Rock art

Rock Art

Rock art is a special kind of old artwork made by people a very long time ago. It includes pictures and markings on stone surfaces, often on cave walls or under rock overhangs. These artworks are found all over the world in many different places and cultures.

There are a few ways people made rock art. Some painted pictures on the walls, called cave paintings or pictographs. Others carved or scratched designs into the stone, called petroglyphs. There are also large carved scenes called rock reliefs and huge shapes made on the ground known as geoglyphs.

The oldest rock art we know of comes from a very old time called the Upper Palaeolithic period. It has been found in Europe, Australia, Asia, and Africa. Many indigenous communities see rock art as very important, like a key part of their history. These sites sometimes attract many visitors and are often shown in books, movies, and art because of how beautiful they are.

Rock art is special because it is made directly on natural rock surfaces, like cave walls or cliff faces. You can find it all around the world. For many indigenous peoples, this art is very important to their history and culture.

Rock art includes paintings, which are often found in caves or under rock overhangs. These paintings are called pictographs and are made using natural things like minerals. The main colors are red, black, and white. Red comes from a type of earth called ochre, black often comes from charcoal, and white is made from chalk or clay.

Petroglyphs are pictures carved or scratched into rock surfaces. They are made using tools like a hard stone, called a hammerstone, that is hit against the rock. Sometimes, another stone is used as a chisel. These lines are often hard to see.

Rock reliefs are large carvings made directly into cliffs or big rocks. They are often found in cultures that could write and are usually very big to be seen from far away. These carvings often look like other sculptures from the same time and place.

Earth figures are big designs made on the ground. Some are made by scraping away small stones to show a picture on the rock below, like the Nazca Lines in Peru. Others are made by piling up rocks to create a design.

Rock art appears in many different places and times, among many cultures. It might have been used to show ownership, to tell stories from the past, or to help with special rituals. The pictures and designs from long ago had deep meanings.

In Europe during the Upper Palaeolithic, rock art was created inside caves by hunter-gatherer peoples. The oldest known example is the Chauvet Cave in France, with others found in Lascaux in France, Alta Mira in Spain, Creswell Crags in Britain, and Grotta del Genovese in Sicily.

In Africa, rock art can be found in many places. In North Africa, there are sites like Tassili n'Ajjer in Algeria and the Cave of Swimmers in Egypt. In Southern Africa, there are important sites like UKhahlamba Drakensberg Park in South Africa and Tsodilo Hills in Botswana.

In the Americas, the oldest reliably dated rock art is known as the "Horny Little Man". It is a petroglyph depicting a stick figure and carved in Lapa do Santo, a cave in central-eastern Brazil. The most important site is Serra da Capivara National Park at Piauí state, a UNESCO World Heritage Site with the largest collection in the American continent.

In Asia, there are many rock art sites. In Central Asia, there is Gobustan National Park in Azerbaijan. In East Asia, there are sites like Bangudae Petroglyphs in South Korea and Fugoppe Cave petroglyphs on Hokkaido, Japan. In Southeast Asia, there are sites like Angono Petroglyphs in the Philippines and Pha Taem in Thailand.

In Australasia, Australian Indigenous art represents the oldest unbroken tradition of art in the world. The oldest firmly dated rock art painting in Australia is a charcoal drawing on a rock fragment found during the excavation of the Nawarla Gabarnmang rock shelter in southwestern Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory. Kakadu National Park in the Northern Territory has a large collection of ochre paintings.