Artistic expression on rocks
For many thousands of years humans have expressed themselves by painting, carving and engraving on rock surfaces. People have made art in deep caves and rock shelters, on exposed surfaces in the open-air, as well as on decorated small cobbles and stone slabs that could be moved from place to place. This artistic expression takes forms such as icons, signs, and symbols. In some instances the art is representational, such as the multi-coloured painted eland from the Ukhahlamba-Drakensberg mountains (South Africa) shown here. In others it is abstract, such as in the cup and ring carvings found across northern Britain and Ireland.