Throughout the region occupied by these Arawak tribes are found numerous incised designs upon rocks, known as petroglyphs. For the most part they occur along rivers on the smooth surface of granitic rocks in exposed places open to view from the river; they are, however, occasionally found in the open savannah, as, for example, near the sacred mountains of the Atarois. Drawings, measurements and photographs were made of all observed that could be determined with accuracy.

The designs are in the form of men, animals, fish, serpents, or they may be purely geometric figures. The human face, which does not occur in profile, may be round, square or diamond-shaped, while the figures may be concentric circles, ovals, quadrangles or simple lines. The methods used in carving the glyphs were by pecking, scratching and rubbing and for the most part the grooves were polished smooth.

The Indians living in the regions where they occur know nothing of their origin or significance and have no traditions or beliefs regarding them. This is good evidence that they were made by a former people and are of very great age. There are traditions connected with all the nearby mountains in the savannah, but none about the glyphs, therefore they must be older than the mountain myths and the story of creation.