petroglyph

English

A petroglyph

Etymology

From French pétroglyphe, from Ancient Greek πέτρα (pétra, “rock”) + γλυφή (gluphḗ, “carved work”). By surface analysis, petro- +‎ glyph.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈpɛ.tɹəˌɡlɪf/, /ˈpɛ.tɹəʊˌɡlɪf/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈpɛ.tɹəˌɡlɪf/, /ˈpɛ.tɹoʊˌɡlɪf/
• Hyphenation: pe‧tro‧glyph

Noun

petroglyph (plural petroglyphs)

1. (archaeology) A rock carving, especially one made in prehistoric times.

   Coordinate terms: geoglyph, petrogram

   • 1998, Henri-Paul Francfort, “17: Central Asian petroglyphs: between Indo-Iranian and shamanistic interpretations”, in Paul S. C. Taçon, editor, The Archaeology of Rock-Art, page 302:

     The petroglyphs of Central Asia form a long sequence from the Neolithic onwards.

   • 2000, Carol Diaz-Granados, James R. Duncan, The Petroglyphs and Pictographs of Missouri, page 102:

     Ninety-six petroglyph sites were reported in the original study (DiazGranados 1993). The majority of the petroglyphs are worn.

   • 2001, Georgia Lee, “18: Oceania”, in David S. Whitley, editor, Handbook of Rock Art Research, page 578:

     The islands of Tonga are not known for petroglyphs; however, one of the frontal stones of a langi called Mala'e Lahi on 'Uiha Island has one petroglyph of a human foot.

Derived terms

• petroglyphic
• petroglyphy

Translations

a rock carving, especially one made in prehistoric times

• Breton: maenengravadur
• Catalan: petròglif m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 岩刻 (yánkè)

• Danish: helleristning (da) c
• Dutch: petroglief (nl)
• Estonian: kaljujoonis
• Finnish: kalliopiirros (fi)
• French: pétroglyphe (fr) m
• Galician: petróglifo (gl) m
• German: Petroglyphe (de) f
• Greek: πετρογλυφικό (el) n (petroglyfikó)
• Hungarian: sziklarajz (hu)
• Indonesian: petroglif
• Italian: incisione rupestre f
• Japanese: ペトログリフ
• Kazakh: петроглиф (petroglif)
• Northern Sami: báktẹsárgun
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: helleristning (no) m or f

  Nynorsk: helleristning f, helleristing f

• Persian: سنگ‌نگاره
• Portuguese: petróglifo m
• Romanian: petroglifă (ro) f
• Russian: петроглиф (ru) m (petroglif)
• Spanish: petroglifo m
• Swedish: hällristning (sv) c
• Turkish: petroglif
• Ukrainian: петрогліф (petrohlif)

See also

• pictograph

Further reading

• petroglyph on Wikipedia.Wikipedia