It discovered a number of connections between this tribal art on the one hand, and San culture and religion including healing and rain-making on the other. For more about the cultural background to Stone Age carvings, and other parietal rock art, see: Paleolithic Art and Culture. Other important petroglyphs were the carvings and engravings found on megaliths at Gobekli Tepe , Newgrange and Stonehenge.
What Are the Most Famous Petroglyphs? Technically, the oldest cave art on the planet. Blombos Cave Engravings c. Ferrassie Cave Cupules c. Gorham's Cave Engraving c. Abri Castanet Engravings c.
Cosquer Cave c. Cussac Cave Engravings c. Gargas Cave Hand Stencils c. Roucadour Cave Art c. Abri du Poisson Cave Salmon Carving c. Lascaux Cave c. Cave of La Pasiega c. Font de Gaume Cave c. La Marche Cave c. Ancient peoples also used petroglyphs as a form of communication or writing. For example, some petroglyphs clearly indicated the borders between tribal lands, and others were astronomical markers and maps.
Additionally, some petroglyphs served as musical instruments and were known as "rock gongs. Located in Algeria , the site contains images of cattle and large wild animals carved on rock. Its images date back to 12, BCE and feature ostriches, horses, giraffes, people, and elephants. Wadi Hammamat is a notable petroglyph site near Qift, Egypt.
Murujuga is the largest petroglyph site in the world and is believed to have existed since the Ice Age. A unique feature of the petroglyphs in Northumberland is that they are cup and ring marked. Although not technically classified as a written language by most common definitions Lawler, , petrographic artwork certainly holds many similarities to hieroglyphics as a form of communication Judd, It has been noted that petroglyphs found in areas of Egypt which have been dated to be more than 15, years old Judd, , hold many similarities to the hieroglyphs that have been found in and around Egypt Judd, ; Boivin, In ancient Egypt and Mesoamerica, this move changed the writing style towards the use of hieroglyphics in which the artist used symbols to create sounds for the reader to follow and understand Abraham, ; Houston, According to Abraham , we can see this changeover from pictographic or petrographic drawings to hieroglyphics in Egypt and throughout Africa p.
This adoption of the techniques developed throughout the ancient civilization in Africa may have led to the development of a written language within Africa Abraham, This can also be highlighted in the Mesoamerican cultures in North America as the writing of Native tribes began to change from petroglyphs to the use of symbols in the form of pipettes in the American Southwest, as is explained by Wright and Russell In their research, Wright and Russell found that there are areas in which abstract symbol drawings are located near and around more primitive petroglyphs and are indications of religious movements and beliefs p.
The use of these abstract symbols indicates that as a writing system develops, there is a move from simple drawing, to represent literal experiences and meanings, to a more abstract representation of thoughts, ideas, stories, events and possibly words or sounds. This is supported by Houston as he notes that individual wall etchings cannot be generalized as they are very time and place specific to those that created them p. However, Houston is also quick to note that this does not render these etchings useless in determining the outcome of a written language as they can be used to extract understanding p.
The evolution from petroglyphs to hieroglyphs is one that involved the change from the use of pictures representing literal objects or events to the use of symbols that represented sounds or similar sound clusters for reading Restall, Fortunately, this change from simple graphic representations to graphics accompanied with phonetic markers and sounds has made understanding much simpler for modern archeologists Houston, This change coincided with a change in human communication from regionalized dialects to a more universal communication need as trade and interactions between cultures increased Judd, and possibly coincided as well with a change in the political landscape of the regions Boivin, ; Robinson, It seems then, that there may have been political pressure placed on civilizations to adopt a writing system that was simpler to understand and interpret.
Although Cherokee is not an ancient language, this type of development from petrographic to syllabic is an example of how civilizations may have moved from primitive carvings in rock formations to the development of a language system for communication. The changes in which communication was recorded moved the human thought process to a different level of thinking. This is addressed by Ong when he discusses the movement of societies from primitive non-literate to literate and how the invention of writing changed fundamentally the way people thought p.
This point is echoed by Houston as he discusses the spread of hieroglyphics around the world and their ability to supply present day researchers with evidence of writing practices, traditions and customs p. The development of hieroglyphs in Egypt and Mesoamerica included the use of symbols that represented phonemic sounds, literal signs as well as symbols to represent abstract concepts Robinson ; Boivin, ; Houston, Bolter , notes that the creation of a new mode of communications adopts part of the system in which it is replacing p.
In terms of early humans moving from petrographic to a more abstract and sound oriented writing system we see that there several aspects of petrography held in the new system Bolter, , such as the use of icons to represent literal and concrete objects.
We can see that as humans moved from etched carvings on the walls of caves and rock outcrops, to creating complex hieroglyphic messages on pyramids and tombs, the need to relate ideas has been met by the new method. This ratified and changed method was a response not only to possible political pressure but also by interactions amongst civilizations.
Ancient Egyptian and Mesoamerican cultures showed this change from iconic petroglyphs to symbolic hieroglyphs including phonetic markers. The need to create a more universal and understandable manner for communication between people set a new standard for communication and eventually opened the doors for the creation of entirely phonemic based language, as demonstrated by the creation of the 19 th century Cherokee language, rather than abstract symbols.
Abraham, C. Africa had its own writing systems.
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