Free Republic

Dozens of rock art sites in southern New Mexico, recently documented for the first time, are revealing unexpected botanical clues that archaeologists say may help unlock the meaning of the ancient abstract paintings. Over a swath of the Chihuahuan Desert stretching from Carlsbad to Las Cruces, at least 24 rock art panels have been found bearing the same distinctive pictographs: repeated series of triangles painted in combinations of red, yellow, and black. And at each of these sites, archaeologists have noticed similarities not just on the rock, but in the ground. Hallucinogenic plants were found growing beneath the triangle designs,...

The Mystery of Stonehenge, Ancient Petroglyphs and Crop Circles There are many theories about the origins and functions of Stonehenge. Only through exploring the significance of the electromagnetic universe do we begin to understand the implications of this great stone megalith. Revelations have appeared via another great mystery, crop circles but in a formation so obtuse it was largely bypassed.In 2009 at Manton, Wiltshire, UK, a stand alone pattern appeared. A peculiar stark design, it attracted little in the way of analysis going largely unexplored.However it is a major key to much crop circle imagery and meaning; that Earth life...

Artefacts are usually displayed in museums but sometimes there are some that just can’t be put on exhibition – as is the case with one that is hidden deep in the Russian forests. It was known that there were rock carvings on some islands in Lake Kanozero, and Jan Magne Gjerde, project manager at the Tromsø University Museum, went out there to document them as part of his doctoral work however, when he and his colleagues had completed their work, the number of known petroglyphs had risen from 200 to over 1,000. “I still get chills up my spine when...

Using a new technology known as optically stimulated luminescence (OSL), a team of Belgian scientists and Professor John Coleman Darnell of Yale have determined that Egyptian petroglyphs found at the east bank of the Nile are about 15,000 years old, making them the oldest rock art in Egypt and possibly the earliest known graphic record in North Africa. The dating results will be published in the December issue of Antiquity (Vol. 85 Issue 330, pp. 1184–1193). The site of the rock art panels is near the modern village of Qurta, about 40km south of the Upper-Egyptian town of Edfu. First...

Scattered across the beaches of Southeast Alaska, and indeed along the entire Northwest Pacific coast from Kodiak to the Columbia River, are intensely staring eyes, totemic animals and geometric patterns carved into boulders and bedrock. These mysterious petroglyphs, carvings in stone, raise questions that have perplexed archeologists and casual observers for well over a century. Most of those questions remain unanswered and may ultimately be unanswerable. Perhaps because of these mysteries, petroglyphs arouse fascination in anyone fortunate enough to see them, particularly if they are still embedded in their original location. Questions about petroglyphs-their age, purpose, makers and method of...

Stone carvings dating back centuries have been uncovered by an amateur archaeologist. The prehistoric artwork was found on the mountain of Ben Lawers in the Scottish Highlands by rock art enthusiast George Currie. The art is similar to other prehistoric pieces found in the area, consisting of depressions known as cup marks, or cup and ring marks, which are carved on rocks Helen Cole from the National Trust of Scotland admires the stone carvings found on a mountain in the Highlands Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1207118/Ancient-rock-art-revealed-Scottish-Highlands.html?ITO=1490#ixzz0OSucxbSU However, the newly-discovered rock is unusual as it bears a much higher concentration of the markings...

Time Line of Decipherment When the Spanish conquered the Maya empire in the 16th century, they forced their new subjects to convert to Christianity and speak and write in Spanish. But long before the Maya used the Roman alphabet, they had created their own rich and elegant script, featuring more than 800 hieroglyphs. Sadly, the glyphs' meanings were lost in the decades following the Conquest. Ever since, scholars have struggled to decode these symbols, pronounce the words they form, and understand the stories they tell. In this time line, follow the centuries-long decipherment, which has only recently reached the point...

Ancient petroglyphs lie amidst suburban sprawl By BRANDON LOOMIS Salt Lake Tribune 2007-12-24 00:00:00 ST. GEORGE, Utah -- An ancient 40-ton jungle gym of sorts, the massive burnt umber boulder anchors a neighborhood park and beckons suburban kids to clamber over its mysterious Anasazi etchings. And climb aboard they do, sometimes even attempting to scratch their own marks before the adults run them off, neighbors say. Archaeologists typically warn against even smudging natural skin oils on the chiseled drawings or the rock's natural mineral glaze so they won't slowly melt away. "I've climbed on it," acknowledged Melissa Cornwall, whose in-laws...

"It is some of the oldest rock art in Utah," Nina Bowen, archivist for the Utah Rock Art Research Association, said in a news release. "Its style is very unique." ...The most compelling piece at the undisclosed site shows what appears to be three figures holding hands and dancing, said Utah Rock Art Research president Troy Scotter... Scotter said the region boasts quite a bit of rock art - ranging from archaic (2,000 to 6,000 years old) to younger creations by the Fremont people (A.D. 500 to 1300). He said the dancing-figures petroglyph is likely Fremont art - although more...

In a case with ramifications for archaeological treasures across the West, the Justice Department is asking the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to reconsider a ruling that freed two men convicted of stealing ancient petroglyphs in Nevada. "There is a good deal at stake here," said Sherry Hutt, a former Superior Court judge from Arizona who has written books on the subject and now heads a related program at the National Park Service... Hutt, who manages a Park Service program under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, said the concerns are valid. "Essentially, the government must prove...

Eventually the more than two dozen Native American carvings, which may be thousands of years old, will be put on display. The carvings are called the Bald Friar Petroglyphs. They are older than those of the Aztecs and include concentric circles, fishlike designs and shapes that appear to depict the sun and humans... On Thursday, state archaeologists used chisels and crowbars to dislodge the carvings... The petroglyphs arrived in Baltimore in 1926 after preservationists removed them from the lower Susquehanna Valley to avoid their being inundated by Conowingo Dam. The stones were found in the Bald Friar area of Pennsylvania....

GORNO-ALTAISK, September 23. KAZINFORM. - Big ancient Scythian drawings were found for the first time in the mountains of the Russian Republic of Altai. Three drawings or petroglyphs of a size of 1.5 meters were reported by Yevgeny Matochkin from the National Museum of Altai to regional authorities. He said he found them on a cliff that is 30-meter high and 10-meter wide near the village of Inegen at the Katun and Chuya Rivers thanks to local residents, Kazinform quotes Itar-Tass. Matochkin said one drawing is that of a deer and others need to be cleaned to see what they...