Articles
- Over 100 neolithic petroglyphs found in a Catalonian CaveOver 100 engravings have been identified on an 8 meter long panel in a cave in Tarragona. The images are exceptional both for their uniqueness and their state of preservation.Read more
- Art Beneath Our FeetFebruary 28th, 2023 6PM Central Standard Time Franklin, Tennessee Why are people artists? And what do the first artworks tell us about ourselves? Those questions have guided National Geographic photographer Stephen Alvarez on a decade-long quest to understand art’s biological origins and how it connects our past to our present. His journey has taken him from the southern coast of Africa, where humans first begin making paint over 100,000 years ago, to the discovery of the America’s largest cave artworks in the Southern United States. This presentation is in person and in partnership with Williamson County Heritage. It is free but registration is required (here). February 28th, 2023 6PM Central Standard Time Franklin Theater Franklin TennesseeRead more
- Updates to our public sites listWe've updated the International Public Ancient Art sites list to include two wonderful rock art sites in Utah and Wyoming.Read more
- Upper Paleolithic Proto WritingWe know that ancient artists were exacting observers of the natural world. But it is mind bending that they may have had a written time keeping system 20,000 years ago.Read more
- A Dark Pathway book reviewFounding board member emeritus Dr Jan Simek has a new book about cave art in the Southeastern United States. Dr David Whitley gives us a detailed review. A Dark Pathway: Precontact Native American Mud Glyphs from 1st Unnamed Cave, Tennessee, by Jan F. Simek. 2022. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press. xviii+195 pp., 85 b&w and 19 color figures, 14 tables, bibliography, index. ISBN 9781621907176, hardcover. By David S. Whitley Rock Art Research Institute University of the Witwatersrand “Mud glyph” and “1st Unnamed Cave” are not particularly inspiring terms that, at first glance, might promote reading this book. Yet these very earthy, workman-like words in the sub-title exactly belie the careful, compelling and in fact exciting study detailed in this volume. Anyone interested in the Native American symbolic and spiritual world will benefit from and enjoy this book; it should be required reading for those concerned with the indigenous southeastern US...Read more
- Updates to our public rock art sitesLooking for a weekend rock art get away? We've made some updates to our public rock art sites interactive map. All the sites on the list are actively managed for public visitation. Changes include a new site Rock Hawk, direction maps to Rock Eagle and Serpent Mound, better access to embedded VR models in Chauvet, Mt Irish and The Great Gallery of Horseshoe Canyon.Read more
- Persistence of PlaceSome places become important to humans and remain so across thousands of years and multiple cultures.Read more
- Southern Utah Petroglyph BouldersWe have loaded a VR model of petroglyph boulders in Utah optimized for the Oculus headset.Read more
- Cave Art Images from New ZealandNew Zealand is one of the last major land masses to be explored and permanently settled by human beings. Max Wisshak has added his photographs of those explorers artwork to the Ancient Art Archvie.Read more
Modern Ancient ArtModern art concepts like cubism have their origins in the oldest artworks on the planet. Our brains are hard wired for abstraction.Read more- Native American Cave Art Over 1000-Years-Old Revealed by 3D ScansGiant Cave Art images discovered using 3D modeling. This expands our knowledge of the Woodland Culture world view.Read more
- Naj Tunich Cave Maya pictographsThe Maya pictographs in Naj Tunich Cave rocked the world of Maya archaeology when they were discovered.Read more
Indigenous Cave Explorers of the Southeastern USIndisputable evidence proves Indigenous Americans ventured as far as 3 miles into southeastern caves 5,000 years before the invention of electric light. Native Americans were excellent cave explorers.Read more- Esplanade Polychrome styleEsplanade Polychrome style is known from only a handful of rock art sites in Mojave County Arizona.Read more
Archaic, Woodland, Mississippian. The Precontact Native American Cultures of Southeastern United StatesArchaic, Woodland, and Mississippian the pre contact Native American Cultures of the Southeastern US.Read more
