Blog post #7

Petroglyphs

Petroglyphs were invented around 290,000 and 700,000 BCE. 

They are considered “rock art”. Petroglyphs were forms of communication for people back in the day. Petroglyphs reflect on the complex societies from a long time ago. These were created before there was a more modern sense of writing. Petroglyphs were very important for people since it was their only way of communicating with one another since paper was not invented yet. There are two types of petroglyphs- pictographs, and petroglyphs. Without petroglyphs, historians would not know as much about prehistoric people. Historians have learned so much about these people through petroglyphs. 

These are found all over the world. Petroglyph images are made by carving the rock’s surface to reveal the lighter layer’s beneath. Pictographs on the other hand are a lot rarer to find since they are more delicate. For pictographs, plants and minerals are ground up, then mixed with liquids and applied with sticks. Not many pictographs have been saved throughout time. Petroglyphs are found a lot more commonly since they are not as delicate as pictographs.

     Petroglyphs have very important meanings behind them. They can mean anything from religious symbols, warnings, language, and even musical instruments.

One of the most famous petroglyphs is currently in Utah. It is called “Nine Mile Canyon”. Fun fact: this location is the “world’s longest art gallery”. The artwork here was created by the Fremont Indians about 1,000 years ago. It is amazing that we can still look at this today.