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THE WORLD'S OLDEST LUNAR MAP?
Image from usgs.gov.From before the origin of the Hominin lineage the Earth’s sun was the arbiter of the passage of time and the pace of life for each day. “The sun’s rhythm may have set the pace of...
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A 5,355 YEAR-OLD ANCIENT IRISH RECORD OF AN ECLIPSE – OR NOT?
Cairn "L", Loughcrew, County Meath, Ireland. Online image public domain.Recently reports have surfaced about carvings on stone panels in a Neolithic passage tomb known as “Cairn L,” on Carbane West, at...
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NEW RADIOCARBON DATING STUDY GIVES DATES FOR CHAUVET CAVE AS 10,000 YEARS...
Cave Lion panel, Chauvet-Pont d'Arc Cave, France. Internet image, public domain.A remarkable and comprehensive study published on 2016 pushed the dates of the art of Chauvet Cave in France back to...
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ANAMORPHISM IN CHAUVET CAVE ART:
The modern entrance to Chauvet Cave, France. Image from donsmaps.com.As readers will be able to see from my recent columns on foreshortening in rock art, I am fascinated by these incredibly early...
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VISUAL PUNS REVISITED - ABRI DE LAUSSEL PLAYING CARD VENUS:
Aubri de Laussel, France. Internet image, public domain.Another example of what I call a visual pun, or a visual Mondegreen (see below) in rock art, and image which can be two things in one. It is a...
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NEW DEVELOPMENTS IN OLMEC STUDIES: OLMEC SCULPTURE RETURNED TO CHALCATZINGO,...
Chalcatzingo pyramid, Olmec, Morelo, Mexico. Online image public domain.How do you steal something which weighs approximately one ton? Although neither of the subjects covered below involve our...
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USING THE KNOWLEDGE OF TRADITIONAL HUNTERS/ANIMAL TRACKERS TO IDENTIFY...
Section of panel RAS 8-O, showing the individual sequential numbers for all engravings, digitally enhanced; height of section: c. 1.8 m; photograph by P. Breunig.“In recent years, archaeological...
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SEVERED HANDS IN ANCIENT EGYPTIAN ART:
Presenting hands to the Pharoah, Temple of Ramesses III, Medinet-Habu, Thebes, Egypt. Internet image, public domain. We have known for quite some time about the practice in Ancient Egypt where a...
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ROCK ART HAS BEEN DISCOVERED NEAR THE RUINS OF MACHU PICCHU:
Machu Picchu, Peru. Internet photograph, public domain.Pretty much everybody, at least everybody interested in archaeology, has heard of the famous site of Machu Picchu, Peru, discovered by Hiram...
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THERE’S SOMETHING FISHY ABOUT THIS PETROGLYPH – SALMON:
Salmon jumping a waterfall. Internet image, public domain.Improved analytical techniques have made it possible to trace hominin use of fish for food back a considerable distance in the historical...
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COUGAR SHADOW IN THE SUPERSTITION MOUNTAINS:
Now here is something new - art created by the rocks.Photograph by Jeff Downey, Apache Junction, Arizona.There is no question of the importance of shadows in rock art. Some faint petroglyphs can only...
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CA. AD 1455 PAINTING ILLUSTRATES AN ACHEULIAN HANDAXE:
Melun Diptych, Jean Fouquet, Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Antwerp, by Jean Fouquet. Photo Credits Francesco Bini.The painting is the Melun Diptych,“painted by French court painter Jean Fouquet...
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ARE THERE PARTIAL SOLAR ECLIPSES IN ROCK ART?
Partial solar eclipse, 14 October 2023. Internet photograph, public domain.I am writing this a little over a month after viewing the solar eclipse of 14 October 2023. Where I live the moon had covered...
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ARE THERE IMAGES OF SUPERNOVAS IN ROCK ART?
Chaco Canyon, Penasco Blanco trail, San Juan county, New Mexico. Photograph Peter Faris, May 1994.Everyone who is interested in archeoastronomy knows about the proposed pictographic record of the...
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BOOK REVIEW – “COMINGS AND GOINGS: 13,000 YEARS OF MIGRATIONS IN AND AROUND...
It has been quite some time since RockArtBlog did a book review, but I have one for you this week. I was recently contacted by Bill Burkett, the Series Editor for the Arizona Archaeologist Series of...
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HALLEY'S COMET PICTURED IN CHACO CANYON – REVISITED:
Chaco Canyon, Penasco Blanco trail, San Juan county, New Mexico. Photograph Peter Faris, May 1994.Back on 20 November 2010 I wrote a column about a pictograph along the Peñasco Blanco trail in Chaco...
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Merry Christmas 2023
A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS 2023FROM RockArtBlog Image created by DALL-E-2. Have a very Merry Christmas,A Happy New Year's Eve, and all the best in 2024.© 2009, Peter Faris
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2023 C.R.A.P. AWARD – NEVADA SHOE PRINTS MADE MILLIONS OF YEARS AGO ACCORDING...
2023 C.R.A.P. (Certifiable Rock Art Prevarication) Award goes to "Creation Science."Alleged shoe print from Nevada. Image from howandwhys.com.The 2023 C.R.A.P. Award goes not to the people cited in the...
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ROCK ART IMAGES OF EARLY ROCK CLIMBING AND ROPES:
Closeup, A honey hunter climbing a rope ladder at abrigo de Barranco Gómez in Castellote, Teruel, Spain. Online image public domain.Back in February 2022 I did a column on some pictographs of honey...
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STONE CIRCLES OF SENEGAMBIA:
Stone circles of Senegal and Gambia, Africa. Online image, public domain.There is a remarkable collection of stone circles and related monuments along the River Gambia in Gambia and Senegal in Western...
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