“P” is for Petroglyphs. Petroglyphs (rock carvings) and pictographs (drawings or painting on rock) are collectively referred to as “rock art.” The first example of rock art in South Carolina was discovered in Greenville County. In the 1990s a survey by the South Carolina Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology at UofSC listed some forty-seven petroglyph sites, thirty-three portable carvings, and three pictographs. A petroglyph site may contain one or several hundred carvings. Optimum locations for petroglyphs are: a westward-oriented bald rock near mountain crests and along streams and springs in the foothills. Most of the motifs are geometric shapes, but at least one has been construed as representing humans and two representing animals. The ages of South Carolina’s prehistoric rock art have not been established. Not amenable to radiocarbon dating, their cultural placement remains speculative.
“P” is for Petroglyphs
