Rock Art

Chauvet-Pont-d'Arc Cave, France
Rock Art: What are Pictographs, Petroglyphs, and Geoglyphs?
by ancientartarch|November 19, 2024|age, California, cave art, Chauvet, Emery County, France, geoglyph, Native American, North America, Painting, Paleolithic, petroglyph, pictograph, Rock Art, Uncategorized, Utah
Rock Art: Pictographs, Petroglyphs, and Geoglyphs. Three techniques are used by the world's first artists. What do those terms mean and what does the art look like?
Storied Rock Interview
by ancientartarch|May 31, 2024|Native American, news, North America, Rock Art
Our founder Stephen Alvarez was interviewed on public radio about producing the Storied Rock article in National Geographic Magazine and the work of the Ancient Art Archive. Listen to the interview here. Storied Rock is live on National Geographic's website (here subscription required). You can see the images on Alvarez's website by going to America's Murals.
The Rochester Creek Panel
Rochester Creek Petroglyph Site Video
by Stephen Alvarez|April 11, 2024|Archaic, Emery County, Fremont, Modern, Mural of America, Native American, North America, petroglyph, Rock Art, Utah
The Rochester Creek Rock Art Site is an extraordinary Fremont site in Emery County, Utah. With a story telling team of Native American descendants, land managers and archaeologists we have put together this 3 minute film that imagines the site from the point of view of Ute spiritual leader Larry Cesspooch.
Cueva de las Manos
Patagonia Cave Art: A Pictograph Seen Across 3000 Years
by Stephen Alvarez|February 16, 2024|age, cave art, Painting, pictograph, Rock Art
A new paper in Science Advances suggests that a single pictograph motif persists across 130 human generations at a site in Argentina
Great Gallery of Horseshoe Canyon, Utah USA
Barrier Canyon Style Rock Art
by ancientartarch|December 21, 2023|Barrier Canyon Style, North America, petroglyph, pictograph, Rock Art, Rock Art Styles, Uncategorized, Utah
The Barrier Canyon Style (BCS) represents an intriguing facet of prehistoric rock art, primarily concentrated in Utah, notably flourishing within the San Rafael Swell and Canyonlands National Park regions
Petroglyphs in Gold Butte National Monument
Nevada man sentenced to 6 months in prison for damaging rock art
by Stephen Alvarez|November 17, 2023|Nevada, North America, petroglyph, Rock Art
A Nevada man will spend 6 month in jail for defacing rock art in Nevada
Growing evidence of Neanderthal “Art”
by Stephen Alvarez|June 23, 2023|age, cave art, Europe, France, petroglyph
Claims that other species besides Homo Sapiens made art or used "symbolic behavior" have been met with skepticism. But evidence that Neanderthals did produce symbols keeps growing. In a paper published this week in the Journal PLOS One,
Chauvet Pont d’Arc the discovery of 36,000-year-old art
Upper Paleolithic Proto Writing
by ancientartarch|January 5, 2023|Aurignacian, cave art, Chauvet, Europe, France, Painting, Uncategorized
We know that ancient artists were exacting observers of the natural world. But it is mind bending that they may have had a written time keeping system 20,000 years ago.
A Dark Pathway
A Dark Pathway book review
by Stephen Alvarez|December 2, 2022|cave art, Native American, North America, petroglyph, Rock Art, Tennessee, Uncategorized
Founding board member emeritus Dr Jan Simek has a new book about cave art in the Southeastern United States. Dr David Whitley gives us a detailed review. A Dark Pathway: Precontact Native American Mud Glyphs from 1st Unnamed Cave, Tennessee, by Jan F. Simek. 2022. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press. xviii+195 pp., 85 b&w and 19 color figures, 14 tables, bibliography, index. ISBN 9781621907176, hardcover. By David S. Whitley Rock Art Research Institute University of the Witwatersrand “Mud glyph” and “1st Unnamed Cave” are not particularly inspiring terms that, at first glance, might promote reading this book. Yet these very earthy, workman-like words in the sub-title exactly belie the careful, compelling and in fact exciting study detailed in this volume. Anyone interested in the Native American symbolic and spiritual world will benefit from and enjoy this book; it should be required reading for those concerned with the indigenous southeastern US...
Rock Eagle Effigy Mound
Updates to our public rock art sites
by Stephen Alvarez|October 27, 2022|geoglyph, news, Rock Art
Looking for a weekend rock art get away? We've made some updates to our public rock art sites interactive map. All the sites on the list are actively managed for public visitation. Changes include a new site Rock Hawk, direction maps to Rock Eagle and Serpent Mound, better access to embedded VR models in Chauvet, Mt Irish and The Great Gallery of Horseshoe Canyon.