Sailing Ship and Dog-Poni: Historic Petroglyphs on Nuka Hiva, The Marquesas Islands

During the Marquesan Archaeological Rock Art Survey (1984 to 1989), over 6,000 petroglyphs, 110 pictographs, and 81 sculptured anthropomorphic figures (tiki) were located and recorded (e.g., Edwards and Millerstrom 1995; Millerstrom and Edwards 1998; Millerstrom 1997, 2001, 2003). Some forty-one valleys were visited on five of the presently six inhabited islands; Nuku Hiva, Ua Huka, Ua Pou, Hiva Oa, and Tahuata. The majority of the rock art occurs on Nuku Hiva (Table 1).