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ANCIENT CHINESE INSCRIPTIONS IN ARIZONA AND NEW MEXICO – REALLY?
Petroglyphs at Petroglyph National Monument, Albuquerque, New Mexico. From Ruskamp, 2017.Abstract symbols from two locations in the American Southwest have been supposedly translated and read as 2500...
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POSSIBLE BROCKEN SPECTRES IN ROCK ART:
Brocken Spectre. Internet photograph, public domain.Brocken Spectre. Photograph by Chris Augliera, public domain.For many years I have been interested in portrayals of natural phenomena in rock art,...
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HAVE WE EVER FOUND A CAVE PAINTING OF A SALAD?
Internet cartoon, public domain.I recently ran across this cartoon on the internet and it got me to thinking, have we ever found a cave painting of a salad? This is a question that I think we can have...
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BRAZIL’S INGA STONE - A REMARKABLE AND MISUNDERSTOOD ROCK ART SITE:
Itacoatiaras of Inga, of the State of Paraiba, Brazil. Online photograph, public domain.Some places or features seem relatively mundane and are often taken for granted, others are so striking that they...
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A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS 2022 From RockArtBlog Three Rivers, New Mexico.Photograph John and Esther Faris, 1988. Decorating the Jornada Mogollon Christmas Tree. Have a very...
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2022 C.R.A.P. AWARD - ANCIENT RUINS ON MARS:
Newly discovered claimed sphinx on Mars. Internet photograph, public domain.For the highly esteemed and much sought-after C.R.A.P. (Certifiable Rock Art Prevarication) Award for 2022 our judges have...
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IT STILL ISN'T POINTILLISM - DAMMIT!
Aurochs, Abri Cellier, France. Internet photograph, public domain.Reproduction of the Aurochs, Abri Cellier, France. Internet photograph, public domain.Drawing of the Aurochs, Abri Cellier, France....
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RESTORATION OF THE MASHKI GATE OF ANCIENT NINEVEH:
Ancient Assyrian Nineveh reconstructed, Mosul, Iraq. Internet photograph, public domain.In an act of wanton destruction reminiscent of the Afghanistan Taliban’s dynamiting of the world’s two largest...
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THE PLEIADES IN ROCK ART – REVISITED:
Marra Wonga rock shelter, Queensland, Australia. Photograph A. Jalandoni.Although I previously have written about the Pleiades on RockArtBlog (Faris 2015) it is time to revisit the subject on the basis...
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SISIUTL AND CHINESE DRAGONS - A CONNECTION?
Stone carving from Shimao, China. Photograph by Rachel Vaknin, National Geographic.On Monday, 9 January 2023, I received the following anonymous comment from Jay (last name unknown). Under the...
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12,000 YEAR OLD ROCK ART DATES IN NORTH AMERICA:
Team member taking a pXRF reading at Rochester Creek site, Utah.The perennial problem of dating petroglyphs may have finally been solved. A team from the Max Planck Institute has used portable X-ray...
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HERE WE GO AGAIN – ANOTHER CLAIM FOR PALEOLITHIC WRITING:
Aurochs with four dots. Illustration from Bacon et al., 2023.Periodically, claims spring up that some of the imagery in Paleolithic cave painting in Europe represents early forms of writing, or...
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MORE GAMES IN ROCK ART - STONE SPHERES ARE BELIEVED TO BE ANCIENT GREEK GAME...
Minoan stone spheres. Internet photograph, public domain. Minoan stone spheres from Akrotiri, Thera island, Greece. Photograph from Fernee and Trimmis, 2022.Among other artifacts from the fascinating...
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A NEW VIEW ON INCOMPLETE HANDPRINTS IN EUROPEAN CAVES:
Stencilled handprint with missing fingers, Gargas Cave, France. Internet photograph, public domain.I have previously written a number of columns in RockArtBlog about handprints (see hand print in the...
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IBERIAN COPPER AGE SLATE OWL PLAQUES
Copper Age owl plaques. Illustration from Negro et al., 2022. A through f - slate, g - sandstone, h - bone.From the Chalcolithic/Copper Age of Iberia come a series of absolutely charming figurines of...
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RESPONSE TO A COMMENT BY JOHN RUSKAMP:
I recently received a comment by John Ruskamp in response to my column of 26 November 2022 titled ANCIENT CHINESE INSCRIPTIONS IN ARIZONA AND NEW MEXICO – REALLY? I wrote this column in response to a...
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11,000 YEAR-OLD SCENE MAY BE THE OLDEST KNOWN NARRATIVE:
Relief panel, Sayburç, Turkey. Photograph, the Sayburç Project.Excavations at Sayburç, in south-eastern Turkey in 2021, have exposed ancient ruins including a relief carving that is being called the...
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ACTIVITIES PORTRAYED IN ROCK ART – SWIMMING:
Wadi Sura, Egypt. Internet photograph, public domain.I ran across a photograph of the Cave of Swimmers in Egypt and thought it would be fun to do a column on the subject of swimming illustrated in rock...
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PARANORMAL PHENOMENA IN ROCK ART - FLYING RODS - April 1:
Flying rod. Photograph from abovetopsecret.com.Flying rod. Photograph from assap.ac.uk.This year for my April 1st column I am going to reveal a paranormal phenomena illustrated in rock art that has...
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SWIMMING IN ROCK ART CONTINUED - MYTHICAL BEINGS/MERMAIDS:
Ezelsacht, near Oudtshoorn, Cape Province, South Africa. Illustration from The Rock Art of South Africa, A.R. Wilcox, facing p. 35.Close-up, Ezelsacht, near Oudtshoorn, Cape Province, South Africa....
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