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Our ancestors memorialised a legacy of themselves that has endured across the centuries, through their art carved in stone, called petroglyphs. Flowing across canyon walls, emblazoning the sides of cliffs, rocks in the desert or on the ground, they display figures that tell us about their world. Petroglyphs are the most ancient and the most stable form of art that humans have ever produced.

Ancient stone artists cut into rock by picking, carving, abrading or incising the surface, using stone tools. And in the extreme north, without large expanses of exposed rock, the Arctic peoples created inukshuks, enigmatic stone figures in lonely places, using stacked rocks and boulders. They stand today as a memorial to the hardiness of humans who lived in those inhospitable realms.
Our ancestors’ rock art does not just depict daily life, but also paints their view of the creation story. We find the same sorts of iconic motifs the world over, no matter the culture. The show us archetypes of humankind receiving help from the sky gods and goddesses, and archaeologists have marvelled at the consistency of these themes world-wide. Some have postulated that they encode a ritual language of picture forms shared by all humans during those prehistoric ages.
Often the art carvings are so huge, and so high up the rock faces, that the artists would have to have built scaffolding, or constructed platforms to hang over the top of the cliffs, much like window washers today. And they would had to have been able to plan their designs out on a small scale and transfer them to the rock, greatly magnified in size. We tend to underestimate the capabilities of our ancient ancestors, but they were just as smart as we are, and mastered the technology of their time, which would be quite mysterious to us now.

Some Famous Petroglyphs

Hawaii - The ancient Hawaiians carved huge, whimsical figures into the lava fields now known as Waikoloa Petroglyph Preserve. One group deemed to be three hunters, depicts large, masculine stick figures, one of which is holding a shield. The legs and particularly the arms are very elongated.

Utah - Ute Petroglyphs in Arches National Park - Nearly everyone has seen these charming figures of men riding horses, surrounding bighorn sheep, and the sheep being herded by dogs. The men have no weapons, and the sheep are not running, so it is possible it is a pastoral scene, not hunting. The cut figures are white, vividly revealed against the dark, purple-gray cliff wall.

The Gods - Giant of the Atacama in Chile - The largest prehistoric human-like figure in the world, etched into the side of Solitary Mountain. It is 86 meters tall and believed to be the deity of the people there 1000 to 1400 AD. The arms are raised in what looks like a blessing, with the head festooned with rays.

The Nazca Lines in Peru, carved into the hard desert surface, cover nearly 400 square miles and consist of about 300 figures. They are composed of extremely long lines, and were never known as anything else, until they were seen from the air when first flown over. The most well-known are massive: a giant spider, a humming bird, and a monkey, all beautifully executed. There is one that incredibly resembles a modern landing strip. The mystery of how they were done and by who, has never been solved. There is even a persistent theory that because they can only be seen from the air, the artists had to have mastered flight, or they may have even been done by aliens!

Petroglyphs are a treasure belonging to all of us. Many countries have taken legal steps to protect and preserve them from weathering and vandalism. This enigmatic art gives us a glimpse into our distant past, and helps us to know who we are and from where we came.

Every person on Earth has felt the haunting call of ancient Egypt. That magnificent culture has been captured for the ages in her stone monuments and sculptures. What is so amazing about those artifacts is that they were made with Bronze Age tools. The pyramids, obelisks, temples, the massive, serene statues, the wall reliefs of the gods in all their glory and explained with beautifully cut hieroglyphs, were all done without the strength of steel. One must stand in awe of the Egyptian tool technology which developed their relatively soft copper and bronze tools to such a height of effectiveness. They were experts and really knew what they were doing.

Fortunately for us, the Egyptians buried many dignitaries with a good supply of stone carving tools for the deceased to use in the after life. They were made of wood, stone, copper, bronze, and much later, iron. Steel was yet a long way into the future.

The critical tool for producing hard metal is actually heat. Iron only becomes liquid at 1,538°C. The Egyptians were able to produce temperatures close to 1100°C, sufficient to melt copper, and also produce bronze, an alloy of copper and most often tin.

The relatively short period known as the Copper Age lasted from 4500 B.C. to 3500 B.C. It quickly became the Bronze Age, lasting from 4,000 B.C. to 1,200 B.C. The ages do overlap. Bronze is credited with helping Egypt to dominate the area militarily.

Metal iron was known, which came from meteorites, and could be softened by those temperatures, and then hammered into shape. But the heat to produce liquid iron was technologically beyond them. Hammered iron tools only appeared in the much later years of Egypt’s reign. In the earlier dynasties, iron was too rare to be used for tools.

The early Egyptian pharaohs referred to iron as “black copper from the sky.” King Tutankhamen was buried with his meteorite iron dagger placed against his breast as his most precious possession. Can you imagine it? All that gold and his prize was a small iron dagger.

Wooden Tools

Wood was incorporated into handles and holders for the metal components. It was also used for mallets for hitting chisels and also striking the stone to break it down.

Stone Tools

Stone was the first “power tool” ever used by humans to manipulate their environment. Hammerstones and stone axes were not anything like what we use today. Hammerstones and axes were chosen for their hardness, and were chipped to a cutting edge. Often these stones were simply held in the hand. Diorite, the hardest stone, would have been used to work with granite. Stone tools were used for grinding, cutting and pounding. Sand was also used as a polishing agent, being scattered on the stone and then rubbed with a buffer to produce a smooth sheen.

Copper Tools

Copper stone cutting tools could only have been used with the softest stone like fresh quarried limestone and marble. These included saws, coring drills, chisels and wedges. Drills were hollow tubes and powered by a bow drill - pure human power. Copper saws had very sharp teeth, even jewel tipped. The teeth were angled back toward the handle so the saw could only be operated by pulling it toward the user. Due to copper’s soft nature, edged tools would have to have been sharpened constantly.

Bronze Tools

The mastery of bronze was a huge leap forward. Now they had a metal that was harder than all the varieties of stone. One of the additives they used to turn copper into bronze was arsenic! You have to wonder about work related illness. Jewel points were used on fine cutting and shaping tools to produce the smooth, precision shapes we see in the reliefs and statues, like the giant statue of Akhenaten, created in 1350 BC.

How wonderful it would be to be able to go back in time and watch these stone artisans creating these magnificent artworks with their early tools. And how amazed would they be to know that thousands of years down through time the beauty of their creations would still be beloved the world over.

On every continent we can enjoy enduring art left by our ancestors, preserved for all time in stone. This art memorialises peoples so far in the past that without these timeless records, we would have no knowledge they ever existed. Art on stone is the most enduring and stable form of art ever created by humankind.

This ancient form of art is still produced by stone artisans today, and is just as treasured by moderns as it was by our ancient ancestors. However, today’s artists have a distinct advantage and that is the modern tools which afford them powerful techniques for creating their art with greater speed and precision. Popular modern techniques still include hand carving but also now employ sand blasting.

Certain types of natural stone are popular choices for stone art because their beauty and texture responds so well to the artist’s hand.

Popular choices of stone

Limestone - A sedimentary rock formed on ancient seabeds, prized for its texture and beautiful colour. Exquisite examples can be seen in such diverse settings as Egyptian temples and modern churches.

Slate - Beloved for it’s beautiful black sheen and gleaming texture. Perfect for creating versatile examples such as these natural slate memorial plaque examples

Granite - An extremely hard and durable stone available in many colours, and resistant to weathering and acid rain damage.

Marble - Prized for its soft structure and resistance to cracking when struck with a chisel, and its timeless elegance.

Popular Stone Art Techniques - Hand carving and sand blasting.

Hand Carving Stone

The unique touch of the artist’s hand can never be replaced. Michaelangelo is known forsaying he saw the figures in the stone and merely released them. That artist’s eye guides these tools to make their vision a reality.

Some of the basic tools include mallets, adzes, axes and hammers for hitting the stone. Preliminary rough shaping requires wedges and feathers (used to split the stone). Cutting tools include chisels, either hand held or powered. Abrasives for shaping include cutting and grinding wheels, water erosion tools, and dressing tools like various types of sanders. Something early stone artists would be dazzled to see are modern laser cutters!

Another great advantage of modern technology is the actual tool material itself, like tungsten carbide tipped tools, and forged, heat treated, high carbon steel.

The hand carver’s basic technique is to place a chisel on the stone at about a 90° angle and strike it with a hammer, shattering the stone beneath. Using the different tools, the artist refines the shapes until the final resulting artwork is produced.

Sandblasting Stone

Basically, an abrasive material is pressure blasted against the stone, eroding it. Sandblasting materials include sand, plastic pellets, glass beads, even walnut shells!

The blaster consists of a pressure pot, a compressor, and the nozzle, or gun. Sculpting is achieved by the use of stencils made of rubber or vinyl, which are adhered to the stone and provide “resist.” Gradually, by changing stencils, a three dimensional pattern and shape is cut into the stone.

Even with these modern tools and techniques, the stone artist must still study carefully to become a master. Artist guilds still exist today to protect and preserve the standards, skills and knowledge gathered over the centuries. One such is the Worshipful Company of Masons based in London and extant since 1356.

One of the most enduring forms of art on stone is the memorial stone, a lasting tribute of love and honour for a departed loved one. Should you decide to join in this ancient tradition, talk to any reputable stone art or stone memorial company and they can help you design a work of art which will speak to your descendants through time, just as does the beautiful stone art our ancestors left for us.