Rock Art

National Geographic Storytellers Summit 2024
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Dustin Mater and I were invited to the National Geographic Storytellers Summit in LA. The Summit is a gathering of National Geographic grantees who come together annually for a few days of inspiration and presentations
Cueva de las Manos
Patagonia Cave Art: A Pictograph Seen Across 3000 Years
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A new paper in Science Advances suggests that a single pictograph motif persists across 130 human generations at a site in Argentina
Great Gallery of Horseshoe Canyon, Utah USA
Barrier Canyon Style Rock Art
The Barrier Canyon Style (BCS) represents an intriguing facet of prehistoric rock art, primarily concentrated in Utah, notably flourishing within the San Rafael Swell and Canyonlands National Park regions
Petroglyphs in Gold Butte National Monument
Nevada man sentenced to 6 months in prison for damaging rock art
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A Nevada man will spend 6 month in jail for defacing rock art in Nevada
Art Beneath Our Feet
Art Beneath Our Feet
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February 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 Tennessee
Dinwoody Petroglyphs
Updates to our public sites list
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We've updated the International Public Ancient Art sites list to include two wonderful rock art sites in Utah and Wyoming.
A Dark Pathway
A Dark Pathway book review
Founding 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...
Rock Eagle Effigy Mound
Updates to our public rock art sites
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Looking 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.
San Juan County Petroglyphs
Southern Utah Petroglyph Boulders
We have loaded a VR model of petroglyph boulders in Utah optimized for the Oculus headset.
Stephen Alvarez works in an unnamed cave
Native American Cave Art Over 1000-Years-Old Revealed by 3D Scans
Giant Cave Art images discovered using 3D modeling. This expands our knowledge of the Woodland Culture world view.