The Same Strange Figure Appears Across Three Continents

On a cave wall in northern Japan, a human-like figure appears with outstretched wings.

Thousands of miles away, in the sandstone canyons of Nine Mile Canyon, nearly the same form appears again.

And farther west, carved into the rock of Gobustan Rock Art Cultural Landscape, another version emerges.

The sites are separated by continents, cultures, and in some cases thousands of years.

Yet the figures look strikingly alike.

The Japanese carvings are found in Fugoppe Cave, a rock art site on the island of Hokkaido known for its unusual anthropomorphic figures. Some archaeologists date portions of the cave art to several thousand years ago.

The Utah examples appear among the extensive petroglyph panels of Nine Mile Canyon, created by Indigenous peoples including the Fremont culture roughly 1,000 to 2,000 years ago. The canyon contains some of the densest concentrations of rock art in North America.

In Azerbaijan, similar figures appear in the carvings of Gobustan, where thousands of petroglyphs span many millennia and depict hunting scenes, boats, animals, and human forms. Some of the site’s oldest carvings may date back several thousand years.

No direct connection between the three sites has been established.

That is what makes the resemblance so compelling.