The Rock Art of Palau Micronesia
The Rock Art of Palau Micronesia
The Rock Art of Palau Micronesia
Rock Art Network
The Rock Art of Palau, Micronesia
ANCESTRAL IMAGES, BOUNTIFUL ARCHIPELAGO

Rock Art Palau Micronesia Archaeology Rock Art Network Bradshaw Foundation
Shape resembling a human body at Olechukl Ears Ulong
Rock Art Palau Micronesia Shape resembling a human body at Olechukl Ears Ulong Archaeology Rock Art Network Bradshaw Foundation
Shape resembling a human body at Olechukl Ears Ulong
© Jolie Liston
Rock Art Palau Micronesia Archaeology Rock Art Network Bradshaw Foundation
Coordinator
Pilar Fatás
Museo de Altamira

The roughly 480 coral and volcanic islands comprising the archipelago of Palau cover 466 square kilometers in the remote western Pacific Ocean. These tropical isles contain bountiful and storied land, sea, and skyscapes which roughly 18,000 people call home. Palau’s vibrant ancestral heritage and cultural traditions span 3,400 years of human settlement and habitation and remain strong to this day.

Rock Art Palau Micronesia Archaeology Rock Art Network Bradshaw Foundation
Palau’s rock art consists of a few inland engravings and at least 150 reddish-colored rock paintings on coastal cliff faces at ten locations within the chelebacheb, the hundreds of small, coralline limestone islands known locally as the Rock Islands. Six of Palau’s known rock painting sites are features of The Rock Islands Southern Lagoon, a mixed natural and cultural UNESCO World Heritage site.

Rock Art Palau Micronesia Archaeology Rock Art Network Bradshaw Foundation
The currently uninhabited Rock Islands occupy a turquoise lagoon surrounded by a coral reef. This natural paradise sustains a diversity of native plants, birds, and marine life, and has the highest concentration of marine lakes in the world. Rock art as well as traditional villages and ancient agricultural, activity, and burial sites, are found throughout the World Heritage site. Palau’s ancient rock carvings and paintings are embedded in a richly storied cultural landscape where oral traditions are deeply valued by communities, youth and elders, throughout the archipelago. Within this context, Palau’s rock art represents ancestral knowledge, a symbolic language from long ago, and a unique cultural treasure.

Main areas of Rock Art
Coordinator
Pilar Fatás
Museo de Altamira

The roughly 480 coral and volcanic islands comprising the archipelago of Palau cover 466 square kilometers in the remote western Pacific Ocean. These tropical isles contain bountiful and storied land, sea, and skyscapes which roughly 18,000 people call home. Palau’s vibrant ancestral heritage and cultural traditions span 3,400 years of human settlement and habitation and remain strong to this day.

Share the film
© Bradshaw Foundation
Palau’s rock art consists of a few inland engravings and at least 150 reddish-colored rock paintings on coastal cliff faces at ten locations within the chelebacheb, the hundreds of small, coralline limestone islands known locally as the Rock Islands. Six of Palau’s known rock painting sites are features of The Rock Islands Southern Lagoon, a mixed natural and cultural UNESCO World Heritage site.

The currently uninhabited Rock Islands occupy a turquoise lagoon surrounded by a coral reef. This natural paradise sustains a diversity of native plants, birds, and marine life, and has the highest concentration of marine lakes in the world. Rock art as well as traditional villages and ancient agricultural, activity, and burial sites, are found throughout the World Heritage site. Palau’s ancient rock carvings and paintings are embedded in a richly storied cultural landscape where oral traditions are deeply valued by communities, youth and elders, throughout the archipelago. Within this context, Palau’s rock art represents ancestral knowledge, a symbolic language from long ago, and a unique cultural treasure.

Rock Art Palau Micronesia Archaeology Rock Art Network Bradshaw Foundation
1. Location of Palau/Rock Islands; 2. Map of Palau/Rock Islands; 3. Canoes in the Rock Islands; 4. Ngerukewed Islands National Wildlife Preserve in the Rock Islands; 5. Corals
© 1. Museo de Altamira; 2. Museo de Altamira; 3. Ron Leidich; 4. Pat Colin; 5. Ron Leidich
Share the film
© Bradshaw Foundation
Rock Art Palau Micronesia Archaeology Rock Art Network Bradshaw Foundation
Location of Palau/Rock Islands
© Museo de Altamira
Rock Art Palau Micronesia Archaeology Rock Art Network Bradshaw Foundation
Map of Palau/Rock Islands
© Museo de Altamira
Rock Art Palau Micronesia Archaeology Canoes in the Rock Islands
Canoes in the Rock Islands
© Ron Leidich
Rock Art Palau Micronesia Archaeology Ngerukewed Islands National Wildlife Preserve in the Rock Islands
Ngerukewed Islands National Wildlife Preserve in the Rock Islands
© Pat Colin
Corals Rock Art Palau Micronesia Archaeology Rock Art Network Bradshaw Foundation
Corals
© Ron Leidich
Rock Art Palau Micronesia Archaeology Rock Art Network Bradshaw Foundation
Rock Art Palau Micronesia Archaeology Rock Art Network Bradshaw Foundation
A Storied Cultural Landscape

Rock Art Palau Micronesia Shape resembling a human body at Olechukl Ears Ulong Archaeology Rock Art Network Bradshaw Foundation
Painting depicting the story of Orachl visiting the spirits of the sea building a bai as his mother the snake holds him in place. One account says the spirits gave him the secrets of bai construction and llecheklel in gratitude for teaching them how not to be blinded when carving the designs by closing their eyes when blowing the dust away
© Simeon Adelbai
Rock Art Palau Micronesia Shape resembling a human body at Olechukl Ears Ulong Archaeology Rock Art Network Bradshaw Foundation
Painting depicting the story of Orachl visiting the spirits of the sea building a bai as his mother the snake holds him in place. One account says the spirits gave him the secrets of bai construction and llecheklel in gratitude for teaching them how not to be blinded when carving the designs by closing their eyes when blowing the dust away
© Simeon Adelbai
Rock Art Palau Micronesia Archaeology Rock Art Network Bradshaw Foundation
Palau’s cherished oral traditions are vessels of ancestral knowledge and cultural practices passed through the centuries from generation to generation. Treasured oral traditions associate the rock carvings of Olebakelderau with the burial of the legendary beauty Surech, and attribute Palau’s rock paintings to Orachl, a demi-god of the misty past.

According to legend, four triangular figures carved onto a large boulder at Olebakelderau mark the burial of Surech’s headless body. A version of the story says that when a high chief requested to see Surech, presumably to take her as his wife, her lover Tulei showed the high chief only her severed head in order to avoid losing her.

Rock Art Palau Micronesia Archaeology Rock Art Network Bradshaw Foundation
Oral traditions hold that the demi-god Orachl drew images with a quill made from a coconut spathe using ink derived from red ochre. The names for images drawn by Orachl on the backs of crabs - urresel or llecheklel Orachl (Orachl’s drawings) - are the Palauan words for rock paintings and the elaborate decorations painted on bai(community meeting houses).

Orachl's final drawings, made just before he turned to stone, was the spectacular rock art on the island of Ulong. Except for the story shared above, there are no other known narratives about the rock paintings in Palau's extensive collection of legends and myths. Their purpose, meaning, and locations are perhaps forgotten or restricted sacred knowledge.

Rock Art Palau Micronesia Archaeology Rock Art Network Bradshaw Foundation
Forms of Ancestral Expression

One confirmed and one potential rock carving site are located in the interior of the large volcanic island of Babeldaob. At the base of the Olebakelderau earthwork, four triangular forms are engraved onto the face of a large basalt boulder. A single faint linear human form that requires further investigation to verify may be incised into the rockshelter of Ii ra Ngebesek. Palau’s ten known rock painting sites are located 10 to 15 meters above the waterline in marine notches and cliff faces on seven Rock Islands. Ranging from several centimeters to a meter tall, paintings occur as single motifs, in panels, and, at Olechukl Ears Ulong, in a dense mural. The sites of Ulong and Taberrakl host the most elaborate assemblages.

Palau’s rock paintings were executed in red pigment; in a few instances yellow may also have been used. Paint application ranges from thickly-smudged to fine-lined. The most frequently-painted motifs are geometric, linear, and in-filled shapes and handprints, as well as spoked, rayed, and concentric circles. A few naturalistic paintings depict what appear to be boats, human-like forms, birds, fish, possible crocodiles, and reptile or paw prints.

Rock Art Palau Micronesia Archaeology Shape resembling a human body at Olechukl Ears Ulong
 
Beneath the filled-in shape at Rael Miich are three spoked concentric circles surrounding a four-pointed star. On the right are two human-like figures with heads, bodies, legs, and large feet
 
Enhanced with D-Stretch YRD
(Left) Shape resembling a human body at Olechukl Ears Ulong (Center) Beneath the filled-in shape at Rael Miich are three spoked concentric circles surrounding a four-pointed star. On the right are two human-like figures with heads, bodies, legs, and large feet (Right) Enhanced with D-Stretch YRD
© (Left) Jolie Liston (Center & Right) Ron Leidich
Beneath the filled-in shape at Rael Miich are three spoked concentric circles surrounding a four-pointed star. On the right are two human-like figures with heads, bodies, legs, and large feet
Beneath the filled-in shape at Rael Miich are three spoked concentric circles surrounding a four-pointed star. On the right are two human-like figures with heads, bodies, legs, and large feet
© Ron Leidich
Enhanced with D-Stretch YRD
Enhanced with D-Stretch YRD
© Ron Leidich
Rock Art Palau Micronesia Archaeology Drawings that look like bugs or sea creatures at Siskemeduu
 
Rock Art Palau Micronesia Archaeology carvings at the Olebakelderau earthwork complex on Babeldaob Island
 
Rock Art Palau Micronesia Archaeology Shapes that resemble a human body occur as stick-figures, hollow rectangles, and filled-in figures with heads, legs, and sometimes arms. Arms are often raised up as if in motion and some human-like images have facial features and spread fingers or toes
(Left) Drawings that look like bugs or sea creatures at Siskemeduu (Center) Rock carvings at the Olebakelderau earthwork complex on Babeldaob Island (Right) Shapes that resemble a human body occur as stick-figures, hollow rectangles, and filled-in figures with heads, legs, and sometimes arms. Arms are often raised up as if in motion and some human-like images have facial features and spread fingers or toes
© (Left) Tracings: McKnight, 1970 - Photograph: Ron Leidich (Center) Jolie Liston (Right) Tracings: McKnight, 1970 - Photograph: Mark Willis
Rock Art Palau Micronesia Archaeology Drawings that look like bugs or sea creatures at Siskemeduu
Drawings that look like bugs or sea creatures at Siskemeduu
© Tracings: McKnight, 1970 - Photograph: Ron Leidich
Rock Art Palau Micronesia Archaeology carvings at the Olebakelderau earthwork complex on Babeldaob Island
Rock carvings at the Olebakelderau earthwork complex on Babeldaob Island
© Jolie Liston
Rock Art Palau Micronesia Archaeology Shapes that resemble a human body occur as stick-figures, hollow rectangles, and filled-in figures with heads, legs, and sometimes arms. Arms are often raised up as if in motion and some human-like images have facial features and spread fingers or toes
Shapes that resemble a human body occur as stick-figures, hollow rectangles, and filled-in figures with heads, legs, and sometimes arms. Arms are often raised up as if in motion and some human-like images have facial features and spread fingers or toes
© Tracings: McKnight, 1970 - Photograph: Mark Willis
Rock Art Palau Micronesia Shapes that resemble a human body occur as stick-figures, hollow rectangles, and filled-in figures with heads, legs, and sometimes arms. Arms are often raised up as if in motion and some human-like images have facial features and spread fingers or toes
Shapes that resemble a human body occur as stick-figures, hollow rectangles, and filled-in figures with heads, legs, and sometimes arms. Arms are often raised up as if in motion and some human-like images have facial features and spread fingers or toes
© Tracings: McKnight, 1970 - Photograph: Mark Willis
Rock Art Palau Micronesia Shapes that resemble a human body occur as stick-figures, hollow rectangles, and filled-in figures with heads, legs, and sometimes arms. Arms are often raised up as if in motion and some human-like images have facial features and spread fingers or toes
Shapes that resemble a human body occur as stick-figures, hollow rectangles, and filled-in figures with heads, legs, and sometimes arms. Arms are often raised up as if in motion and some human-like images have facial features and spread fingers or toes
© Tracings: McKnight, 1970
Rock Art Palau Micronesia Archaeology Rock Art Network Bradshaw Foundation
Rock Art Palau Micronesia Archaeology Rock Art Network Bradshaw Foundation
Methods of a Cultural Practice

Rock Art Palau Micronesia What appears to be a boat with birds on either end above abstract and geometric shapes at Taberrakl
Geometric shapes at Taberrakl
© Ron Leidich
Rock Art Palau Micronesia What appears to be a boat with birds on either end above abstract and geometric shapes at Taberrakl
What appears to be a boat with birds on either end above abstract and geometric shapes at Taberrakl
© Ron Leidich
Based on their depth, weathering, and available local materials, Palau’s rock engravings may have been incised using stone tools. The pigment used in Palau’s rock paintings may be red ochre. Oil extracted from the fruit seed of the cheritem (Atuna racemosa) tree, commonly used in the paint applied to bai and war canoes, could have served as a pigment binder.

Ochre and cheritem are not available on the limestone terrain of the Rock Islands and had to be transported, possibly through trade, from Palau’s volcanic islands. Those living on these northern islands could have carried the ingredients in their canoes as they traveled through the Rock Islands.

(Right) What appears to be a boat with birds on either end above abstract and geometric shapes at Taberrakl.

Many of the thick-lined images and abstract shapes could have been created with a blunt instrument like a finger. Fine-lined drawings and those with precise, neat edges may have been painted with a formal brush or other tool, such as a spathe of coconut fiber as told in the legend of Orachl. Stippled pigment application is present at Olechukl Ears Ulong.

(Below left) Interconnected four-sided, curvilinear motifs at Oimad Merach. (Below right) A human-like image with large round eyes wearing what might be a headpiece at Taberrakl. The shield-like figure, the rectangle containing curvy geometric shapes, is also painted at Olechukl Ears Ulong.

Rock Art Palau Micronesia Interconnected four-sided, curvilinear motifs at Oimad Merach
 
Rock Art Palau Micronesia A human-like image with large round eyes wearing what might be a headpiece at Taberrakl. The shield-like figure, the rectangle containing curvy geometric shapes, is also painted at Olechukl Ears Ulong
(Left) Interconnected four-sided, curvilinear motifs at Oimad Merach (Right) A human-like image with large round eyes wearing what might be a headpiece at Taberrakl. The shield-like figure, the rectangle containing curvy geometric shapes, is also painted at Olechukl Ears Ulong
© (Left) MacStyl Sasao (Right) Ron Leidich
Rock Art Palau Micronesia Interconnected four-sided, curvilinear motifs at Oimad Merach
Interconnected four-sided, curvilinear motifs at Oimad Merach
© MacStyl Sasao
Rock Art Palau Micronesia A human-like image with large round eyes wearing what might be a headpiece at Taberrakl. The shield-like figure, the rectangle containing curvy geometric shapes, is also painted at Olechukl Ears Ulong
A human-like image with large round eyes wearing what might be a headpiece at Taberrakl. The shield-like figure, the rectangle containing curvy geometric shapes, is also painted at Olechukl Ears Ulong
© Ron Leidich
Rock Art Palau Micronesia Archaeology Rock Art Network Bradshaw Foundation
Rock Art Palau Micronesia Archaeology Rock Art Network Bradshaw Foundation
Locations and Meaning(s)

Rock Art Palau Micronesia Olechukl Ears Ulong on Ulong Island
Olechukl Ears Ulong on Ulong Island
© Ron Leidich
Rock Art Palau Micronesia Olechukl Ears Ulong on Ulong Island
Olechukl Ears Ulong on Ulong Island
© Ron Leidich
Palau’s painted and engraved rock art sites were intentionally situated within a greater storied cultural landscape. Palau’s confirmed rock engravings mark a storied place and anchor oral tradition to the cultural landscape. With the bright red designs painted on white limestone cliffs high above and facing the waters below, rock paintings were clearly visible to passing canoes or the spirits and gods of the air and sea.

Rock paintings may have been deliberately placed in difficult to access but easily visible locations. Most paintings are located in elevated marine notches, deep horizontal grooves caused by erosion. A few paintings are on sheer cliff faces that could only be reached with tools like rope ladders. Painting locations are somewhat distant from traditional villages and known activity areas.

Mentioned briefly in oral traditions, with no archaeological correlations and few known similarities to Palau’s surviving traditional designs, the symbolic meaning(s) of the painted rock art is currently a mystery. It may have served one or many cultural purposes, functions, and meanings. Since most painted sites display their own distinct designs, each location may tell a unique story.

Initial studies show little similarity between the rock paintings and traditional artwork pictured in the ethnohistoric record, such as the paintings on the bai, even though both are traditionally identified as Orachl’s drawings. These long-term changes in symbolic designs may relate to the passage of time and an evolving society.

Rock Art Palau Micronesia Olechukl Ears Ulong on Ulong Island
 
Rock Art Palau Micronesia Ngermeuangel on Ngermeuangel Island
(Left) Olechukl Ears Ulong on Ulong Island (Right) Ngermeuangel on Ngermeuangel Island
© (Left) Jolie Liston (Right) Ron Leidich
Rock Art Palau Micronesia Olechukl Ears Ulong on Ulong Island
Olechukl Ears Ulong on Ulong Island
© Jolie Liston
Rock Art Palau Micronesia Ngermeuangel on Ngermeuangel Island
Ngermeuangel on Ngermeuangel Island
© Ron Leidich
Rock Art Palau Micronesia Archaeology Rock Art Network Bradshaw Foundation
Rock Art Palau Micronesia Archaeology Rock Art Network Bradshaw Foundation
The Spectacular Olechukl Ears Ulong

Rock Art Palau Micronesia The dense and spectacular concentration of paintings at the marine notch of Olechukl Ears Ulong is one of the premier rock painting sites in the Pacific
The dense and spectacular concentration of paintings at the marine notch of Olechukl Ears Ulong is one of the premier rock painting sites in the Pacific
© Jolie Liston
Rock Art Palau Micronesia The dense and spectacular concentration of paintings at the marine notch of Olechukl Ears Ulong is one of the premier rock painting sites in the Pacific
The dense and spectacular concentration of paintings at the marine notch of Olechukl Ears Ulong is one of the premier rock painting sites in the Pacific
© Jolie Liston
Olechukl Ears Ulong is Palau’s most dense and spectacular rock painting site, and one of the premiere rock painting sites in the Pacific. A densely packed mural of over 50 red painted images cover the walls and ceiling of an elevated notch on the Rock Island of Ulong.

Olechukl Ears Ulong’s stylized and diverse designs are generally well-preserved and exhibit greater artistic attention - e.g., finer precision, design, and composition - than Palau’s other rock painting sites. The mostly geometric or curvileaner images are often combined to create complex patterns. Figurative images include animal prints, several fish, humanoid faces, and four highly stylized anthropomorphs.

Only at Olechukl Ears Ulong are a relatively small number of paintings hidden from view within an adjoining rock shelter complex. Also, at Ulong, at least two red pigmented images are overlain by an unknown yellow substance, which may represent a later episode of rock art creation with yellow pigment or result from weathering, fungus, or another natural phenomenon.

Rock Art Palau Micronesia The yellow substance found only at Olechukl Ears Ulong may be paint made from yellow ochre  Yellow was painted on top of, or later than, the red figure
 
Rock Art Palau Micronesia Images at Olechukl Ears Ulong Archaeology
(Left) The yellow substance found only at Olechukl Ears Ulong may be paint made from yellow ochre. Yellow was painted on top of, or later than, the red figure (Right) Images at Olechukl Ears Ulong
© (Left) Ron Leidich (Right) Mark Willis
Rock Art Palau Micronesia The yellow substance found only at Olechukl Ears Ulong may be paint made from yellow ochre  Yellow was painted on top of, or later than, the red figure
The yellow substance found only at Olechukl Ears Ulong may be paint made from yellow ochre. Yellow was painted on top of, or later than, the red figure
© Ron Leidich
Rock Art Palau Micronesia Images at Olechukl Ears Ulong Archaeology
Images at Olechukl Ears Ulong
© Mark Willis
Rock Art Palau Micronesia Olechukl Ears Ulong Archaeology
 
Rock Art Palau Micronesia Olechukl Ears Ulong Archaeology
Olechukl Ears Ulong
© Jolie Liston
Rock Art Palau Micronesia Olechukl Ears Ulong Archaeology
Olechukl Ears Ulong
© Ron Leidich
Rock Art Palau Micronesia Olechukl Ears Ulong Archaeology
Olechukl Ears Ulong
© Jolie Liston
Rock Art Palau Micronesia Archaeology Rock Art Network Bradshaw Foundation
Rock Art Palau Micronesia Archaeology Rock Art Network Bradshaw Foundation
Local and Regional Connections and Contexts

Rock Art Palau Micronesia Llecheklel painted on the Bai er a Ngesechel a Cherechar at the Belau National Museum
Llecheklel painted on the Bai er a Ngesechel a Cherechar at the Belau National Museum
© Jolie Liston
Rock Art Palau Micronesia Llecheklel painted on the Bai er a Ngesechel a Cherechar at the Belau National Museum
Llecheklel painted on the Bai er a Ngesechel a Cherechar at the Belau National Museum
© Jolie Liston
Linguistic and archaeological evidence suggest Palau was settled about 3,400 years ago by Austronesian speaking people from Island Southeast Asia. Creation of the painted rock art very early in Palau’s settlement history is suggested by multiple lines of evidence. By contrast, oral traditions regarding Palau’s engraved rock may potentially indicate the rock engravings are younger than the rock paintings.

The absence of stories related to the rock paintings in Palau’s extensive body of cherished myths, legends, and customary practices directly related to the Rock Islands, implies their meanings may be long forgotten or perhaps the paintings contain restricted knowledge. In another illusion to their antiquity, Palau’s rock paintings are stylistically different from surviving artistic heritage.

Rock Art Palau Micronesia Archaeology Local Regional Connections Contexts Rock Art Network Bradshaw Foundation
Rock Art Palau Micronesia Archaeology Local Regional Connections Contexts Rock Art Network Bradshaw Foundation
Early settlers may have brought rock painting to Palau. This is suggested by the strong resemblance between Palau’s rock paintings and the Austronesian Painting Tradition (APT), a style of rock art in eastern Indonesia and West Papua that may be 3500 years old. Millennia ago, the APT spread with voyagers and colonists north to Palau and east into eastern Melanesia.

Palau’s rock paintings embody many APT characteristics: the use of red pigment, many motif styles, and location in difficult to access yet highly visible cliffs overlooking the sea. Missing in Palau is the APT’s characteristic archaeological or ethnographic association of rock paintings with human burial activities. Some Palauan motifs are not found in the APT, indicating that that over time Palauan settlers developed their own painting style.

Rock Art Palau Micronesia Olechukl Ears Ulong Archaeology
Rock Art Palau Micronesia Olechukl Ears Ulong Archaeology This boat at Siskemeduu contains two stick-figure passengers with what may be outstretched arms, weapons, or paddles. In the Austronesian Painting Tradition of eastern Indonesian boats are thought to express their importance to seafaring nations and symbolize the ritual of boat burials as they transported souls to the land of the dead
This boat at Siskemeduu contains two stick-figure passengers with what may be outstretched arms, weapons, or paddles. In the Austronesian Painting Tradition of eastern Indonesian boats are thought to express their importance to seafaring nations and symbolize the ritual of boat burials as they transported souls to the land of the dead
© Tracing: McKnight, 1970 - Photograph: Ron Leidich
Rock Art Palau Micronesia Olechukl Ears Ulong Archaeology
Rock Art Palau Micronesia At Olechukl Ears Ulong, the computer enhanced photograph and drawing show stippling underneath the more recent solid line drawings of the shield-like figures. These overlapping styles of painting reflect long-term changes in Palau’s painting tradition
At Olechukl Ears Ulong, the computer enhanced photograph and drawing show stippling underneath the more recent solid line drawings of the shield-like figures. These overlapping styles of painting reflect long-term changes in Palau’s painting tradition
© Tracing: Simmons, 1970 - Photograph: Jolie Liston (Enhanced with D-Stretch YRE)
Rock Art Palau Micronesia Olechukl Ears Ulong Archaeology Rock Art Palau Micronesia Olechukl Ears Ulong Archaeology This boat at Siskemeduu contains two stick-figure passengers with what may be outstretched arms, weapons, or paddles. In the Austronesian Painting Tradition of eastern Indonesian boats are thought to express their importance to seafaring nations and symbolize the ritual of boat burials as they transported souls to the land of the dead
This boat at Siskemeduu contains two stick-figure passengers with what may be outstretched arms, weapons, or paddles. In the Austronesian Painting Tradition of eastern Indonesian boats are thought to express their importance to seafaring nations and symbolize the ritual of boat burials as they transported souls to the land of the dead
© Tracing: McKnight, 1970 - Photograph: Ron Leidich
Rock Art Palau Micronesia Olechukl Ears Ulong Archaeology Rock Art Palau Micronesia At Olechukl Ears Ulong, the computer enhanced photograph and drawing show stippling underneath the more recent solid line drawings of the shield-like figures. These overlapping styles of painting reflect long-term changes in Palau’s painting tradition
At Olechukl Ears Ulong, the computer enhanced photograph and drawing show stippling underneath the more recent solid line drawings of the shield-like figures. These overlapping styles of painting reflect long-term changes in Palau’s painting tradition
© Tracing: Simmons, 1970 - Photograph: Jolie Liston (Enhanced with D-Stretch YRE)
Rock Art Palau Micronesia Archaeology Rock Art Network Bradshaw Foundation
Rock Art Palau Micronesia Archaeology Rock Art Network Bradshaw Foundation
Organization

Museo Nacional y Centro de Investigación de Altamira
Subdirección General de Museos Estatales
Ministerio de Cultura y Deporte

Belau National Museum
Ministry of Human Resources, Culture, Tourism and Development of the Republic of Palau

Funding

Subdirección General de Gestión y Coordinación de Bienes Culturales
Ministerio de Cultura y Deporte

Contents

The contents of this exhibition have been produced collaboratively. The generous assistance and information provided by esteemed community informants Dirrengulbai Sariang Timulch of Palau’s Society of Historians and Kautechang Vince Blaiyok a member of Palau’s Historical and Cultural Advisory Board, Pat Colin, Alex Ferrier-Loh, Rachel Hoerman, Jolie Liston, Sylvia Kloulubak, Ron Leidich, Jess Merrill, Pia Morei, Macstyl O. Sasao, Kiblas Soaladaob, Mark Willis, and the capable and knowledgeable staff and crew of Paddling Palau made this content possible.

Management and Coordination

Pilar Fatás y Sofía Cuadrado (Museo de Altamira)

Design and production

NEXO

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→ Sigubudu: Paintings of people with guns in the northern uKhahlamba-Drakensberg
by Aron Mazel
22/07/2024
→ Prehistomania
by Richard Kuba
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→ Women Hunters in Indian Rock Art
by Meenakshi Dubey-Pathak
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→ Vingen Rock Art in Norway at Risk
by Rock Art Network
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→ Professor emeritus Knut Arne Helskog is awarded the King's Medal of Merit
by Rock Art Network
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→ Escaped slaves, rock art and resistance in the Cape Colony, South Africa
by Sam Challis
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→  Two NSW men found guilty of using oily handprints to damage sacred Uluru cave art
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→  An online course by SEAMEO Regional Centre for Archaeology and Fine Arts (SPAFA)
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→  Cupules and Vulvas in the Alwar area, Rajasthan
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→  David Coulson receives RGS Cherry Kearton Award
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→  Vandalised petroglyphs in Texas
by Johannes H. N. Loubser
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→  Hand Stencils in Chhattisgarh
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→  And then they were gone: Destruction of the Good Hope 1 rock paintings
by Aron Mazel
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→  Early masterpieces: San hunter-gatherer shaded paintings of the uKhahlamba-Drakensberg and surrounding areas
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→  Aїr Mountains Safari - Sahara
by David Coulson
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→  The Neolithic rock art passage tombs of Anglesey as brand-new virtual tours
by Ffion Reynolds
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→ More Rock Art Network Articles
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