The date and context of Neolithic rock art in the Sahara: engravings and ceremonial monuments from Messak Settafet (south-west Libya)

Antiquity ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 84 (326) ◽  
pp. 954-975 ◽  
Author(s):  
Savino di Lernia ◽  
Marina Gallinaro
Keyword(s):  
Rock Art ◽  
Spiritual Needs ◽  
Harsh Environment ◽  
South West ◽  
Central Sahara

The authors find a context for the rock art of the central Sahara by excavating and recording examples of engraved stones from circular platforms used to sacrifice animals. The type of rock art known as the Pastoral style, featuring evocative outline drawings of cattle, appears on upright stones incorporated into the platforms in the period 5430–5150 BP, and probably earlier. Furthermore, they show that these places were part of a dense and extensive monumental landscape, occupying a harsh environment, supplying quartzite, but with little settlement, appearing to serve the spiritual needs of hundreds of Neolithic people.

Changing Places: Rock Art and Holocene Landscapes in the Wadi al-Ajal, South-West Libya

2014 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 165-182 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tertia Barnett ◽  
Maria Guagnin
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Analysis ◽  
Surface Water ◽  
Rock Art ◽  
Human Settlement ◽  
Gis Model ◽  
South West ◽  
Settlement Location ◽  
Central Sahara ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Over Time

This article examines the relationship between rock art and landscape use by pastoral groups and early settled communities in the central Sahara from around 6000 BC to 1000 AD. During this period the region experienced significant climatic and environmental fluctuations. Using new results from a systematic survey in the Wadi al-Ajal, south-west Libya, our research combines data from over 2000 engraved rock art panels with local archaeological and palaeoenvironmental evidence within a GIS model. Spatial analysis of these data indicates a correspondence between the frequency of rock art sites and human settlement over time. However, while changes in settlement location were guided primarily by the constraints on accessibility imposed by surface water, the distribution of rock art relates to the availability of pasture and patterns of movement through the landscape. Although the reasons for these movements undoubtedly altered over time, natural routes that connected the Wadi al-Ajal and areas to the south continued to be a focus for carvings over several thousand years.

The Siting of Prehistoric Rock Art in Galloway, South-west Scotland

1993 ◽  
Vol 59 ◽  
pp. 269-283 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Bradley ◽  
Jan Harding ◽  
Margaret Mathews
Keyword(s):  
Rock Art ◽  
Landscape Archaeology ◽  
Surrounding Area ◽  
South West ◽  
Field Of Vision ◽  
Special Character ◽  
Local Topography ◽  
Intractable Problems ◽  
Surrounding Landscape ◽  
Source Of Information

The interpretation of prehistoric rock art has posed some intractable problems, but recent studies have sought to integrate it within a more broadly based landscape archaeology. They emphasise the special character of this material, not only as a system of distinctive motifs, but also as a source of information employed by people engaged in a mobile pattern of settlement. This paper investigates the character of the rock art of south-west Scotland, comparing the positions of the petroglyphs with two series of control samples in the surrounding landscape. The carvings seem to have been situated at viewpoints. They may have been directed towards the coastline and the Galloway hills and commanded a significantly wider field of vision than locations in the surrounding area. There is some evidence that differences in the size and complexity of the motifs are related to their placing in the local topography, with the simpler carvings around the edges of lowland ‘territories’ near to the shoreline, and the more complex compositions in upland areas, especially around shallow basins and waterholes. The changing character of the designs may reflect differences in the composition of the audience who viewed them.

Central Saharan Rock Art

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean-Loïc Le Quellec
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
Rock Art ◽  
Way Of Life ◽  
Central Sahara

On the sunburnt rocks of the central Sahara, ancient peoples inscribed testimony of their material culture, mythology, and way of life. Jean-Loïc Le Quellec reviews the field of research into these marvelous carved and painted images. He discusses controversies in the study of ancient central Saharan rock art, and advances in understanding the succession of cultures that inhabited the region.

The Garamantes and Trans-Saharan Enterprise in Classical Times

1967 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 181-200 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. C. C. Law
Keyword(s):  
West Africa ◽  
North Africa ◽  
Direct Evidence ◽  
Second Century ◽  
The South ◽  
South West ◽  
Literary Sources ◽  
Central Sahara ◽  
Rock Paintings ◽  
Precious Stones

The sources for pre-Arab trans-Saharan contacts are poor, but at least for the central Sahara a picture can be made out. The alignment of rock paintings and engravings of chariots along two trans-Saharari routes has been supposed to prove regular traffic across the desert. The inference is unjustified, but literary and archaeological sources indicate that the conclusion is correct. Herodotus attests the use of a route running west from Egypt to the Fezzan, then apparently south-west via Tassili and Hoggar to the Niger. This corresponds with the central Saharan ‘chariot-route’.There was also a route to the Garamantes of the Fezzan from the Punic settlements on the coast of Tripolitania. Carthage imported from the Garamantes the precious stones known as ‘carbuncles’, which were apparently brought to the Fezzan from the south-west. Other possible imports are slaves and gold. Carthage imported gold from West Africa by sea, and it seems likely that her explorations down the coast were inspired by an overland trade in gold. But there is no direct evidence for such a trade.In the second century B.C. Rome replaced Carthage in control of the coast of Tripolitania. Between 20 B.C. and A.D. 86 she fought a series of wars with the Garamantes. Later friendly relations were established, but further trouble led to the organization of the ‘limes Tripolitanus’ after A.D. 201. Trade is attested by imported Roman material in tombs of the Fezzan dating from the late first to the fourth centuries. There is evidence that the Romans imported ivory from the Garamantes, and slaves are now attested directly.The commodities exported north by the Garamantes came not from the Fezzan, but from farther south. Literary sources refer to hunting expeditions and raids to the south, and finds of Roman material have been made along the ‘chariot-route’ south-west of the Fezzan as far as Ti-m-Missao.Trade ended with the collapse of Roman rule in North Africa. It was revived with the Byzantine reconquest after A.D. 533, and Christianity penetrated to the Fezzan. In 666 the Arabs overran the Fezzan.

Jbel Bani Rock Art: Newly-discovered Shelters along Mountain Paths suggest a Significant Link between Central Sahara and North Africa (Zagora, Southern Morocco)

2019 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 36-52 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adil Moumane ◽  
Jonathan Delorme ◽  
Adbelhadi Ewague ◽  
Jamal Al-Karkouri ◽  
Mohamed Gaoudi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
North Africa ◽  
Rock Art ◽  
Human Migration ◽  
Migration Routes ◽  
Time Period ◽  
Central Sahara ◽  
Rock Shelters

Abstract The authors, with the help of a team of researchers, have discovered twelve rock shelters with inside paintings on the southern slopes of the Jbel Bani Mountains in southern Morocco. The paintings vary in subject and time period and span multiple rock art styles. Majestic creatures that once inhabited southern Morocco are depicted next to hunters, pastoralists, and warriors. The shelters and paintings cast upon their walls illustrate a transfer of culture, beliefs, technology, and ideas between people groups of the Meridional and Central Sahara and the Jbel Bani region. These discoveries were all made along a mountain path in the Bani Mountains known as Foum Laachar and may help trace ancient human migration routes.

scholarly journals Sandstone Geomorphology of South-West Jordan, Middle East

2014 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 123-130 ◽  
Author(s):  
Piotr Migoń ◽  
Andrew Goudie
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
Southern China ◽  
Rock Slopes ◽  
Desert Environment ◽  
Rock Falls ◽  
Danxia Landform ◽  
South West ◽  
Central Sahara ◽  
Morphological Differences ◽  
Rock Slides

AbstractIn the desert environment of south-west Jordan thick sequences of continental sandstones of Cambrian-Ordovician age support spectacular scenery, comparable with that of the Colorado Plateau of south-west USA or the central Sahara and similar in many aspects to the Danxia landform of southern China. Dissection of a sandstone tableland has given rise to numerous inselbergs and large mesas, rising from the sand-covered desert floor. The height of the hills varies from a few tens to 500-700 m in the Wadi Rum area, whereas their slope shapes are controlled by lithological properties of particular sandstone units. Rock walls of the sandstone inselbergs are subject to frequent rock falls and rock slides and host an impressive array of tafoni and honeycombs due to selective weathering, as well as a number of rock arches. Lithological differences within the sandstone sequence are crucial controls on the shape and evolution of rock slopes, exerting the influence via contrasting patterns of weathering and slope failures. The presence of ferruginous layers in the Umm ‘Ishrin Sandstone is of major importance and explains the fundamental morphological differences between the otherwise similar Umm ‘Ishrin and Disi sandstone units

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