different historic stages, this symbol had different semantics. The image of the deer served as an amulet; it was connected with a woman goddess and with fertility, with totem and shamanism, with the tree of life, and also with solar and burial cults. The symbol is less frequently depicted in the artifacts of the Early medieval epoch which is explained by the gradual change of ancient religious cults to Christianity and Islam.

- by Saltanat Rzayeva
- •
- Archaeology, Social Sciences, Ceramics (Ceramics), History of Art
- by Maarten van Hoek
- •
- Chile, Rock Art, Arte Rupestre, Petroglyphs

Résumé
Au Ladakh, le bouquetin est l’animal de loin le plus représenté sur les pétroglyphes. Chassé à l’arc, puis au fusil, c’était – jusqu’à l’interdiction de sa chasse en 1978 – un gibier très convoité, tant par les populations locales que par les Britanniques au temps du Raj: les premières appréciant sa chair goûteuse, les seconds en collectionnant les trophées.
Animal de bon augure, associé à la fécondité, le bouquetin occupe par ailleurs, au sein de la faune ladakhi, une place prépondérante sur le plan symbolique: ses cornes sont présentes sur les autels dédiés aux divinités locales, des chants en font l’éloge, des danses le mettent en scène, des figurines de pâte à son effigie sont offertes lors de la naissance d’un enfant comme lors des cérémonies de mariage et présentées pour accueillir la nouvelle année.
Mots clés : Ladakh, bouquetin, archéologie, chasse, rituel
Abstract
In Ladakh the ibex is by far the most represented animal on petroglyphs. Hunted using a bow and arrow, then the rifle, it was – until a ban on hunting in 1978 – very sought- after as game, both by local populations and by Western travellers under British rule: the former appreciated its tasty flesh while the latter collected trophies of it. An auspi- cious animal associated with fertility, the ibex occupies, among Ladakhi fauna, a pro- minent place on a symbolic level ; its horns are to be found on altars dedicated to local deities, songs sing its praise, dances portray it, dough figurines shaped like it are offered at the birth of a child just as they are at wedding ceremonies and to welcome the New Year after the winter solstice.
Keywords: Ladakh, Ibex, Archaeology, Hunting, Ritual

the negev highlands are the location of meny petroglyph paneles one of the main motives thet angraved in them are animals mostly the ibex and the dog or the camel but there are others. the location of the panels and the combination of... more

- by lior schwimer
- •
- Archaeology, Rock Art (Archaeology), Petroglyphs

A YouTube video gives further relevant graphical information.

- by Julien Biver and +1
- •
- Petroglyphs and Pictographs, Kazakhstan, Petroglyphs

The main purpose of this article is to make a comparative interpretation of petroglyphs and rock paintings and to try to date them considering many criteria. Anatolian geography has always been the focal point with its historical culture and inventory. However, there is not much research on this subject in this geography, which is very rich in petroglyph and rock paintings. There are many similar petroglyphs and rock paintings in neighboring regions of Anatolia (Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Iran, Nakhchivan). Mostly all dating and evaluations are interpreted according to their typological similarities with other geographies. In this article, we will try to create some analyzes and hypotheses from both the Anatolian and other geographies and using our data.

The author makes a summary of what is so far known about the rock carvings in the former county of Skaraborg (now part of the county of Västra Götaland). Special attention is paid to the locations at Flyhov, Blomberg and the recently discovered site at Boberg in Husaby, Källby and Norra Kedum parishes respectively.
These and other petroglyph sites in the region are the constituents of a project that was started in 1993 and is aimed at a thorough and modern documentation of the rock carvings and the condition of the rock surfaces. Furthermore, some facts and some ideas are presented about a special combination of petroglyphic signs, the foot-soles and cup-marks, seen, for example, on the Godegården site in Fåglum
parish and on some megalithic tombs, fore example, those at Slutarp in Kinneved parish.

- by Peter Jankavs
- •
- Rock Carvings, Petroglyphs, Cup-marks
- by Garry Law
- •
- New Zealand Archaeology, Maori history, Petroglyphs

Este estudio comparativo que comenzó aplicándose en A Peneda Negra (Ames, Santiago de Compostela) (Soto, 1986) y posteriormente en el petroglifo que aquí tratamos, coincide con los análisis que ha propuesto el Groupe de Réflexión sur... more

In China, before the beginning of the XXI century, research books and albums of petroglyphs were published in four administrative units at provincial level in the north-west of the county: Inner Mongolia, Ningxia, Xinjiang and Qinghai. Petroglyphs of Inner Mongolia were studied and published by Gai Shanlin, Liang Zhenhua and N. Dalengurib. All four monographs on Ningxia rock art – by Zhou Xinghua, Li Xiangshi and Zhu Cunshi, Xu Cheng and Wei Zhong were published almost simultaneously, at the beginning of the 1990s. Ancient rock art of Xinjiang was published in albums by Zhao Yangfeng, Wang Linshan and Wang Bo and in books by Wang Binghua and Su Beihai. The monograph by Tang Huisheng and Zhang Wenhua was devoted to the description of Qinghai petroglyphs and the problems of their interpretation. Generally, it can be stated that modern Chinese scientific rock art research was born in the first half of the 1980s, when the first articles on rock carvings started to appear in Chinese archaeological periodicals and flourished in the second half of the 1980s and the 1990s, when quite a number of monographs were published.
АННОТАЦИЯ:

- by Andrey V Varenov
- •
- Archaeology, Rock Art (Archaeology), Ritual, Central Asian Studies

This study uses communication, critical race theory (CRT), and storytelling to examine environmental racism and environmental justice efforts. In New Mexico’s Petroglyph National Monument, a conflict emerged when officials moved protected rock carvings to build a road through the park. When creating the monument, stakeholders evoked cultural and environmental protectionism. Yet, proroad campaigners then used colorblind racist development arguments, while environmental justice activists argued that the road violated Indigenous peoples’ wishes and environmental integrity. After analyzing the case, in the
tradition of CRT scholarship, I present my own fictional narrative as an environmental justice tool. I advance an environmental justice narrative framework to address environmental
racism by exploring through storytelling how racial and environmental inequalities materialize and to what effect.

- by Dr. Elizabeth Dickinson
- •
- Critical Geopolitics, Narrative, Political Ecology, Critical Race Theory

At Drombeg Stone Circle in County Cork, Ireland, two petroglyphs of prehistoric date are highly significant. One is an ithyphallic image with testicles that is 200 mm long. It is carved high on a tall narrow straight-sided megalith at the portal entrance. The other pecked carving is an open vulva 280 mm long by 160 mm wide on the flat upper surface of a broad recumbent stone.
These distinct gender attributes emphasize the sexual meanings intended for the particular shaped stones upon which they are carved. Other standing stones of the Drombeg Circle have outline shapes that also aptly suggest either the male or female principle.
All 17 megaliths in the circle were intelligently positioned such that the light of the rising sun casts shadows, classifiable as male, that make union with a waiting stone identifiable as female on eight prime dates of the agricultural year. These dates are 45–46 days apart starting with the winter solstice.
It is proposed that this core activity could symbolize the hieros gamos, the sacred marriage between Sky Father and Mother Earth which was a well-loved worldview in all continents.

I have proposed using the term “artfacts,” in addition to “portable rock art,” to distinguish paleo rock art from conventionally understood artifacts, eoliths, mimeotoliths and geofacts, and to both recognize and differentiate artfacts from simulacrum, apophenia and pareidollia. Artfacts can be defined as a classification of ancient rocks and stone creations consisting of lithic assemblages or technological characteristics including worked representations of faces and animals onto rocks and stone tools. Portable rock art has been documented by other researchers, is prevalently distributed throughout North America and Europe, and is also referred to as microlithic sculptures as well as anthropomorphic paleolithic sculptures.

- by Carl Lehrburger
- •
- Ancient History, Renewable Energy, Rock Art (Archaeology), Biomass

Ponencia presentada en el II Congreso Centroamericano de Arqueología (San Salvador, 23-26 de octubre de 2007)

- by Costa Philippe and +1
- •
- Rock Art (Archaeology), Mesoamerican Archaeology, El Salvador, Arte Rupestre

El presente estudio tiene como objetivo principal la determinación de la secuencia y cronología del sitio arqueológico de Miculla, cuya finalidad es el establecimiento de nuevos parámetros de comprensión para el sitio, especialmente para las numerosas quilcas que contiene. Miculla es uno de los yacimientos arqueológicos más prominentes del sur del Perú y uno de los monumentos rupestres más grandes del planeta, el cual, no obstante su amplio registro académico, ha sido siempre entendido sobre meras consideraciones interpretativas y endebles asociaciones arqueológicas.
Para el establecimiento de nuevas relaciones contextuales, se propone una metodología original de análisis basada en registro visual, cuyo resultado esta expresado en proposiciones sobre contemporaneidad, secuencias de producción y relaciones históricas para las quilcas. Los resultados cambian completamente todo lo que se había especulado acerca de Micula hasta el día de hoy.

Los sitios de petrograbados representan un componente importante del patrimonio arqueológico de Sinaloa. El sitio de petrograbados de El Cerro de la Máscara es uno de los más conocidos en el estado, se localiza a un lado del Río Fuerte y contiene cerca de 300 grabados en piedras. Los grabados no están solos, podemos observar en la superficie y enterrados muros, cerámica, lítica tallada y ornamentos de concha dejados por la gente que hizo los petrograbados. El sitio del Cerro de la Máscara es parte de un conjunto de localidades y del otro lado del Río Fuerte en la comunidad actual de Ocolome, existen petrograbados en un grupo de afloramientos rocos lineales al nivel de la corriente del río y una localidad con restos de actividades habitacionales y algunos enterramientos humanos que podría ser el lugar donde vivía la población cahita prehispánica que elaboró los petrogrados del Cerro de la Máscara. El propósito principal de este trabajo es dar a conocer al lector la importancia del complejo Cerro de la Máscara como un espacio de ritualidad cahita en tiempos prehispánicos. Esperamos que los catálogos de petrograbados sirvan como un instrumento de preservación de los petrograbados donde se pueda hacer un recuento de cada uno. Aunque en la estructura política de México existen instituciones encargadas de proteger el patrimonio arqueológico y cultural, es necesario que entre todos resguardemos y cuidemos estos importantes vestigios para el futuro, ya que todos somos los ojos y los guardianes. Agradecemos al Profe Ernesto Parra por enseñarnos los petrograbados y su compromiso por la protección del patrimonio cultural, a Joel Apodaca y al artista Manolo Garibay por copiar los petros y digitalizar los diseños; y a todos los habitantes de la comunidad de El Fuerte por su apoyo durante el tiempo que vivimos en El Fuerte.

- by Guadalupe Sanchez and +1
- •
- Northwest Mexico, Petroglyphs, Sinaloa

Thousands of petroglyphs can be found in the Nasca-Palpa region. Many of them bear a high resemblance to the recently discovered geoglyphs dated to the Paracas Period (800–200 B. C.), obviously the forerunners of the famous geoglyphs of the subsequent Nasca Period (200 B. C.–650 A. D.). While the Nasca geoglyphs are at the focus of numerous scientifi c works, petroglyphs and Paracas geoglyphs have not yet been the object of investigation.

- by Peter Fux
- •
- Archaeology, Andean Archaeology, Paracas, Petroglyphs

This volume reports cultural resource survey and testing along the shoreline of Wilson Lake, Kansas, performed in June and July, 1985. The survey documented 95 sites. There are 58 historic components including petroglyphs, building foundations, check dams, bridges, an abandoned cemetery, and several sets of abandoned farm implements. None of these sites were deemed to be of National Register significance.
There were 49 prehistoric components found. These include petroglyphs, caves, rock shelters, cairns, campsites, and burial mounds. Diagnostic materials were scarce. The sites for which cultural affiliation could be determined were all of either Early Ceramic (Woodland) or Middle Ceramic (Smoky Hill Phase) age. One cave and two campsites were tested; none contained any significant deposits. Two petroglyph sites were considered of National Register significance. An important feature of the cultural landscape at Wilson Lake is an Indian trail that ran from the Pawnee villages in central Nebraska to the Great Bend of the Arkansas River. Many Sites at the Lake may be affiliated with that Trail.

- by Donald Blakeslee and +1
- •
- Archaeology, Prehistoric Archaeology, Geomorphology, Historical Archaeology

Stretching back in time, the Hill of Tara has been the spiritual heart of Ireland, yet little is known about the site other than what has been gleaned from the ancient manuscripts, which tell us nothing about how it appeared during the Neolithic and Early Bronze Age. Although the excavations in the 1950’s of Ráith na Senad and Duma na nGiall, by Professor Sean P. O’Riordain and Professor Ruaidhri de Valera, have given us a glimpse into that period of history, they merely scratched the surface. It is therefore the purpose of this paper to examine an ‘historical record’ that has been overlooked ever since its discovery sixty years ago… one that is quite literally carved in stone.

The present book includes results of works conducted in 2004-2014 on petroglyph studies in the natural boundary Sauyskandyk in the north-west on the ridge of Big Karatau. Problems of analysis, chronological attribution and interpretation... more

The Kanozero Lake located at the southern part of the Kola Peninsula (Murmansk region, Russia). In 1997 the first petroglyphs were discovered at the lake on Kamenniy Island, which were mainly made in the Neolithic and Bronze Age. Up to now 20 panels with petroglyphs are recorded and total number of recorded rock carvings is close to 1500 images. In this article a short geographical and historical overview of the area and
history of discovery and investigation of the Kanozero petroglyphs is given.

- by Vadim Likhachev
- •
- Art History, Rock Art (Archaeology), History of Art, Rock Carvings

Je tiens tout particulièrement à remercier les professeurs Daniel LEVINE et Christian DUVERGER ainsi que M. François CUYNET pour toute l'énergie consacrée à l'étude et l'enseignement des mondes préhispaniques ; ainsi que pour tous les échanges, conseils et réflexions obtenus en licence et spécialement en master. Je remercie Anaïs GUERIN d'avoir éveillé ma curiosité pour cette aire culturelle et de sa bienveillance en tant que tutrice. Je tiens également à remercier certaines rencontres faites au cours de ces années d'études pour les bons conseils et les bons moments partagés. Alexandre MICHEL, Mathieu DUSSEAUX, Alexandre BRUN, Titouan GELEZ, Héloïse AKTOUF, de même que Michel ROBIN et les encadrants de plongée de Paris IV. Une pensée toute spéciale pour les étudiants en préhispanique côtoyé ces deux ans et avec qui j'ai travaillé et échangé dans la bonne humeur. Une mention particulière pour les amis rencontrés durant ces années. Valentine, Philippe, Aline, Mathieu et tous les autres. Merci à ma famille pour le soutien, leur confiance et leur aide apporté. Claudine, Karen et mes parents. Je tiens enfin à remercier tous les professeurs, maîtres de conférences et chargés de TD du centre Michelet et des différentes entités dans lesquelles j'ai eu cours, pour la somme de connaissances et réflexions apportées ; ainsi que le personnel administratif et spécialement à Marie-Claire PEDE pour sa sympathie et son aide dans les différents problèmes rencontrés. I. Le papier et l'oralité : des sources insuffisantes et incomplètes 1.1 Les écrits historiques Les documents espagnols de la Conquête faisant référence ou mentionnant les pétroglyphes sont rares. Par conséquent, les chercheurs actuels délaissent très souvent ce point en admettant tacitement qu'il n'y a pas de sources coloniales permettant de mieux comprendre les pétroglyphes et leur intégration dans la vie séculière et ritualisée des Indiens ; ou s'il y a, ont été perdues ou attendent d'être redécouvertes. Il est vrai que les descriptions ethnographiques arrivent bien plus tardivement pour ce sujet au Pérou. Certains scientifiques citent toutefois les noms de Pedro Cieza de León et José de Acosta 6 comme sources historiques, mais ne mentionnent pas leurs passages. Tous deux sont des chroniqueurs espagnols ayant parcouru les terres incas au XVI e siècle, enregistrant potentiellement des mentions attenantes aux pétroglyphes dans leur récit de voyage. Il n'a pas été possible de trouver ou retrouver des allusions aux gravures rupestres dans la chronique de José de Acosta. En ce qui concerne son homologue Cieza de León, un seul extrait apparaît dans la littérature consultée pour ce travail 7 . « … où dans les temps anciens les Indiens naturels de la Terre Ferme avaient leurs sacrifices, et ils ont tué beaucoup d'agneaux et de moutons et quelques enfants, et ont offert leur sang à leurs idoles ou démons, dont ils ont la figure dans les pierres où ils les ont vénérées. » 8

- by Maxime Sekouri
- •
- Archaeology, Arte Rupestre, Petroglyphs, Petroglifos

Petroglyph sites in the Yinshan and Helanshan ranges were documented during a recent survey. Archaeological remains indicate that these areas have for millennia been both militarized borders and osmotic trading zones connecting the pastoral people of Northern Asia and the Chinese world. Petroglyphs form a significant part of the material and symbolic culture of this transitional zone from the Neolithic down to the later dynastic phases (nineteenth century). By using newly-gathered data, this article moves away from interpretations which see rock art as a wholly shamanistic phenomenon, introducing territory and iconography as key elements for the understanding of local geographies, cultural interactions, and the agencies of identity. The location of the sites indicates that petroglyphs were next to travel routes and may have served as territory markers and meeting places. In addition, the scattering of marked rocks in key locations suggests that petroglyphs were markers of identity essential for a people who were engaged in a dialectic contention with the expanding agricultural world. The sense of identity can be perceived also in the subject matter (wild and domesticated animals, hunting and herding scenes, faces) which seems to emphasize respect for, or even enjoyment of, pastoral and nomadic life.

- by Paola Demattè
- •
- Rock Art (Archaeology), Petroglyphs, Inner Mongolia

Keywords: Rjabchikov, rongorongo, Easter Island, Polynesia, script, writing, Rapanui, Rapa Nui, petroglyphs, rock art

- by Sergei Rjabchikov
- •
- Religion, Comparative Religion, Archaeology, Prehistoric Archaeology

Subsequent to the publication of four Iheren style elephant hunt scenes in this journal (Zboray 2017), several more similar scenes were recognised at some rarely visited sites in the Tasīli-n-Ăjjer during visits made in 2018 and 2019. These paintings are invariably very faint, in most cases only recognisable in the field with hindsight gained from other similar, better preserved scenes. Processing the taken digital photographs with DStretch®, a plug-in of ImageJ developed by Jon Harman enables the full appreciation of these compositions.

Rock art, once an often-neglected subject, is increasingly considered a meaningful social practice among past and present communities. This thesis adds to a growing body of research that regards rock art as more than art or ideation, but as a means for establishing one’s identity in relation to their physical and social worlds. To demonstrate this, I focus on a corpus of Hohokam petroglyphs in the South Mountains, near the center of the Phoenix Basin in south-central Arizona. I make the case that these petroglyphs were instrumental in ritual practices that displayed and conveyed religious knowledge between performers and audiences. Rock art therefore positioned people in relationships of power with other people, as well as other-than-human agents, regarding the control and distribution of religious knowledge.
I rely on contextual factors throughout this thesis to investigate the nuances of petroglyph-related ritualism. Hohokam rock art was created and used on at least seven types of stage, each varying in ritual depth and entailing different performers and audiences. This shows that rock art, although uncommon, cross-cut social identities, and the religious knowledge involved was not institutionalized within a select few social positions, such as shamans or similar politico-religious offices.
Hohokam rock art is relatively visible and accessible; this “openness” paralleled the fluidity of religious knowledge within the larger Hohokam world and complements what we know from village settings. My chronological assessment nevertheless shows that this was not always the case. I use four relative-dating techniques—proximity analysis, cross-media design correlation, repatination, and artifact associations—to argue petroglyph-related ritualism in the South Mountains was performed mostly during the Preclassic era (~A.D. 500-1100). A cessation in rock art by the onset of the Classic period (~A.D. 1100-1400) resulted from an usurpation of religious knowledge by emerging leaders in the wake of a fracturing ritual system. This social transformation met little resistance, in part because the new religious order maintained qualities of the previous ritual system, yet emerging leaders reconfigured it in ways to justify and substantiate their new authority.

Petroglyph sites are rare in Oregon west of the Cascades. Southwest Oregon's most important place with petroglyphs is a beach inundated during the high water flow of the Rogue River thirty miles upriver from the Pacific Ocean. In recent decades Two Mile Creek's petroglyph-‐bearing sandstone boulders have been honored, studied, ignored, damaged, lost, and removed. Today seven of the boulders are located in a park in Agness, Oregon, their third location since removal in 1977. Sand, gravel, brambles, and moss cover fifty-‐nine in situ boulders. My primary purpose is not to analyze the place or the petroglyphs. Instead, I consider our ideas of this place and the petroglyphs and the resulting actions. With a focus on the period from 1974 to the present, 2015, I assemble and explicate material from diverse sources. Finally, I encourage the responsible state agencies to complete a baseline study leading to inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places.

El artículo presenta el examen de 11 sitios arqueológicos con quilcas o petroglifos de filiación cultural Paracas, ubicados en el área comprendida entre la cuenca del río San Juan o Chincha y la cuenca del río Grande d Nasca, en el departamento de Ica, Perú. Los sitios estudiados demuestran que la presencia gráfica Paracas fue extensiva en la zona, circunscribiéndose a la región yunga, influenciando desarrollos gráficos locales en todo su territorio. La naturaleza y distribución de las quilcas aclara más el desarrollo de esta civilización y sus complejas conexiones culturales.

- by Gori-Tumi Echevarría López and +1
- •
- Andean Archaeology, Rock Art (Archaeology), Petroglyphs and Pictographs, Arte Rupestre

с международным участием) научной конференции (г. Новосибирск, 12-14 ноября 2014 г.) Новосибирск Издательство Института археологии и этнографии СО РАН 2014 УДК 7.031+903.27 ББК Щ123(2)0-17 А870 Рекомендовано к печати Ученым советом Института археологии и этнографии СО РАН Издание осуществлено при поддержке Российского научного фонда (проект № 14-28-00045).

- by Ekaterina Devlet
- •
- Petroglyphs and Pictographs, Petroglyphs

The phenomenon of pareidolia, of experiencing meaningful patterns in random stimuli, is explained in neurophysiological and neuropsychological terms, before its roles in rock art interpretation are considered. A case of group pareidolia in Inner Mongolia is reported in detail, and analysed together with other examples of imagined or pareidolically misinterpreted palaeoart and other phenomena. The process of etic interpretation of rock art is explained neurologically and epistemologically. It is described as a function of the lateral geniculate nucleus of the thalamus yielding to the internal model of the visual cortex in the occipital lobe. This strategy favours incorrect causal associations to be made. It is inherent in the visual system, deriving from its efficacy in natural selection, but its application in rock art interpretation is an impediment to veracity in rock art research. Unless ethnographic information about the meaning of rock art is accessible, rock markings created by humans whose mental and cognitive world is entirely unknown cannot be interpreted with scientific credibility. In such endeavours, meaning is created purely within the brain of the 'interpreter'.

- by Robert Bednarik
- •
- Neuroscience, Psychology, Cognitive Psychology, Neuropsychology

"The article brings new study results of petroglyphs on the plate from the Southern slope of the mountain Oglakhty in the Minusinsk basin on the territory of the Republic of Khakassia into scientific circulation. The study history of the monument is examined. The main types of drawings are distinguished and
analyzed. Depicted on the plate two-wheel carts are referred to two types: 1) A-frame; 2) with a draft pole from a single pole. They are connected with different technological traditions and have different genesis. The first type continues the construction of carts specific for the Okunev culture of the second half of the III – the beginning of the II millennium B.C. The second type appeared in the region together with new migrations in the II century B.C. Drawing peculiarities of wheels and draft animals near a cart with a single draft pole expose its connection with mythological sphere of the culture. The main part of the plate’s petroglyphs can be dated by the end of the II – the beginning of the I century B.C. The upper date is determined according to drawings of daggers. Their prototypes are connected with the Bainovo type of the monuments of the IX – the beginning of the VIII century B.C."

In end of 2014, we have discovered a
new petroglyphic site in valley of Tsagaan
Usnii gol, Omnogobi aimag. It is located
to the border zone of Mongolia whit Chine.
The discovery was a part of the results of
historical and cultural heritage registration
in the southern and western territories of
the provinces, conducted by the Center for
Cultural Heritage of Mongolia.
The petroglyphs were engraved on
an even surface near the Tsagaan Usnii
Gol, which flows from the Bulgan Khorgo
Mountain, 5 kilometers northwest of the
border post of Tsagaan Ders in the territory
of Nomgon Soum in Omnogobi Province.
Various hunting processes are being depicted
on the rock such as a horseman holding his
herding dog; a hunter with his cart drawn by
a camel while arching and pursuing a flock
of wild camels, an ibex also for trapping; and
another two hunters on opposite sides while
arching and throwing a lasso on them.
These petroglyphs representing very
compelling evidence showing that camels
were domesticated and camel cart hunting
was used by at least the 2nd millennium
BCE. This technique was used by the tribes
living in the Bronze Age who settled in the
Gobi region of Mongolia. The site plays
huge importance to take a further look and
do more research on the petroglyphs found
in this region.

- by Anhaa Ganbold
- •
- Bronze Age (Archaeology), Petroglyphs

A "Pedra do Bisnau" é um grande lajedo de arenito coberto por centenas de gravuras em baixo-relevo constituídas essencialmente por representações geométricas e abstratas. Este sítio arqueológico está localizado no estado de Goiás, região centro-oeste do Brasil, sobre a área do planalto central. Inscrito no município de Formosa e mais precisamente na propriedade privada que outrora abrigou um caminho de passagem no centro-oeste do Brasil, a Pedra do Bisnau parece ter testemunhado também as idas e vindas daqueles viajantes do século XIX.

- by Kenia De Aguiar Ribeiro
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- Rock Art (Archaeology), Petroglyphs, Prehistory Brazil