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IS THERE A WOOLY RHINOCEROS PETROGLYPH IN THE GRAND CANYON?
Wolly rhinoceros. Online image, public domain.On 10 January 2015 I published a column on RockArtBlog about the Doheny Expedition to the Grand Canyon to record petroglyphs of dinosaurs. In this column I...
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CANARY ISLAND ROCK ART AND LITHOPHONES:
Canary islands. Graphic - M. HersherScience; Data - Ancient World Mapping Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.I have written about lithophones, as well as music and rock art, in...
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PORTABLE X-RAY FLUORESCENCE ANALYSIS OF PIGMENTS IN CAVE PAINTINGS:
Entrance to Font du Gaume cave, France. Photograph by Don Hitchcock, Donsmaps.com.An important development in the potential dating of European cave art has been made by the use of portable x-ray...
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WAS A SOUTH AFRICAN ROCK ART PANEL INSPIRED BY A DICYNODONT FOSSIL?
Dicynodont illustration by Oleg Kluzman, artstation.com.Is a South African rock art panel a dicynodont? This is a claim made by South African archeologist Julien Benoit (2024). The dicynodonia lived...
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EDITORIAL– A reply to a comment just left added by Anonymous to my column on 6 April 2013, “Kaneikokala – A Hawaiian Shark Deity.”“Anonymous has left a new comment on the post "KANEIKOKALA - A...
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BRONZE AGE ROCK ART GAME BOARDS FOUND IN AZERBAIJAN:
Capmali rock shelter (shadows right of center), Gobustan National Reserve, Azerbaijan. Figure 4, Crist and Abdullayev, 2024. Readers of RockArtBlog will recognize that one subject I enjoy looking into...
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SHAMANISM AND ROCK ART - REVISITED:
A Siberian shaman. Illustration from behance.net.I am taking the opportunity to revisit the subject of ‘shamanism’ in rock art because it seems that more and more references to shamanism can be found...
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1.4 MILLION YEAR OLD STONE SPHERES?
Limestone spheroids, Ubeidiya, Israel. Illustration from phys.org.This column is not about rock art, per se, but a fascinating phenomenon found at early hominin sites. Carefully manufactured stone...
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15,800 YEAR OLD IMAGE OF PALEOLITHIC AGE NET FISHING:
Fish in a net, engraved-plaquette, Gonnersdorf, Germany. Illustration from archaeology.org.By far the earliest depiction of catching fish with a net has been discovered on a stone plaque at...
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A DONKEY IMAGE FOUND AT KARAHAN TEPE:
Excavation at Karahan Tepe, Turkey. Image from easternturkeytour.org.A charming petroglyph of a running wild donkey has been discovered at the site of Karahan Tepe. "Karahan Tepe is an archaeological...
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A NEW ROCK ART DISCOVERY IN THE NORTHERN SINAI – AND ANOTHER DONKEY:
Petroglyph cave at Wadi al-Zulma, North Sinai, Egypt. Image provided by Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities.A recent discovery in the northern Sinai Peninsula of Egypt contains rock art of a style unknown...
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HAPPY HOLIDAYS - 2024.
A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS 2024From RockArtBlog Image created by DALL-E-2. Have a very Merry Christmas,A Happy New Year's Eve, and all the best in 2025.© 2009, Peter Faris
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2025 C.R.A.P. AWARD - PETROGLYPHS OF INDIAN TEMPLES AND STUPAS IDENTIFIED AS...
Hypothetical vertical section of a vimana. Drawing by T. K. Ellappa, Bangalore, India. 12 February 1923. Image from Wikipedia. Note - the little T-shapes in the blue cups at the top are the propellers...
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EGYPTIAN PETROGLYPH IDENTIFIED AS A CONSTELLATION – THE EL-HOSH CAPRICORN...
The el-Hosh Capricorn petroglyph, Egypt. Image from msn.com.A recent paper (2024) by Linda Evans and her team discuss a petroglyph with a combination of the apparent fore-quarters of a quadruped and...
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A NEWER CANDIDATE FOR THE OLDEST ROCK ART – 66,000+ YEAR-OLD HAND PRINT:
Maltravieso Cave entrance. Photograph from httpwww.turismoextremadura.com.Every so often I get to write another column for RockArtBlog about a newly announced date breaking the record for the oldest...
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CANARY ISLAND ROCK ART AND LITHOPHONES:
Map of the Canary Islands, by M. Hersher, Ancient World Mapping Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.I have written about lithophones, as well as music and rock art, in previous columns...
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THE DISAPPEARING OWLS – IBERIAN SLATE PLAQUES ARE NOW WRITING, OR...
Map of locations of discovery of plaques on the Iberian Peninsula. Map from urn-cambridge.org.Owl plaque (from 2023 posting). Illustration from Negro et al., 2022, Fig 1. Slate plaque from Cerro de las...
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ANCIENT VENEZUELAN ROCK ART FROM AN UNKNOWN CULTURE?
Arauák River valley with the Upuigma Tepui at the back,and the savanna where the boulder is located. All images ©JoséMiguel Perez-Gomez unless indicated otherwise. Figure 2, page 132.A number of new...
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SHAMANISM AND ROCK ART - REVISITED:
Dancing Shaman. Image created with DALL-E.I am taking the opportunity to revisit the subject of ‘shamanism’ in rock art because it seems that more and more references to shamanism can be found in books...
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ARCHAEOMAGNETIC DATING OF OLD PICTOGRAPHS:
For forty years I have maintained that it should be possible to date certain old pictographs painted with ochres by archaeomagnetic dating techniques. A 2004 study by Avto Goguitchaichvili and his team...
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IS A MODIFIED CAVE FLOOR IN FRANCE THE EARLIEST KNOWN MAP?
View out of the Ségognole 3 rock shelter, Fontainbleu, in the Paris Basin, France. Online image, public domain.Readers of RockArtBlog may remember that I have been a skeptic of many claims of ancient...
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GEOGLYPHS – A SERPENT INTAGLIO IN KANSAS:
The Great Serpent Mound, Peebles, Ohio. Gettyimages.Most people know of the Great Serpent Mound at Peebles, Ohio. Less well known is a smaller serpent intaglio in Rice County, near Lyons, Kansas. Like...
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HIGHEST ALTITUDE PETROGLYPHS IN EUROPE:
Stelvio National Park, Lombardy, Italy. Image from arkeonews.net.I have written a few previous columns on high altitude rock art (see ‘highest elevation’ in the cloud index at bottom). Now we have...
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A PAINTED DINOSAUR FOOTPRINT IN LESOTHO, AFRICA:
Flag Point track site, Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, Utah. Internet photo public domain.Painted track at Flag Point track site, Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, Utah....
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A PETROGLYPH OF BIGHORN SHEEP PLAYING PATTICAKE AT NINE-MILE CANYON:
Column for 1 April, 2025.Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep, lambs playing. Internet image, public domain.We have all seen photographs of lambs playing, we have probably all seen photographs of bighorn...
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