Wadi Sura in the context of regional rock art

Institut für Ur- und Frühgeschichte der Universität zu Köln
Forschungsstelle Afrika
26
A F R I C A
P R A E H I S T O R I C A
Monographien zur Archäologie und Umwelt Afrikas
Monographs on African Archaeology and Environment
Monographies sur l’Archéologie et l’Environnement d’Afrique
Edited by Rudolph Kuper
KÖLN 2013
Rudolph Kuper
Wadi Sura – The Cave of Beasts
A rock art site in the Gilf Kebir (SW-Egypt)
In collaboration with
Franziska Bartz, Erik Büttner, Frank Darius, Frank Förster,
Lutz Hermsdorf-Knauth, Sabine Krause, Hans Leisen,
Heiko Riemer, Jürgen Seidel and András Zboray
H E I N R I C H - B A R T H - I N S T I T U T
© HEINRICH-BARTH-INSTITUT e. V., Köln 2013
Jennerstraße 8, D–50823 Köln
http://www.hbi-ev.uni-koeln.de
This book is in copyright. No reproduction of any
part may take place without the written permission
of the publisher
Bibliographic information published by
Die Deutsche Bibliothek
The Deutsche Bibliothek lists this publication in the
Deutsche Nationalbibliographie; detailed bibliographic
data are available on the Internet at http://dnb.ddb.de
Photo documentation:
Jürgen Seidel
3D laserscanning:
Erik Büttner
Data processing:
Reinhold Goss
Image rectification:
Sabine Krause
Marie-Helen Scheid
Printed in Germany by Hans Kock GmbH, Bielefeld
Typeset and layout: Lutz Hermsdorf-Knauth,
Heiko Riemer
ISSN 0947-2673
ISBN 978-3-927688-40-7
Contents
Part I
Foreword ........................................................................................................................................... 8
Rudolph Kuper
From nowhere to Hollywood – The story of Wadi Sura .......................................................... 12
András Zboray
Wadi Sura in the context of regional rock art ............................................................................. 18
Frank Förster & Rudolph Kuper
Catching the Beasts – Myths and messages in rock art ............................................................ 24
Rudolph Kuper
The Cologne Wadi Sura Project .................................................................................................... 28
Heiko Riemer & Franziska Bartz
The archaeological survey: Landscape and context of Wadi Sura’s rock art ......................... 32
Heiko Riemer
Dating the rock art of Wadi Sura .................................................................................................. 38
Hans Leisen, Sabine Krause, Heiko Riemer, Jürgen Seidel & Erik Büttner
New and integral approaches to rock art recording as
means of analysis and preservation ............................................................................................. 42
Frank Förster
Figuring out: Computer-aided rock art recording and analysis ............................................. 50
Heiko Riemer
Rock shelters: Locations of rock art ............................................................................................. 54
Sabine Krause, Heiko Riemer & Hans Leisen
Paints and pigments in the rock art of Wadi Sura ..................................................................... 58
Hans Leisen & Sabine Krause
Conservation of rock art ‒ A holistic approach .......................................................................... 62
Rudolph Kuper
Visitors and vandals – The impact of desert tourism ................................................................ 66
Part II
Frank Darius
Wadi Sura in its environmental setting ....................................................................................... 70
User’s guide ..................................................................................................................................... 82
Grid system of Panels A ‒ E .......................................................................................................... 83
Ortho view of the shelter ............................................................................................................... 84
Panel A ............................................................................................................................................. 86
Panel B ............................................................................................................................................ 130
Panel C ........................................................................................................................................... 170
Panel D ........................................................................................................................................... 254
Panel E ............................................................................................................................................ 376
Selected scenes and figures ......................................................................................................... 488
Engravings ..................................................................................................................................... 512
References and photo credits ...................................................................................................... 538
András Zboray
Wadi Sura in the context of regional rock art
At the time of their discovery in 1933, the paintings of Wadi Sura were an oddity, not fitting in with the naturalistic
style of cattle pastoralist paintings found throughout the region. In the last ten years systematic surveys revealed
hundreds of new sites, including some that may be attributed to a number of pre-pastoralist cultures, demonstrating
a clear cultural succession across the entire central Libyan Desert. The Wadi Sura paintings, now much better understood from the ‘Cave of Beasts’, are clearly a part of this succession, with possible relationships and contemporarity with other rock art producing cultures of the region.
Fig. 1 Gilf Kebir-Jebel
Ouenat region:
1 Wadi Sura (Gilf Kebir)
2 Clayton’s Craters
3 Jebel Arkenu
4 Karkur Ibrahim
(Jebel Ouenat)
5 Karkur Talh
(Jebel Ouenat)
6 Wadi Wahesh
(Jebel Ouenat)
Introduction
The great massifs of the central Libyan Desert were
known to harbor numerous prehistoric rock art sites ever
since their existence was revealed to the outside world in
the 1920s and 1930s (Kuper, this volume). Early explorers
reported numerous engravings and paintings at Jebel
Ouenat (Fig. 1), and sporadic further expeditions in the
1960s, especially the 1968 Belgian Scientific Expedition
revealed some further spectacular paintings at Jebel Ouenat (VAN NOTEN 1978).
A common theme to most of the paintings discovered
and published up till twenty years ago were the innumerable cattle depictions, suggesting that the principal prehistoric inhabitants of the area were nomadic cattle
pastoralists, taking advantage of a humid interval sometime during the early to mid-Holocene. The only paintings not fitting into this pattern were those of the great
shelter of Wadi Sura (the ‘Cave of Swimmers’, WG 52*).
The paintings show a high degree of abstraction, very
much unlike the naturalistic representations of the cattle
pastoralists seen elsewhere in the region (cf. RHOTERT
1952). Interpretation was made more difficult by the very
eroded nature of the shelter, with only a fraction of the
original painted surface remaining. MUZZOLINI (1995)
observed a superficial resemblance to the “roundhead
style“ of the central Sahara, but in the absence of any further analogies no meaningful comparisons or detailed
analyses could be made.
This picture started to slowly change in the last
twenty years. The exploration of the vicinity of Wadi Sura
yielded more paintings with the same style and subject
matter as the large shelter discovered by Almásy
(GAUTHIER & NEGRO 1999; ZBORAY 2003a). The discovery of the ‘Cave of Beasts’ (WG 21) in 2002 provided a
quantum leap in our understanding of the Wadi Sura
paintings, showing the same type of humans and wild
fauna, superimposed on a ‘wallpaper’ of negative hand
prints, in a good state of preservation. One partial damaged figure in the ‘Cave of Swimmers’ proved to be an
example of the strange ‘headless beast’, of which dozens
of examples were depicted in the new site, together with
some of the characteristic ‘swimming’ figures and thousands of other human figures. These beasts and the
‘swimming’ figures are key diagnostic features of the
Wadi Sura paintings (ZBORAY 2012).
The complete ensemble of figures points to a very distinct, well definable entity with a very narrow geographical range, present along a thirty kilometre stretch of land
below the southern cliffs of the western Gilf Kebir. Considering the large number of superimpositions at WG 21,
* All references to individual sites in this paper use the numbering system
developed and revised by the author (ZBORAY 2009) unless otherwise noted.
All photographs in this article are by A. Zboray.
18
András Zboray
this artistic tradition appears to have lasted for a significant period of time. Parallel to these discoveries near
Wadi Sura, new finds at the more southerly massifs of
Jebel Ouenat, Arkenu and the surrounding smaller hills
started to change our understanding of the cultural succession in the central Libyan Desert (Eastern Sahara).
Systematic surveying of the Jebel Ouenat region resulted in the discovery of nearly a thousand new rock art
sites (e.g., BORDA 2010; 2011a; 2011b; MENARDI
NOGUERA & ZBORAY 2011a; 2012; ZBORAY 2009; ZBORAY
& BORDA 2010), increasing the number of known sites in
the region by a magnitude of five. Many of the new finds
depicted human figures in a style clearly different from
the cattle pastoralists. With this corpus of new data, a
number of previously unrecognised early cultural horizons may be identified in the environs of Jebel Ouenat,
evidently all predating the cattle pastoral period. While
the Wadi Sura paintings remain distinct and well defined
in their narrow geographical niche along the base of the
cliffs of the western Gilf Kebir, there are a number of similarities to depictions of other painting styles in the Jebel
Ouenat region, suggesting contemporarity and cultural
links across the region.
The known rock art sites of the Gilf Kebir-Jebel Ouenat region are almost evenly balanced in the proportion
of engravings to paintings. The last published count
(ZBORAY 2009) presents 402 sites with engravings and
456 sites with paintings. At Jebel Ouenat there is a very
noticeable pattern of engravings (with few paintings) appearing at lower altitudes around the base of the mountain and in the lower courses of wadis, while paintings
are concentrated in the upper sections, reaching up to the
highest altitudes of the mountain. This pattern of geographical distribution at present remains unexplained.
Unfortunately, with engravings the technique and
medium allows for much cruder execution than the detail
observable in paintings of the area, thus distinctions may
be made more on subject matter and overall execution
than any finer stylistic traits. It does appear that at least
in part the numerous engravings depicting cattle (more
than half of all engravings) are the work of the same people who made the paintings depicting pastoral themes.
However, for the wild fauna depictions, of which there
are probably some pre-dating the cattle period, and some
post-dating, it is very hard to make meaningful and consistent distinctions. It will require much future effort to
categorise the various engravings into the currently established cultural and chronological framework; this
present study only examines the regional styles and possible interrelationships of the known paintings.
Based on the presently known corpus of sites, four
distinct styles of hunter-gatherer paintings may be recognised aside those of Wadi Sura, superseded by the cattle
pastoralist horizon.
Fig. 2 Typical Ouenat cattle pastoralist scene, showing a herd of cattle
with human figures (site KT 85/A), Karkur Talh, Jebel Ouenat.
Fig. 3 Male figure holding a bow and wearing a characteristic ‘tailed’
quiver cum utility bag not observed elsewhere among Saharan catte pastoralist paintings – a key defining element of the Ouenat cattle pastoralist
paintings (site KTW 26/B), upper Karkur Talh, Jebel Ouenat.
The Ouenat cattle pastoralists
The vast majority of the paintings at Jebel Ouenat depict
cattle and associated humans. Of 414 sites with paintings,
337 contain figures which may be assigned to the cattle
pastoralists. The predominant theme of the paintings is
cattle, with some panels showing hundreds of them in a
great variety of form and colour (Fig. 2). Some paintings
show goats, with or without cattle, but depicted in the
same characteristic body proportions, posture, and style.
Many of the paintings contain human figures, commonly
with accessories like body decoration, waist pouches or
loincloths, shoulder bags, footwear, bow and arrows.
There are some variations in the style of depicting hu-
mans; however, body posture and proportions of cattle,
as well as the standardised iconography of some personal
accessories clearly present a homogenous artistic tradition (“Uweinat cattle pastoralists“, MENARDI NOGUERA
& ZBORAY 2011b) (Fig. 3).
While cattle pastoralist paintings dominate the rock
art of Jebel Ouenat and the surrounding massifs, a number of scattered rock art sites attributable to the same tradition may be found throughout the Gilf Kebir,
providing conclusive evidence that the cattle pastoralist
people roamed across the entire region encompassing
Jebel Ouenat, the surrounding smaller massifs, and the
Gilf Kebir Plateau (Fig. 4).
Fig. 4 Typical Ouenat
cattle pastoralist paintings superimposed over
Wadi Sura type giraffes
(site WG 35), near Wadi
Sura, Gilf Kebir.
Fig. 5 Typical ‘Ouenat
roundhead’ figure (site
KTW 31), upper Karkur
Talh, Jebel Ouenat.
Fig. 6 ‘Ouenat roundhead’ figure with exceptional body decoration
(site KTW 54), upper
Karkur Talh, Jebel Ouenat
(photo enhanced with
DStretch #).
The ‘Ouenat roundhead’ style
The first known ‘round head’ site (BH 4, Karkur Idriss)
was instantly recognised as being distinctly different
from other known Jebel Ouenat paintings (VAN NOTEN
1978), however being an isolated example and lacking
any superpositions, its true significance was not recognised. In the past ten years more than fifty further sites
have been found with these characteristic paintings, providing a sufficiently large sample to define the style
(“Uweinat roundhead style“, ZBORAY 2012):
The exclusive subjects of the paintings are human figures. Sometimes only one is being depicted, but they are
generally found in groups. The main defining feature is
the circular round head, exaggerated in size compared to
normal body proportions, and is completely void of facial
features (Figs. 5–7). The rest of the body is of normal proportions, with a triangular torso and narrow hips; the
arms and legs are robust and proportionate; hands and
feet are drawn without digits (Fig. 5). Sometimes a secondary white circle or oval is seen attached to, and partially overlapping the head. The figures are shown in
contorted body positions which are being repeated across
the range of sites. The figures are mostly plain monochrome, but in some cases body decoration can be observed (Fig. 6). In rare examples some kind of dress is
discernible, and some figures may be seen holding bow
and arrows (Fig. 7). Despite the complete lack of any animals associated with the human figures, depicting bows
and arrows suggests hunting to be the primary means of
subsistence.
Wadi Sura in the context of regional rock art
19
Fig. 7 ‘Ouenat roundhead’ figure with body decoration and loincloth,
holding bow and arrows
(site KTW 11/D), upper
Karkur Talh, Jebel Ouenat
(photo enhanced with
DStretch#).
# DStretch is a software tool for the digital
enhancement of pictographs developed by
Jon Harman (cf. p. 57):
www.dstretch.com.
Photographs in this
paper manipulated by
DStretch are shown in
greyscale.
Fig. 8 Group of ‘Elongated roundhead’ figures
(site AR 42/C), Jebel
Arkenu.
Fig. 9 ‘Elongated roundhead’ figures with bows
and arrows (site KTW
27/G), upper Karkur Talh,
Jebel Ouenat (photo enhanced with DStretch).
The ‘Elongated roundhead’ style
In 1998, Le Quellec recorded (but did not publish at that
time) a number of rock art sites to the immediate south
of Jebel Ouenat the paintings of which showed distinct
round featureless heads, and bore some resemblance to
some human figures at Wadi Sura, and also to some extent to the ‘Ouenat roundhead’ figures. Initially these
were considered to be a variation of the “Uweinat roundhead style“ (ZBORAY 2005a), or even assigned to the
“Wadi Sura style“ (LE QUELLEC et al. 2005; LE QUELLEC
2009), greatly expanding the geographical range and the
narrow definition of the style. Fortunately several well
preserved new sites were recorded recently containing
paintings of this peculiar style. The corpus of a total of 22
sites at Jebel Ouenat, Jebel Arkenu and environs now permits the definition of a distinct style (ZBORAY 2012).
The theme of the paintings are exclusively human figures, echoing the classic ‘Ouenat roundhead’ style, however the depiction of the figures is markedly different.
The head is completely round and mostly featureless, but
here the similarity ends. The head is small in comparison
to the rest of the body and is joined to the trunk by an unnaturally long neck (usually executed in white paint
which in many cases disappeared) which is the main
defining characteristic of the style (Figs. 8; 9). The body
is unnaturally thin and elongated, with legs being rela-
The Miniature style
The first of these characteristic figures were observed by
RHOTERT (1952) in a shelter in southern Karkur Talh
(KTS 15/C), underlying several layers of cattle pastoralist
paintings. He called them “Miniaturstil”, aptly describing their main feature. Rhotert could only work from a
single example, but finds of the past decade brought the
Fig. 10 Group of Miniature style figures (site
KTN 31), Karkur Talh,
Jebel Ouenat.
20
András Zboray
tively thick and short in proportion to the rest of the
body. The arms are very disproportionate, short and
stubby, sometimes just shown as a short featureless line.
The figures often bear extensive body decoration, and
some hold bow and arrows, sometimes in a shooting posture (Figs. 8; 9). Despite the complete absence of animal
depictions, they seem to have been produced by a hunting society, like the ‘Ouenat roundheads’. The geographical range of this style appears to overlap that of the
‘Ouenat roundhead’ style, but the frequency of the sites
is less than half.
While some elements of the body decoration and the
disproportionate small round head may be compared to
human figures of the Wadi Sura shelters, there are some
key differences. Most importantly, none of the ‘Wadi
Sura style’ human figures display the elongated white
neck that joins the head to the upper body, while all the
figures attributable to this style do. Wadi Sura figures display a wide range of body proportions, while the ones at
Jebel Ouenat always present the long neck and body with
disproportionately short arms. With the present body of
evidence, the two styles may confidently be considered
to be distinct and not directly related, though this does
not rule out possible contemporarity and weaker cultural
links.
number of known sites to 28, including an excellently
preserved large shelter (KTN 31, ZBORAY 2003b) which
allows the proper definition of the style.
The subject matter is human figures and wild fauna.
The human figures are depicted on a very small scale,
adults 8–15 centimetres, with tiny figures of children as
small as 2–3 centimetres. Family scenes are common,
with mothers holding children in various but realistically
depicted postures. This ‘mother with miniature child’
scene is perhaps the best defining element of the style.
Males and females are clearly distinguishable, females
having prominent breasts and wear skirts, while males
wear loincloths, and frequently carry bow and arrows.
Hunting scenes are common, with males shooting arrows
at very well drawn and proportioned giraffes. There is
no hint of any domestication. Overall, the style has a very
high degree of realism (Fig. 10).
The geographical range of the style extends throughout Jebel Ouenat, with the main concentrations in Karkur
Talh and Karkur Ibrahim, the style being conspiciously
absent from the southern part of the mountain. A recent
find by Mark BORDA (2010) extended their range to Jebel
Arkenu.
The Wadi Wahesh style
The Wadi Wahesh style, named after the locality where
most of the principal examples are located, was the last
distinct style of paintings to be recognised at Jebel Ouenat. Already in 1998, Le Quellec found some figures of
wild animals at southern Ouenat which did not appear
to fit any of the known categories, but bore resemblance
to some of the paintings at Wadi Sura. In the absence of
any further analogies, these were assigned to the “Wadi
Sura style“ (LE QUELLEC et al. 2005; LE QUELLEC 2009)
together with the figures now recognised to be ‘Ouenat
elongated roundheads’.
In March 2005, a group of large and well preserved
sites were found in shelters located in the upper reaches
of Wadi Wahesh (ZBORAY 2005b) which placed these isolated and mostly damaged earlier examples into context.
A very distinct style was revealed, centered on the southern part of Jebel Ouenat, with a few isolated (and sometimes doubtful) examples elsewhere. There are about
twenty sites that may confidently be assigned to this
style, the majority of them in the very narrow geographical confines of the upper Wadi Wahesh.
The style is not easy to define. If individual human
figures are observed, many features are common to both
the Miniature style and to some of the Wadi Sura paintings. Perhaps the biggest set of commonalities are with
Wadi Sura, including similarities in body decoration, all
digits shown on the hands, and negative handprints underlying some of the paintings. Should some Wadi Sura
figures be transplanted into Wadi Wahesh scenes (and
vice versa) they would comfortably blend in with the rest
of the scene (Fig. 11).
The most conspicuous feature of the style is the frequent depiction of individual digits on the hands of
human figures, sometimes in an exaggerated manner
(Fig. 12). However, these are intermingled in apparently
the same or related compositions with figures lacking the
depiction of digits. The scale, posture and appearance of
some of the depicted humans echo the Miniature style,
suggesting some possible contact or relationship. However, the key feature of the Miniature style, the family
scene of mother and child, is absent. There is the presence
of two conspicuous non-human elements also present at
Wadi Sura, but completely lacking from other Jebel Ouenat painting styles: negative handprints and ostriches
without body (Figs. 13; 14). In addition, a variety of wild
fauna is shown (giraffes, various gazelles and antelopes),
and there are numerous depictions of domesticated dogs,
all features common with Wadi Sura. The depicted wild
fauna (including a giraffe held by a tether tied to its neck)
suggests a hunter-gatherer society.
The separate definition of the Wadi Wahesh style does
not preclude a connection with the Wadi Sura people.
The key defining features of Wadi Sura, the ‘headless
beast’ and the ‘swimmers’ (and many other motifs) are
missing, however the large number of superimpositions
observable in the ‘Cave of Beasts’ (WG 21) suggest that
the Wadi Sura paintings may, with further study, be subdivided into internal periods (cf. Förster, this volume). It
is not inconceivable that the Wadi Wahesh style will be
found to correspond to one such subdivision, which lacks
the ‘headless beast’ and associated figures, but retains
other common elements. An alternate hypothesis could
be the possible movement of the Wadi Sura people as
Fig. 11 Group of Wadi Wahesh style figures (site WW 52), Wadi Wahesh,
Jebel Ouenat.
Fig. 12 Wadi Wahesh
style figure with exaggerated digits on the hand
(site WW 52), Wadi Wahesh, Jebel Ouenat.
desiccation progressed from the arid western Gif Kebir
to the relatively more favourable southern Ouenat environment.
One further clue supporting a possible link between
Wadi Sura and Wadi Wahesh was the recent finding of a
shelter (CC12, BORDA 2009) at Clayton’s Craters, at about
one third of the roughly 200 km distance between Jebel
Ouenat and Wadi Sura. The shelter contains very weathered paintings, but it is possible to recognise several negative handprints and small scale human figures, which
are identical to the more crudely executed ones at the
principal Wadi Wahesh sites in every detail.
Fig. 13 Wadi Wahesh
style figures associated
with negative handprints
executed in yellow paint
(site WW 52), Wadi Wahesh, Jebel Ouenat.
Fig. 14 Ostrich with only
head, neck and legs shown
(beneath cattle pastoralist
paintings, site WW 52),
Wadi Wahesh, Jebel Ouenat.
Wadi Sura in the context of regional rock art
21
Relative chronologies and possible interrelations
The key to the establishment of a relative rock art
chronology in the area is the existence of superimpositions, suggesting a temporal succession of identifiable
styles in a given geographical location. Different degrees
of weathering of paintings of distinct styles at the same
locality may provide further evidence to confirm that
styles were separated in time.
In the Wadi Sura area, four sites contain characteristic
Wadi Sura figures that are overpainted by Cattle Pastoralist figures (Fig. 15). While none of the sites have a figure
of the ‘headless beast’ in a superimposition, the earlier
paintings are clearly of the Wadi Sura type, based on
analogies with the large key sites. Thus demonstrably the
Wadi Sura paintings predate those of the cattle pastoralists in the western Gilf Kebir. In all four mentioned examples, the Wadi Sura type paintings are much more
weathered than the overlying cattle, and in general all of
the Wadi Sura paintings in the area show much more intense weathering than the cattle pastoralist paintings
(which in some cases appear extremely fresh). Apparently a considerable time period, perhaps thousands of
years, elapsed between the Wadi Sura paintings and
those made by the cattle pastoralists.
At Jebel Ouenat there are several sites where cattle
pastoralist paintings are found superimposed over older
scenes. The key site is KTW 21/A, where small red cattle
pastoralist figures overlie a giraffe hunting scene attributable to the Miniature style, which is yet over larger
‘Ouenat roundhead’ figures (Fig. 16). There are several
other examples where the Miniature style and ‘Ouenat
roundhead’ paintings are clearly under cattle pastoralist
ones. The combined evidence suggests that the ‘Ouenat
roundhead’ style predates the Miniature style, which in
turn predates the Ouenat cattle pastoralist paintings.
In the key site of the Wadi Wahesh style (WW 52),
there are a number of superimpositions involving cattle
pastoralist scenes over earlier Wadi Wahesh type figures,
Fig. 15 ‘Bird headed’
archer of the cattle pastoralists superimposed on
faint Wadi Sura type figures and giraffe (site WG
72), Wadi Sura environs,
Gilf Kebir.
Fig. 16 The key to the
chronology of the Jebel
Ouenat paintings, a
unique superimposition
sequence of the ‘Ouenat
roundhead’, Miniature
and Cattle pastoralist
(small red figures) styles
(site KTN 21/A), Karkur
Talh, Jebel Ouenat.
also observable in one of the adjacent shelters. Moreover,
there are a couple of ‘Elongated roundhead’ figures in
the same shelter, fortunately with a small overlap with
one of the overlying Wadi Wahesh style figures. Thus the
‘Elongated roundhead’ style predates the Wadi Wahesh
style, which in turn predates the Ouenat cattle pastoralists.
A fortuitous observation made recently at site EH 33
provides the long sought link between the two sequences
(ZBORAY 2012). Using image enhancement software, it is
possible to ascertain that a ‘Ouenat roundhead’ figure
partially overlaps several small ‘Elongated roundhead’
figures, suggesting that the ‘Elongated roundhead’ style
is the earliest of the Ouenat cultural sequence.
The ‘Ouenat roundhead’ sites are consistently among
the faintest and most weathered sites in the Jebel Ouenat
area, and essentially the same may be said of the ‘Elongated roundhead’ paintings. In contrast, the Wadi Wahesh and Miniature style paintings show a moderate
degree of additional weathering in comparison to the cattle pastoralist paintings, and some well protected shelters
show very good preservation (comparable or better than
that exhibited by the Wadi Sura paintings in more
favoured locations). Overall the relative weathering patterns support the conclusions derived from the superimpositions, and point towards a substantially greater age
for the ‘Ouenat roundheads’ and the ‘Elongated roundheads’ than for the cattle pastoralists. The Miniature and
Wadi Wahesh styles occupy a period in-between with
their relative positions at present not clearly established.
There is no direct evidence linking the relative
chronological position of the Wadi Sura paintings with
any of the pre-pastoralist styles at Jebel Ouenat. However, the circumstantial evidence suggests that the Wadi
Sura paintings may temporally overlap or immediately
pre-date the Wadi Wahesh style, with the earlier phases
of Wadi Sura possibly extending back in time to the ‘Ouenat roundhead’ and ‘Elongated roundhead’ styles (Fig.
17).
GILF KEBIR
J E B E L O U E NAT
late
Cattle pastoralists
Miniature
style
Wadi Wahesh
style
early
‘Ouenat roundhead’
style
Wadi Sura
‘Elongated roundhead’
style
Fig. 17 Chronology chart showing the relative sequence of rock art styles in the Jebel Ouenat–Gilf Kebir region. The solid lines indicate superimpositions;
the dashed line refers to indications provided by relative weathering patterns.
22
András Zboray
Fig. 19 Lion hunt (site
KT 86/B), Karkur Talh,
Jebel Ouenat.
Fig. 18 ‘Headless beast’ with a feline-like body over a negative handprint
(note missing digit; site WG 45/A), near Wadi Sura, Gilf Kebir.
Fig. 20 Animal with possible feline attributes
touched by human figures
(site HP 21/B), Hassanein
Plateau, Jebel Ouenat.
Felines in the regional rock art repertoire
One of the key diagnostic elements of the Wadi Sura
paintings is the strange, apparently composite ‘headless
beast’, practically all examples of which show an upward
curving tail with a tuft at the end, characteristic of large
felines. In many examples the entire body of the animal
appears distinctly feline (Fig. 18). Their prominent position in the Wadi Sura iconography (cf. Förster & Kuper,
this volume) warrants an examination of other feline representations in the Gilf Kebir–Jebel Ouenat region for
possible analogies.
The four described pre-pastoral painting styles in the
Jebel Ouenat region, possibly contemporary with the
Wadi Sura paintings, have no comparable depictions. The
only paintings clearly depicting large felines are seen in
later cattle pastoralist paintings. In two shelters opposite
each other in the upper main valley of Karkur Talh, two
scenes appear to represent a lion hunt (KT 86/B & KT
88/E). In both cases the hunted animals are very indistinct, but the curved tails are clearly indicative of large
felines, probably lions. In the first case the animal is
densely covered with arrows and surrounded by archers
(Fig. 19). There is a third scene (KTW 27/A) with possible
similar interpretation; in this case the animal lacking a
head is in some way echoing the Wadi Sura beasts.
A unique scene at site HP 21/B on the top of the Hassanein Plateau, one of the highest regions of Jebel Ouenat,
requires special mention. It shows a difficult to identify
animal with possible feline attributes, being surounded
and touched by small human figures (Fig. 20). There is a
smaller less distinct adjacent scene with similar content.
The cattle pastoralist nature of these depictons is confirmed by a nearby panel with similar human figures accompanied by goats. There are no analogies of any sort
among the hundreds of other known cattle pastoralist
sites, however, this scene is eerily reminescent of the
many scenes in the ‘Cave of Beasts’, where a number of
small figures surround and touch a headless beast (Fig.
21). Naturally, a single example is insufficient to draw
any meaningful conclusions, however, it is not inconceivable that some elements of the beliefs surrounding the
abstract Wadi Sura iconography passed on to the succeeding cattle pastoralist society.
Fig. 21 ‘Headless beast’
surrounded and touched
by human figures (site
WG 21, ‘Cave of Beasts’),
Wadi Sura, Gilf Kebir.
The origins of ancient Egyptian religion ?
It must be mentioned that certain authors (e.g., LE QUELLEC 2008, D’HUY & LE
QUELLEC 2009; BÁRTA 2010) compared some elements of the Wadi Sura paint-
ings with elements of the dynastic Egyptian iconography, and professed to see the
origins of ancient Egyptian religion in the Wadi Sura paintings (cf. Förster &
Kuper, this volume). However, the basis of such conclusions was the process of
taking isolated elements out of context from both cultures, and only treating the
similarities, while ignoring the differences and the lack of any systemic relationship within the remaining corpus of evidence. To confirm such cultural link would
require evidence for a systemic evolution of a number of cultural elements across
the whole chronological sequence, not just from one isolated and temporally far
displaced sample. It is the firm opinion of the author that there is no demonstrable
link between Wadi Sura (or any of the discussed other prehistoric cultures of the
central Libyan Desert) and the Nile Valley. This is not to say that such a link is
entirely inconceivable; however, at present there is no evidence to support it.
Wadi Sura in the context of regional rock art
23
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References and photo credits
Photo credits
Frobenius-Institut, Frankfurt: p. 13, fig. 3; p. 14, figs. 5, 6; p. 24,
fig. 1,1 (copy DIAFE XII, 1935, slightly modified)
British Museum, London: p. 25, fig. 5 (BM 1852,0525.1.3 / AN753627,
slightly modified)
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York: p. 27, fig. 7 (photo on
bottom left; MMA Rogers Fund, 1930: 30.3.24; reproduced
from BÁRTA 2010: fig. 18/3, slightly modified)
Fantasy Records, San Francisco: p. 14, fig. 7, right
Massimo Foggini: p. 17, fig. 12
Karin Kindermann: p. 69, fig. 8
Beatrix Kuper: p. 27, fig. 8,2; p. 28, fig. 3; p. 29, fig. 4,1; p. 66, fig. 1
Jolana Malátková: p. 27, fig. 7 (drawing on top left; reproduced from
BÁRTA 2010: fig. 18/2)
Michael Turtle (www.timetravelturtle.com): p. 27, fig. 8,1
Lucie Vařeková: p. 26, fig. 6 (insert; reproduced from BÁRTA 2010:
fig. 13)
Oliver Vogels: p. 68, fig. 6
Uffz. Wöhrmann: p. 14, fig. 7, left (cf. GROSS et al. 2013: 167)
Unless otherwise indicated in the captions, all remaining photographs, drawings, etc. in this volume are by members of the Wadi
Sura team.