ARABIAN PETROGLYPHS AS SIGNPOSTS TO WATER:

 

Large camel petroglyph. Internet image, public domain.

I have previously written a column about large camel petroglyphs in Arabia. On 10 March 2018 I wrote a column titled “Ancient Saudi Guest Artists-In-Residence” about these. Now, a new study (Guagnin et al. 2025)  published by Nature Communications online suggests that many  of these, as well as images of a number of other creatures, date back over 10,000 years, and may be indicators for the presence of water.

 

Heavily eroded large camel carved in the round. Internet image, public domain.

“Dated archaeological sites are absent in northern Arabia between the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) and 10,000 years ago (ka), signifying potential population abandonment prior to the onset of the Holocene humid period. Here we present evidence that playas became established in the Nefud desert of northern Arabia between ~16 and ~13 ka, the earliest reported presence of surface water following the hyper-aridity of the LGM. These fresh water sources facilitated human expansions into arid landscapes as shown by new excavations of stratified archaeological sites dating to between 12.8 and 11.4 ka. During the Pleistocene-Holocene transition, human populations exploited a network of seasonal water bodies - marking locations and access routes with monumental rock engravings of camels, ibex, wild equids, gazelles, and a urochs. These communities made distinctive stone tool types showing ongoing connections to the late Epipaleolithic and Pre-Pottery Neolithic populations of the Levant.” (Guagnin et al. 2025:1) The recording of these animals (other than camels) considerably enlarges our data pool for this area.

Palimpsest of animals (camel, donkey, oryx) outlined. Image from M. Guagnin et al., Nature Communications, 2025. 

I have also written a number of columns about rock art in Saudi Arabia which can be found by clicking on Saudi Arabia in the cloud index at the very bottom of the blog. “Rock art has been found in Saudi Arabia before, but those petroglyphs date from the Neolithic period around 8,000 years ago. The engravings found at Jebel Misma, Jebel Arnaan and Jebel Mleiha – all rock outcrops in a remote part of the Nefud, near its southern edge – are much older. The engravings can be seen for miles and were probably intended to mark territory or indicate nearby sources of water, says Petraglia, the director of the Aurstalian Research Center for Human Evolution at Griffith University in Brisbane.” (Metcalf 2025) So, the new rock art written about is almost 50% older than most previous sites.

Tracings of the four camel engravings with greatest similarity (after Figure 4). The two camels on the right have been mirrored for better comparison (© G. Charloux and M. Guagnin, Figure 5, page 1306. 

In order to learn more about the people and culture involved the team literally dug in to the subject. They conducted excavations under the art. “Looking for buried clues that might shed light on the new engravings, Guagnin and her colleagues dug trenches in sand beneath the art. The excavations uncovered over a dozen animal bones and thousands of artifacts, including hearths, stone beads and tools, and shells from various animals. One palm-sized stone with clear battering marks matches pecking tools discovered at petroglyphs sites in Europe and South America, indicating it was likely used to peck some of the nearby engravings. Radiocarbon dating of an ostrich egg, oyster shell, and charcoal from one of the hearths, in conjunction with measurements of how long it had been since the sediments around the buried artifacts were last exposed to sunlight, revealed the art and artifacts were between 12,800 and 11,40years old.” (Brown 2025) Finding significance in a hammerstone that supposedly matches sites in Europe and South America is silly. So, it doesn’t match hammerstones from North America, or Asia, or Africa? Of course it does, a hammerstone is a hammerstone. This statement is the result of the obsessive need to cite every statement in such a paper, the researchers found papers about hammerstones from Europe and South America.

Three large camels and one very small antelope (in lower left). Image from arkeonews.net.

Their surveys and research hve contributed a great deal of new knowledge of rock art of Saudi Arabia. “Surveys identified previously unknown rock art landscapes with life-sized depictions of wild mammals and human figures. Across the three areas 62 rock art panels were recorded, containing 176 engravings. Of these, 130 were life-sized and naturalistic engravings depicting camels (90), ibex (17), equids (15), gazelles (7), and aurochs (1), with individual representations frequently measuring up to 2.5–3.0m in length and 1.8–2.2m in height. In addition, we identified 2 camel footprints, 15 smaller scale naturalistic depictions of camels, 19 human figures, 4 human faces or masks, and 6 unidentified, partial engravings. Most of the recorded engravings show camels in a detailed and naturalistic style that echoes the reliefs of the Camel Site to the north of the Nefud desert. This includes the frequent depiction of a bulging neckline, indicating they represent male camels in rut.” (Guagnin et al. 2025:3) Such remarkable attention to detail indicates the importance of the imagery to its creators.

Large camel. Image from cambridge.org.

The researchers also tackled the difficult task of working out the stratigraphy of palimpsest panels that had experienced multiple occasions of petroglyphs creation. “The depictions span multiple engraving phases, with images often overlapping on rock surfaces. Sometimes this was done to update an existing representation or to depict a different animal species. We distinguish four phases here. Two early rock art phases: small, stylised depictions of women (phase 1, traced in green), followed by large human figures in frontal view (phase 2, traced in yellow). These human figures were always noted to be older than, i.e. underneath, the recorded life-sized animal representations, and they make up a much smaller proportion of motifs. The third phase shows detailed, extremely naturalistic representations of animals, where each depiction has individual characteristics (traced in white). A later, fourth phase (traced in blue) shows more stylised depictions of animals with cartoonish features, including rounded eyes and horn ridges, and more standardised, near-identical depictions of animals.” (Guagnin et al. 2025:3)

 

Large camel carving. Internet image, public domain.

If these animal images point to sites where water is available the sheer variety somewhat mystifies me. If I had produced an image of a camel as a marker to fresh water wouldn’t I use the same image to mark the next fresh water source as well? And, if there is already a picture marking the site why did I need to add another picture to mark it again. While some of these may incidentally mark water sources my guess is that they are found near where water was available because the people were found near where water was available, the propinquity may be a coincidence. Yes, they mark sites near water, but no, they are not purposeful signs pointing to a water source.

NOTE: Some images in this column were retrieved from the internet with a search for public domain photographs. If any of these images are not intended to be public domain, I apologize, and will happily provide the picture credits if the owner will contact me with them. For further information on these reports you should read the original reports at the sites listed below.

REFERENCES:

Brown, Taylor Mitchell, 2025, Prehistoric camel art pointed to precious water sources in the Arabian Desert, 30 September 2025, Science (online), American Association for the Advancement of Science. doi:10.1126/science.zzwcsrv. Accessed online 1 October 2025.

Charloux, Gillaume, Maria Guagnin, Michael Petraglia, and Abdullah al Sharekh, 2022, Project Gallery Arock art tradition of life-sized, naturalistic engravings of camels in Northern Arabia: new insights on the mobility of Neolithic populations in the Nafud Desert, Antiquity 2022 Vol. 96 (389): 1301–1309 https://doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2022.95 , Accessed online 12 October 2025.

Faris, Peter, 2018,Ancient Saudi Guest Artists-In-Residence, RockArtBlog, 10 March 2018. www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/7760124847746733855/8288369396956779505.

Metcalf, Tom, 2025, 12,000-year-old rock art hints at the Arabian Desert’s lush past, Science News (online), https://www.sciencenews.org/article/ancient-rock-art-arabian-desert-wet. Accessed online 5 October 2025.

THE MILKY WAY IN ROCK ART:

 

The Milky Way. Vera Rubin Observatory photograph.

It is almost universally accepted that ancient cultures were very interested in the heavens, and we can assume that the prehistoric creators of petroglyphs and pictographs were also fascinated by questions of the universe. It could not have been possible to not be fascinated by the Milky Way.

Nut, Egyptian sky goddess. Internet image, public domain.

Among the most prominent features of the night sky is the side view of our galaxy that we call the Milky Way. Ancient cultures had to have an explanation for it that satisfied their world view and mythology. “The Egyptians, for examples, may not have been the only culture to link the Milky Way to a sky goddess who gives birth to other gods and, especially, other celestial objects.” (Graur 2024:37)

Citlalicue, sky-goddess. Internet image, public domain.

Peoples of the Americas had their own beliefs concerning the Milky Way. “Several of the pages in the Codex Borgia, a pre-Colombian pictorial manuscript composed by the Tlaxa-caltec people of the Puebla-Tlaxcala Valley in Mexico, include images of elongated beings covered with stars. These beings have been identified as the Milky Way as well as the goddess Citlalicue (Star Skirt), the “… goddess of the stars …”, and the mother of several gods, including the Venus god Quetzalcoatl. Quetzalcoatl is shown cutting his way out of the belly of Citlalicue; this and other, similar scenes in Co-dex Borgia 29-46 are interpreted as Venus crossing the Milky Way.” (Graur 2024:37)

Similar views of the Milky Way are found across Mesoamerica (Milbrath, 1999: 41). The dead of the Yucatec Maya travel along the Milky Way at night (Sosa, 1985: 432). The Quiché Maya see the Galaxy as two of four cosmic roads. Of these, the Black Road (Q’eqa b’e) or Road of Xibalba (Ri b’e xib’alb’a), which is identified with the dark band of the Milky Way’s Great Rift, leads to the underworld (Tedlock, 1985: 36, 337, 354). Similarly, the Lacandón call the Milky Way the “… white way of our true lord …”, Hachäkyum, the ruler of heaven populated by the dead.” (Graur 2024:39)

Mayan two-headed sky monster, from Clopan, altar 4,  Late Classic Period. Image from Mary Miller and Karl Taube,The Gods and Symbols of Ancient Mexico and the Maya, Thames and Hudson, London, 1993.

The ancient Maya saw the Milky Way as a serpentine monster with a head at each end. “Specifically, the two-headed monster known as the Celestial Monster or Cosmic Monster. This particular supernatural creature usually has either a crocodilian or sky band body, but in at least one example, cloud scrolls form the body. - - Most commonly, the Bicephalic Monster frames scenes of accession or rulership for the Maya, but its intrinsic meaning may be to represent the arc of the heavens, the front head being identified with Venus, pulling behind it the fleshless head of the Sun in the Underworld .” (Miller and Taube 1993:45) This is considerably more picturesque than many other beliefs, but then the Maya did have amazing imaginations and left us many images of them.

First Nations people in North America had a range of beliefs concerning the Milky Way. “Many Native American peoples across North America view the Milky Way as a road along which the spirits of the dead travel to the afterlife. The souls (tasoom) of the Cheyenne are said to travel toward the home of Hemmawihio (The Wise One Above), an all-knowing high god re-presented by the Sun, via the Milky Way, which is known as ekutsihimmiyo (Adamson Hoebel, 1960: 86–87). The Lakota name for the Milky Way is Wanáǧi Thacháŋku, the Spirits’ Road, which the Lakota follow to heaven when they die (Hollabaugh, 2017: 70–72). The Pawnee come to this life as the children of stars and, when they die, become stars once more. The stars of the Milky Way are the ancestors of the Pawnee moving from this world to the next (Pawnee Nation Tribal Historic Preservation Office, pers. comm., 2022)..” (Graur 2024:39) The idea that the Milky Way is a road or a path is a very common belief all around the world.

Chaco Canyon petroglyph panel. Photograph by Suzan Bradford.

Suzan Bradford's photograph overlaid against the Milky Way. Image by Robert Juhl.

Back in 2014 Robert A. Juhl sent me a PowerPoint presentation that he had created based upon a rock art photograph from Chaco Canyon that had been taken by Susan Bradford. In this presentation he likened the petroglyphs panel in the photograph to details of the Milky Way in the region of Scorpius in the night sky. When he superimposed the petroglyphs panel over this section of the Milky Way a crack across the panel seems to conform with the ‘Great Rift’ in the Milky Way, and he could match up a number of other details in the panel and the Milky Way. Additionally, although Juhl does not make this claim in his PowerPoint, the other features on the panel could represent constellations in that section of sky.

In the area of the American southwest tribes, the Milky Way is known as Ashes placed across the sky, or the Great Snowdrift in the sky by the Zuni people. (Miller 1997:183) In the design for a Navajo sand painting in the Shooting Chant Father Sky on the left side shows the Milky Way across his chest as a row of connected diamonds. (Miller 1997:187) But, most tribes in North and Central America connect the Milky Way with a path arcing across the night sky.

 

Rochester Creek petroglyph panel. Photograph Peter Faris, August 1993. Reminiscent of Nut arched across the sky, with a push me-pull you in the upper left corner to represent the Mayan two-headed monster?

With that definition in mind I will present as a possible representation of the Milky Way the great panel at Rochester Creek, near the junction with Muddy Creek near Emery, Utah. The arc in the panel might be seen as representing the Milky Way, and the creatures scattered around it might represent the constellations as identified by the people. As I said above, this is only a possibility, the arc in the panel is often presented as a rainbow as well, but the Milky Way and surrounding constellations might be a better explanation of the other figures on the panel. In any case, it is an interesting question and kind of fun to speculate on.

NOTE: Some images in this posting were retrieved from the internet with a search for public domain photographs. If any of these images are not intended to be public domain, I apologize, and will happily provide the picture credits if the owner will contact me with them. For further information on these reports you should read the original reports at the sites listed below.

REFERENCES:

Graur, Or, 2024, The Ancient Egyptian Personification of the Milky Way as the Sky-Goddess Nut: An Astronomical and Cross-Cultural Analysis, Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage, 27(1), 28-45.

Juhl, Robert A., 2013, The Milky Way in Chaco Rock Art, Version 18. PowerPoint presentation.

Miller, Dorcas S., 1997, Stars of the First People, Pruett Publishing Co., Boulder, Colorado.

Miller, Mary, and Karl Taube, 1993, The Gods and Symbols of Ancient Mexico and the Maya, Thames and Hudson, London.

SECONDARY REFERENCES:

Adamson Hoebel, E., 1960. The Cheyennes: Indians of the Great Plains. New York, Holt, Rinehart and Winston.

Milbrath, S., 1988. Birth images in Mixteca-Puebla art. In Miller, V.E. (ed.), The Role of Gender in Pre-Colombian Art and Architecture. Lanham, University Press of America. Pp. 153–178.

Milbrath, S., 1999. Star Gods of the Maya: Astronomy in Art, Folklore, and Calendars. Austin, University of Texas Press.

 

Tedlock, D., 1985. Popol Vuh: The Mayan Book of the Dawn of Life, Revised Edition. New York, Simon & Schuster.

A COMET PETROGLYPH AT LOS ALAMOS:

I have written before on the subject of comets pictured in rock art here on RockArtBlog. I find the concept of an astrophysical manifestation like a comet being recorded in this way to be eminently reasonable, something as amazing as a close approach of a comet might well spark the desire to make a record.

Los Alamos petroglyph panel. Photograph by Bruce Maase, 2013.

One apparently memorable comet appearance was in 1264 AD. This one was supposedly seen pretty much worldwide, and mentioned in records. According to Herman E. Bender “Unambiguous images of comets in North American rock art are rare. What is or may well be even more rare to non-existent was/is the ability to date the images. This potentially changed with discovery in or about 2013 of a comet pictograph near Los Alamos, New Mexico. The comet in the pictograph was identified by a scientific team as the Great Comet of 1264 AD. Backing up the claim, European and Asian medieval comet records firmly indicated the comet had entered eastern Orion in mid-August and had five tails. Because three stars in a row, i.e. Orion’s ‘belt stars’, were indicated on the rock art panel along with the comet and its five tails, the comet in the pictograph was dated to mid to late August, 1264 AD.” (Bender 2023:21)

Los Alamos petroglyph panel. Photograph by Bruce Maase, 2013.

Here Bender is correlating the vertical row of three dots below the supposed image of the comet to the belt of the constellation Orion. 

One interesting identifying feature of the comet portrayal is that it is shown with five lines of dots that are taken as its tails. “Five tails was a salient feature of the Great Comet of 1264 AD. The Korean records stated that, ‘On a chia-hsi~ day in the seventh month of the fifth year of WSnjong [26th July] a comet was observed at the NE. Its tail, which measured 7 to 8 ft, gradually divided itself into five branches pointing towards the NW.’ Further corroborating the five tails time-line for August 17 (1264 AD), the Korean record went on to state that, ‘On a jen-yin day in the eighth month [23rd August] the [five] branches reunited and the tail increased in length.’ The European records leave no doubt that the comet sported five separate tails, but also echo Asian records of where the comet was seen with its five tails on the early morning of August 17, 1264 AD, i.e. ‘between the Dog [Sirius and Canis Major] and Orion’.” (Bender 2023:21-22) I have so far been the actual dating method used to reach this conclusion, however, Bruce Masse (2013) implies that it was estimated based on the position of the comet to a supposed indication of the constellation Orion on the panel. This position was also found in the Korean record.

Woodblock print depicting the great comet of 1264, dated 15th century. Internet image, public domain.

The remarkable appearance of this comet would have been memorable indeed. Donald K. Yeomans (2007) reported that “on July 26, Chinese observers reported the tail spanning 100 degrees.” This is obviously an extremely impressive manifestation with it spanning 100 degrees across the arc of the sky. This appearance was well recorded with J. R. Hind citing over three dozen contemporary sources in his 1884 book On the expected return of the great comet of 1264 and 1556.

Adoration of the Magi, Giotto di Bondoni, 1301. From Karam, 2017, p. 72.

As I had stated above, I find the concept of an astrophysical manifestation like a comet being recorded in this way to be eminently reasonable, something as amazing as a close approach of a comet might well spark the desire to make a record. A more famous example of such a record is the fresco painting Adoration of the Magi by Giotto di Bondoni in 1301 in the Scrovegni Chapel in Padua, Italy. In this, Bondoni shows the magi before the Holy Family in the manger with the Star of Bethlehem shown in the form of a comet.

Having been lucky enough to have seen a few comets in my life I can well understand the urge to leave a record of such a wondrous occasion. While I have not always totally agreed with Bender’s analyses in other things I can find no reason to disagree with this one. Congratulations to all involved in winkling out the facts to this fascinating story.

NOTE 1: If you wish to refer to P. Andrew Karam’s (2017) book on comets be sure to check pages 66 and 67 where he has included my photograph and field sketch of the great comet from the famous panel in Chaco Canyon.

NOTE 2: Some images in this posting were retrieved from the internet with a search for public domain photographs. If any of these images are not intended to be public domain, I apologize, and will happily provide the picture credits if the owner will contact me with them. For further information on these reports you should read the original reports at the sites listed below.

REFERENCES:

Bender, Herman E., 2023, The Great Comet of 1264 AC in Rock Art – Two Views from North America, Hanwakan Center for Prehistoric Astronomy, Cosmology and Cultural Landscape Studies, Inc., Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, USA. Accessed online 14 September 2024.

Hind, J. R., 1848, On the expected return of the great comet of 1264 and 1556, Published by G. Hoby, 123 Mount Street, Berkeley Square, London. Accessed online 6 August 2025.

Karam, P. Andrew, 2017, Comets, Reaktion Books, London.

Masse, W. Bruce et al., 2013, A Probable Ancestral Pueblo Comet Petroglyph at Los Alamos National Laboratory, PowerPoint presentation at IFRAO 2013 conference, American Rock Art Research Association, Glendale, Arizona. Accessed online 7 August 2025/

Yeomans, Donald K., 2007, Great Comets in History, from Solar System Dynamics, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology. Accessed online 6 August 2025.

EXPERIMENTAL ARCHEOLOGY INSPIRED BY ROCK ART - BRONZE AGE SCANDINAVIAN BOATS:

Highlighted petroglyph, Bronze Age Scandinavian boat. Photograph bradshawfoundation.com.

For years I have been intrigued by the interesting designs of Bronze and Iron Age boats portrayed in rock art. The design looked to me as if they were built with a keel that protrudes from the water in a graceful curve. Above this an extension of the gunwales mirrors that curve, and the two curved elements are cross-connected by braces. Now, a reconstruction of one of the actual watercraft has shown us the true form of these boats, and proven its efficacy.

Highlighted petroglyphs, Bronze Age Scandinavian boats, animals and people. Photograph bradshawfoundation.com.

The images in pictographs and petroglyphs are tantalizing, but did not contain enough information to explain how these boats were constructed. This all changed in the second decate of the 20^th century with the discovery of the Hjortspring boat.

The reconstructed remains of the Hjortspring boat at the National Museum of Denmark in Copenhagen. Internet image, public domain.

“The Hjortspring boat (Danish: Hjortspringbåden) is a vessel designed as a large canoe, from the Scandinavian Pre-Roman Iron Age. It was built circa 400–300 BC. The hull and remains were rediscovered and excavated in 1921–1922 from the bog of Hjortspring Mose on the island of Als in Sonderjylland, , southern Denmark. The boat is the oldest find of a wooden plank ship in Scandinavia and it closely resembles the thousands of petroglyiph images of Nordic Bronze Age ships found throughout Scandinavia.” (Wikipedia) Between the knowledge gained from the remaining fragments of the actual boat, and the numerous rock art images, a modern reconstruction of the boat could be assembled, using original methods and materials, and tested. A fascinating experimental archeology project.

A modern replica of the Hjortspring Boat, named the Tilia Alsie. Photograph by the National Museum of Denmark, Copenhagen.

This reconstruction allowed Boel Bengtsson and team (2025) to perform tests in a study designed to find out if these boats could be considered practical seafaring (open ocean) transportation, or if they were confined to inland and coastal waterways following land.

Bengtsson described the area of their study. “The area of Thy is situated in northern Jutland, Denmark, on the northern shores of the sheltered inland waterways afforded by the Limfjord and with the exposed sandy seashores of the Skagerrak to the north. The strategic location on the Limfjord, which offered a relatively safe and sheltered east-westerly seafaring route, connecting the North Sea with the Baltic Sea up until its western entrance silted up in the Middle Ages, no doubt helped ensure its position as centre of wealth and power from the Late Neolithic period into the Bronze Age. Across the Skagerrak strait, the small peninsula of Lista at the very southern tip of Norway, is recognized by good agricultural land, sandy beaches, smaller inlets, waterways and fjords that could serve as portages in order to avoid the more exposed and dangerous stretches of sea around the peninsula.” (Bengtsson et al. 2025:4) So, the question is do these ancient mariners stick to a longer, safer route keeping the shore in view, or do they strike out over open water on a much shorter crossing?

This area is quite appropriate for the conduct of such a study as it encompasses Bohuslan, an amazingly endowed rock art site with huge numbers of boat images. “Bohuslän, placed roughly halfway along the coastal route between Lista and Thy, is the richest rock art area in Europe and in Scandinavia, featuring over 10,000 boat images, and is believed to have been an important boatbuilding and transit area in the Bronze Age.” (Bengtsson et al. 2025:6) There could hardly have been a more appropriate study area.

A modern image of the Tilia Alsie. From the National Museum of Denmark, Copenhagen.

“The simulations of potential routes suggested in this paper rely on available performance data of a Bronze Age type vessel. The only vessel that can be argued represent a Bronze Age type vessel and for which such performance data exists that could be used is the c.350 BC Hjortspring boat. This boat was found during peat excavations in the Hjortspring bog on the island of Als in southern Denmark in the 1880’s and was excavated in 1921–1922. About 40% of the boat has been recovered, enabling the reconstruction of a double ended plank-built boat that from stem to stem is c. 14 meters long, with a total of 10 internal thwarts, each with carved out seats for two paddlers. The overall length of the boat is extended by two sets of horn projections at either end. The lower of these are attached to the c. 15.4 m long bottom plank which protrudes from the bottom plank at each end, whereas the upper horn projections extend outward and upwards following the shape of the gunwale, making them ideal for long distance paddling, along with two steering oars, one located at each end of the vessel. Neither of the two steering oars were complete and estimates of their individual blade lengths vary between 53 cm  to 75 cm, but could have been longer still.” (Bengtsson 2025:17-18) The finding of the Hjortspring Boat provided construction details that were not revealed by the rock art, and the rock art showed the overall ideal shape for a reconstruction.

Artist conception of a Bronze Age boat and crew. By Hakon Lystad.

“Parallels to the unusual design features of the Hjortspring boat appear in depictions of boats in both rock art and bronzes dating from c. 1600 BC onwards in Scandinavia  and are also marked out on contemporary ship-settings in the region. This, along with the refined boatbuilding technology employed in its construction, strongly suggests that it was built within a well-established Scandinavian boatbuilding tradition with its roots at the very beginning of the Bronze Age. Hence it is justifiable to refer to it as a “Bronze Age Type Boat” despite it being of a slightly younger date.” (Bengtsson 2025:19) This is attested to by the fact that the remaining fragments, when reassembled, match so many of the petroglyphs of Bronze Age boats in that area.

Highlighted petroglyph of warriors battling on a Bronze Age boat at Tanum, Sweden. Internet image, public domain.

These also provided enough data for a complete reconstruction of such a Bronze Age vessel. “A reconstruction of this boat, called the Tilia Alsie, was launched ready for sea trials in 1999, and was, between 1999 and 2001, tested extensively by both members of the Hjortspringbådens Laug and professional Dragon boat racers under the supervision of Max Vinner from the Viking Ship Museum in Roskilde [83]. Both the process of reconstruction and the on-water trials and their results have been published in the Ships and Boats of the North series in a volume co-edited by Ole Crumlin-Pedersen and Athena Trakadas in 2003. Further testing of the vessel was made in 2006, this time under sail, the results of which were published in the Maritime Journal of Archaeology in 2011.” (Bengtsson 2025:19) If anyone would be able to put this reconstruction to the test it would be the professional dragon boat racers. The whole project is a great example of experimental archeology informed by both the archeological data and the rock art of Bronze Age boats so prevalent in the area.

NOTE: Some images in this posting were retrieved from the internet with a search for public domain photographs. If any of these images are not intended to be public domain, I apologize, and will happily provide the picture credits if the owner will contact me with them. For further information on these reports you should read the original reports at the sites listed below.

REFERENCES:

Bengtsson, Boel, et al., 2025, Seafaring and navigation in the Nordic Bronze Age: The application of an ocean voyage tool and boat performance data for comparing direct open water crossings with sheltered coastal routes, PLoS One 20(4). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0320791. Accessed online 7 April 2025.

Radley, Dario, 2025, Bronze Age Scandinavians braved open seas 3,000 years before the Vikings, new study reveals, 6 April 2025, Archaeology Magazine online, https://archaeologymag.com. Accessed online 7 April 2025.

Wikipedia, Hjortspring boat, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hjortsprint_boat.

 

HIGHEST ALTITUDE PETROGLYPHS IN EUROPE:

Stelvio National Park, Lombardy, Italy. Image from  arkeonews.net.

I have written a few previous columns on high altitude rock art (see ‘highest elevation’ in the cloud index at bottom). Now we have learned of the discovery of petroglyphs in Lombardy, Italy that are acclaimed as the highest in Europe.

Spiral and anthropomorph with possible quadruped. Image from archaeology.org.

Image from  arkeonews.net.

“The discovery of a series of petroglyphs over 3,000 meters high in the Valtellina Orobie mountain range in Lombardy has made them the highest petroglyphs found in Europe and provided new clues to human presence in mountainous areas since ancient times. Tommaso Malinverno, a Como hiker, informed the Soprintendenza in the summer of 2017 that he had noticed odd carvings on a rock at the base of the Pizzo Tresero glacier. After receiving this report, scientists and archaeologists conducted thorough research and determined that the petroglyphs dated to between 3,600 and 3,200 years ago (1600 -1200 BCE), during the Middle Bronze Age.” (arkeonews 2025) Now 3,000 meters is 9,842 feet so this is not up in rarified air. It does, however, prove that some people of the Middle Bronze Age traveled in the high mountains for some reason, shades of Otzi. 

Image from Regione Lombardia. 

The location of the newly found rock art is not all that isolated archeologically. “The petroglyphs are located near the Gavia Pass, a region already renowned for its rich archaeological heritage. The site connects with other significant tock art locations in Lombardy, including Val Camonica, recognized as Italy’s first UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1979, and the Valtellina region, home to the famed Rupe Magna in Grosio and the stele statues of Teglio.” (Radley 2024)

Quadruped. Image from Regione Lombardia. 

As you will see below they have suffered damage from a source that we usually do not consider to be a threat to rock art – glacial activity. This threat would seem to be reducing, however, given climate change and global warming. What new threats will show up now? “Stefano Rossi, and archaeologist from the Superintendence, remarked, ‘The Tresero petroglyphs are an exceptional research opportunity. They raise crucial questions about the complex relationship between humans and mountains over millennia. High-altitude exploration is often associated with modern mountaineering, but these engravings demonstrate long-term human presence starting in prehistory.’ However, glacial activity over thousands of years has eroded many of the carvings, leaving striations on the rocks and potentially obliterating many portions of a once larger rock art complex.” (Radley 2024) The fact that their rock face shows glacial erosion means that the petroglyphs would have been obscured by ice for part of their history. The news stories do not state how far from glacial ice they are now but they have obviously been covered at some point suggesting climatic changes over history.

NOTE: Some images in this posting were retrieved from the internet with a search for public domain photographs. If any of these images are not intended to be public domain, I apologize, and will happily provide the picture credits if the owner will contact me with them. For further information on these reports you should read the original reports at the sites listed below.

REFERENCES:

Arkeonews, 2025, The Highest Prehistoric Petroglyphs in Europe Discovered at 3000 Meters in the Italian Alps, https://arkeonews.net. Accessed online 5 January 2025.

Radley, Dario, 2024, Europe’s highest petroglyphs unearthed in Lombardy’s mountains, 21 November 2024, https://archaeologymag.com. Accessed online 21 November 2024.

EGYPTIAN PETROGLYPH IDENTIFIED AS A CONSTELLATION – THE EL-HOSH CAPRICORN (GOAT-FISH):

The el-Hosh Capricorn petroglyph, Egypt. Image from msn.com.

A recent paper (2024) by Linda Evans and her team discuss a petroglyph with a combination of the apparent fore-quarters of a quadruped and the rear half being a fish tail, discovered at a rock art site in Upper Egypt. Their analysis led to conclusions that it represented the goat-fish symbol for the constellation Capricornus.

Close-up of the el-Hosh Capricorn petroglyph, Egypt. Image from phys.org.

“A new study by Dr. Linda Evans and her colleagues from Macquarie University, Australia, published in the Journal of Egyptian Archaeology, has recently identified what may be an Egyptian petroglyph depicting the zodiac sign Capricornus, a hybrid creature with the forequarters of a goat and the body of a fish. Zodiac symbols are completely unattested in Egyptian rock art, making this image the only known example. By studying the history of the zodiac sign, its introduction into Egypt, and its use, the researchers were able to determine the likely period of and possible reason for its creation.” (Oster 2024)

Enhanced image of the el-Hosh Capricorn petroglyph, Egypt. Image from phys.org.

Drawing of the petroglyph. Image from Evans et al., 2024.

At some point in prehistory hominins came up with a number of ideas concerning the night sky. One was that the stars made patterns that they believed that they could identify with beings, creatures, or implements. With this belief established it is not a long way to the assumption that these stellar creatures or beings influence life here on earth. “The ‘goat-fish’, a mythical creature incorporating the horned forequarters of a goat and the torso of a large fish, has long been known from the ancient Near East and Mediterranean regions. It first appeared in Mesopotamia, where it later represented the zodiac sign of Capricornus. There is also sporadic evidence of the sign in Egypt, beginning in the Graeco-Roman Period. Here we present an unusual petroglyph at the rock art site of el-Hosh in Upper Egypt (70 km north of Aswan, on the west bank of the Nile), which depicts a hybrid mammal and fish figure that we propose may also represent Capricornus.” (Evans et al. 2024) And, once we have accepted the proposition that what happens in the heavens influences life here on earth, then it is only natural to look for patterns or movements to try to analyze what they portend, and to develop rites and rituals to try to influence these portents.

The Sumerian god Enki. Illustration from mythology.net

Sandee Oster (2024) described the development of Capricornus as a symbol for a constellation. “The first occurrence of something resembling Capricornus occurred in Mesopotamia, where the Sumerian got Enki and the Akkadian equivalent Ea were usually depicted as bearded men with horned caps, wearing gowns. At the shoulders of these gowns, water streams filled with fish would spout. This later evolved into the first recognizable depiction of a goat-fish hybrid at the feet of the god on cylinder seals dating to ca. 2112-2004 BCE.” (Oster 2024) This cylinder seal was not illustrated.

Babylonian Capricorn on a boundary stone. (redrawn from Hinke 1907 fig. 36) Evans et al., 2024.

Greek Capricorn (sea goat). Illustration from Wikipedia.

According to Oster, the Greeks got the idea of the zodiac from the early Mesopotamian civilizations. “From Mesopotamia, the zodiacs and their associations eventually spread to Greece (5^th century BCE) and from there to Rome (1^st and 2^nd century CE). By at least 300 BCE, zodiacs were known to Egypt and their earliest depictions could be found on zodiac ceilings in Egyptian Ptolemaic temples such as the temple Montu and Rattawy at Armant (c. 44-30 BCE). Later these zodiac symbols, including Capricornus, occurred in Roman-era temple ceilings, coffin lids, tombs, and even coins.” (Oster 2024)

Interestingly, I can find no mention of a capricornus or goat-fish hybrid therianthrope  anywhere online as being part of the Egyptian zodiac. Capricorn is one of the constellations in the Greek zodiac suggesting the possibility that this would have been introduced into Egypt by the Greeks or Romans

Later Egyptian (Greek period) Capricorn from the hypostyle hall, temple of Hathor, Dendera (traced from photograph), Evans et al. 2024.

Later Egyptian (Greek period) Capricorn from the Osiris chapel, temple of Hathor, Dendera (traced from photograph), Evans et al., 2024.

Linda Evans et al. (2024) came to the same conclusions when discussing the potential date of the petroglyph in question. “If a connection with Capricornus is accepted, a Graeco-Roman date for the petroglyph’s production may be possible. Furthermore, the creature’s outstretched tail possibly indicates a period earlier than the second century CE, when the Roman loop-tailed version of Capricornus became popular. It should be noted, however, that it has been proposed that Egyptian knowledge of the zodiac could have come directly from Mesopotamia, rather than via Hellenistic Greece.” (Evans et al. 2024)

Evans et al. discuss whether the possible origin of the symbol could be Mesopotamian or Graeco-Roman and note that if it was Mesopotamian the goat-fish could predate the Graeco-Roman Period. Their conclusion, however, is that it is more likely to have been created between the first century BCE and the end of the first century CE. One major clue that led them to this conclusion is the presence of Greek script carved on a nearby petroglyph panel.

NOTE: Some images in this posting were retrieved from the internet with a search for public domain photographs. If any of these images are not intended to be public domain, I apologize, and will happily provide the picture credits if the owner will contact me with them. For further information on these reports you should read the original reports at the sites listed below.

REFERENCES:

Evans, Linda, Fred Hardtke, and Wouter Claes, 2024, The Goat-Fish of El-Hosh: An Unusual Petroglyph Identified, The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology Online. Accessed online 20 November 2024.

Oster, Sandee, 2024, First ever goat-fish petroglyph reveals Egyptian  understanding of zodiac symbols, 19 November 2024, Phys.org. Accessed online 20 November 2024.

A DONKEY IMAGE FOUND AT KARAHAN TEPE:

Excavation at Karahan Tepe, Turkey. Image from easternturkeytour.org.

A charming petroglyph of a running wild donkey has been discovered at the site of Karahan Tepe. "Karahan Tepe is an archaeological site in (the) Sanliurfa Province in Turkey. The site is close to Gobekli Tepe and archaeologists have also uncovered T-shaped stelae there and believe that the sites are related. According to Daily Sabah, 'The excavations have uncovered 250 obelisks featuring animal figurines' as of 2020. Additiionally, the site may be the earliest known human village, predating the construction of Gobekli Tepe, dating to between 9,000 - 11,000 BC." (Wikipedia) The "Daily Sabah" is a Turkish newspaper that is published in the English language. Other publications give the total number of obelisks as 266. Given the stylistic resemblances between Gobekli Tepe and Karahan Tepe this relationship would seem to be obvious.

Running wild donkey figure, Karahan Tepe, Turkey. Image from  anatolianarchaeologyy.net.

“The ongoing excavations at Karahan Tepe, led by Professor Dr. Necmi Karul, have revealed a remarkable new find: a depiction of a running wild donkey carved onto a stone laid on the floor of an ancient structure. This depiction, approximately 20 centimeters in length, is notable not only for its size but also for its dynamic portrayal, which reflects the artistic skills of Neolithic people. ‘The donkey figure found is a figure about 20 centimeters long, placed right next to the grinding stone,’ Dr. Karul told the correspondent. Rather than its dimensions, the fact that it is mobile and depicted in proportion to the stone on which it is carved is again an indication of the skill of the artists of this period.” (Radley 2024) I would not call a paving stone set in the floor mobile, but this is merely a detail.

Running wild donkey figure, Karahan Tepe, Turkey. Image from  anatolianarchaeologyy.net.

“The period of domestication and distribution of the donkey (Equus asinus) in Turkey occurred around 5000 to 7000 years ago. They are thought to have their origins from the Nubian (Equus africanus africanus) and Somalian (E. a. somaliensis) ass, both of which are subspecies of the African wild ass. The African wild ass lived in the deserts and other arid areas of the Horn of Africa, in Eritrea, Ethiopia and Somalia. However, it formerly had a wider range that extended into Egypt.” (Milligan 2024) This timeline does not seem to fit the estimated dates of occupation for Karahan Tepe (ca. 11,000 – 9,000 BCE) unless it was occupied for two thousand years or more, which is not backed up by estimations for the occupation dates there.

Running wild donkey figure, Karahan Tepe, Turkey. Image from  anatolianarchaeologyy.net.

 “According to Dr. Karul, the wild donkey motif is the first of its kind discovered at Karahan Tepe, adding a new dimension to our understanding of animal iconography and the relationship between humans and their environment during this perion. He explained that the animals depicted in the iconography of the era generally fall into two categories, those with an erie, imposing presence, often seen on obelisks, and more commonly consumed animals, such as birds, gazelles, and wild donkeys. The latter were animals that people lived with, consumed, and were surrounded by, compared to the more fearsome creatures. ‘The depiction of the wild donkey in motion, carved onto the base of a grinding stone is particularly notable as it is the first time we have encountered such a moving wild donkey motif.’” (Radley 2024)

Closeup of running wild donkey figure, Karahan Tepe, Turkey. Image from anatolianarchaeologyy.net.

Once again we seem to have discrepancy because pictures very clearly show the stone that the donkey is carved onto next to a grinding stone, not on its base. These discrepancies of date and location are mere details (errors of reporting) however, compared to the very early and wonderful depiction itself which we can confirm in the photographs.

NOTE: It is even possible that the small, factual discrepancies between reports could have resulted from differing interpretations during translation from an original report in Turkish.

REFERENCES:

Milligan, Mark, 2024, Donkey depiction discovered at Karahan Tepe, 22 August 2024, Heritage Daily online, https://www.heritagedaily.com. Accessed online 17 October 2024.

Radley, Dario, 2024, Running wild donkey figure discovered at Karahantepe, 31 August 2024, Archaeology magazine online, https://archaeologymag.com. Accessed online 17 October 2024.

Wikipedia, Karahan Tepe, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karahan_Tepe. Accessed online 23 October 2024.