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CategoriesRock art sites
Paintings and engravings from the deepest human past.
🇨🇳 China · Rock art
Neolithic to Xiongnu–Han (3000 BCE – 200 BCE) · Hetao farming to steppe nomad Xiongnu transition
South scarp with 800+ vehicle and mask panels above Hetao bend at 1850 m.
🇰🇬 Kyrgyzstan · Rock art
Bronze Age to Turkic (~2000 BCE – 800 CE) · Andronovo, Saka, Turkic nomadic
Elevated 3,200-m boulder field on the Ferghana ridge preserving perhaps 107,000 images on 10,000 varnished basalt boulders, making it among the most numerous rock-art locales on earth.
🇲🇳 Mongolia · Rock art
Upper Paleolithic to Mesolithic (19,000–8000 BCE) · Malta-Buret related early Holocene hunter
Sun-facing lower gallery with 15 ka ibex/ostrich ochre and pecked figures 220 m below main cave.
🇳🇦 Namibia · Rock art
Late Stone Age to early pastoral (6000 BCE – 1000 CE) · San hunter-gatherer (Ju/'hoansi ancestors)
Namibia's sole UNESCO World Heritage site besides Brandberg, Twyfelfontein holds over 2,500 engravings pecked into a 600-m sandstone outcrop of Etjo formation.
🇳🇪 Niger · Rock art
Neolithic to Medieval (6000 BCE–1500 CE) · Saharan pastoralists / Libyco-Berber / Kanem
Djado Plateau is an isolated sandstone cuesta 1,000 m² in Ténéré with rock art 6000 BCE–1000 CE, engraved cattle, giraffe and Libyco-Berber inscriptions in shelters, plus ruined ksar Djado fortress…
🇨🇳 China · Rock art
Spring and Autumn to Western Xia (770 BCE – 1227 CE) · Northern nomadic to Dangxiang (Tangut Xi Xia)
North fork with 1200+ ibex and Xi Xia script at 1970 m opposite main park.
🇰🇿 Kazakhstan · Rock art
Bronze Age to Dzungar to Kazakh (1500 BCE – 1900 CE) · Oirat Mongol (Buddhist) and earlier Andronovo/Kazakh nomad
North-bank Ili terrace with Bronze Age carts and Kazakh tamgas opposite Buddhist cliffs.
🇵🇪 Peru · Rock art
Paracas to Early Nazca ~800 BCE–400 CE · Paracas–Nazca
Nazca-basin boulder petroglyphs bridging Paracas trophy-head art to Nazca geoglyphs.
🇦🇲 Armenia · Rock art
Chalcolithic to Medieval (4000 BCE – 1400 CE) · Kura-Araxes to medieval Armenian
South annex with Chalcolithic finger flutings and secondary grape press pit.
🇲🇳 Mongolia · Rock art
Neolithic to Turkic (6000 BCE – 900 CE) · North Asian hunter-gatherer to Bronze Age nomad to Turkic
South tributary with deer stones and Neolithic birthing scene across 15 km.
🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Megalith
Late Neolithic to Early Bronze Age · Kilmartin Late Neolithic
Cup-and-ring schist panels above Kilmartin Glen with >100 carvings, c.3000 BCE.
🇦🇲 Armenia · Rock art
Bronze Age (3500–1000 BCE) · Syunik Bronze to Urartian pastoral
Crater tarn shore with bull, net and 3-m wheel calendar at 3220 m.
🇰🇬 Kyrgyzstan · Rock art
Saka to Qarakhanid · Saka, Wusun, Qarakhanid
Lake-margin boulder bar at the tarn below Saimaluu-Tash West cirque, a 400-m shoreline shelf with 180 panels on glacially-rafted quartzite.
🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Megalith
Late Neolithic to Early Bronze Age · Kilmartin Late Neolithic
Forest clearing cup-and-ring cluster on Creag Mhor, 120+ motifs, c.3000 BCE.
🇪🇬 Egypt · Necropolis
First Intermediate to Middle Kingdom (2181–1650 BCE) · Egyptian (13th Upper nome; nomarchs)
First Intermediate nomarch tombs with Djefaihapi mortuary contract.
🇷🇺 Russia · Rock art
Neolithic to Turkic to Historic (3000 BCE – 1900 CE) · Afanasievo to Karakol to Turkic to Russian surveyors
Confluence outcrops with elk and runic at sacred Two Rivers junction.
🇺🇸 United States · Rock art
Archaic through Hohokam 7500 BCE–1400 CE · Hohokam and Archaic–Patayan
4,000-petroglyph basalt concentration, 7500 BCE–1400 CE.
🇰🇿 Kazakhstan · Rock art
Late Bronze to Saka-Wusun · Andronovo, Saka, Wusun
Isolated granite outcrop 600 m north of Tamgaly Main Gorge, a whale-backed ridge exposing 22 vertical panels with 180+ peckings contrasting valley-floor schist.
🇪🇬 Egypt · Rock art
Neolithic rock art (6500–3200 BCE) · Gilf Kebir pastoral (Saharan Neolithic)
North wall of Wadi Sura with Archers vs cattle battle scene.
🇳🇬 Nigeria · Rock art
Middle Stone Age to Iron Age (92,000 BP–500 CE) · MSA/LSA forest foragers
Iwo Eleru Rock Shelter in southwest Nigeria forest is Later Stone Age to Iron Age shelter 92,000–3,000 BP with 13ka calvaria of early modern human with archaic features (Iwo Eleru skull) sparking…
🇺🇦 Ukraine · Rock art
Mesolithic to Medieval (9000 BCE – 1200 CE) · Azov steppe pastoral to Nogai Turkic
North end shelters with cart/chariot and Turkic tamga palimpsest.
🇹🇭 Thailand · Ancient village
Late Pleistocene to Holocene (c.35000–10000 BP Hoabinhian) · Hoabinhian hunter-gatherers
Hoabinhian karst rockshelter (35,000–10,000 BP) — continuous pebble-tool sequence before Neolithic.
🇷🇺 Russia · Rock art
Bronze Age to Early Medieval · Andronovo, Saka, Turkic
Central Yaloman terrace 200 m above Chuya at 723 km tract, a 40-m-wide sandstone cliff with 180 peckings of Kalgutinsky elk, Saka deer-masks and Turkic horsemen.
🇰🇬 Kyrgyzstan · Rock art
Early Iron Age to Karakhanid (800 BCE – 1000 CE) · Saka to Kyrgyz–Karakhanid nomad
Mid-bench tarn with herder and Arabic blessing graffiti 600 m below plateau.
