The mysterious carvings of Angono

Spotlight on the Angono Petroglyphs in the Philippines – one of the few rock art sites known in the Philippines (although there is some question about their age). Like most rock art sites, they are in danger from natural and man-made threats.

Ancient enigmatic carvings in danger of disappearing
Inquirer, 21 April 2014

On a small rock wall a short drive from Manila, enigmatic carvings that are believed to date back 5,000 years are in danger of disappearing before their mysteries can be solved.

The 127 engravings of people, animals and geometric shapes are the Philippines’ oldest known artworks, but encroaching urbanization, vandals and the ravages of nature are growing threats.

“Eventually they will disappear … preservation is out of the question,” veteran anthropologist Jesus Peralta, who did an extensive and widely respected study of the carvings in the 1970s, told Agence France-Presse.

The artworks have been declared a national treasure, regarded as the best proof that relatively sophisticated societies existed in the Philippines in the Stone Age.

Full story here.