Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-2pzkn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-09T10:01:08.123Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Dancing girls and insect-headed gods: results of the rock art recording project in the Wadi al-Hayat, Fazzan, 2006

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 March 2015

Tertia Barnett*
Affiliation:
Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historic Monuments of Scotland, Edinburgh, UK

Abstract

The 2006 rock art survey continued the systematic identification and recording of rock art panels in the Wadi al-Hayat, started in 2004–5. Over 350 carved panels, comprising well over 1000 engraved images, were recorded and added to the digital database for the project. Anecdotal accounts of rock paintings were also followed up, and some meaningful observations were made.

As the concentration of known carvings in the wadi grows, trends in their content and distribution begin to demonstrate some interesting patterns. Detailed analysis of the distribution patterns is currently hampered by an unreliable chronological sequence, and discoveries this season have cast doubt on the validity of the established sequence for this area, with wider implications for Saharan rock art.

Type
Archaeological Reports
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Libyan Studies 2006

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Barnett, T. F. 2001. Recent discoveries of rock-art in Libya. International Newsletter on Rock-Art 30: 914.Google Scholar
Barnett, T. F. 2002. Rock-art, landscape and cultural transition in the Wadi al-Ajal, Libyan Fezzan. Libyan Studies 33: 7183.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barnett, T. F. 2005. Patterns on the rocks: report on recent work to survey rock art sites in the Wadi al-Hayat, Fezzan. Libyan Studies 36: 121134.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Le Quellec, J.-L. 1985. New rock engravings at Wadi-Buzna (Wadi-L-Ajal), Libya. Bulletin of the French Prehistoric Society 82.4: 120–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Le Quellec, J.-L. 2004. Rock art in Africa: mythology and legend, Paris.Google Scholar
Mattingly, D., Daniels, C. M., Dore, J. N., Edwards, D., and Hawthorne, J. (eds). 2003. The Archaeology of Fazzan. Vol I, Synthesis. Society for Libyan Studies Monograph 5, Society for Libyan Studies/Department of Antiquities, London/Tripoli.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mattingly, D., McLaren, S., Savage, E., al-Fasatwi, Y., and Gadgood, K. 2006. Conference Resolutions and a Sahara Code for Libya. In Mattingly, D., MacLaren, S., Savage, E., al-Fasatwi, Y. and Gadgood, K. (eds), The Libyan Desert. Natural resources and cultural heritage, Society for Libyan Studies Monograph 6, London: 331334.Google Scholar
Mori, F. 1968. The absolute chronology of Saharan prehistoric art. In Perelló, E. Ripoll (ed.), Simposio Internacional del Arte Rupestre, Barcelona 1966, Barcelona: 291–4.Google Scholar
Muzzolini, A. 1988. Le ‘Style de Tazina’: definition, extension, signification de ses figurations les plus meridionales (Fezzan, Tassili, Djado, Air). Prehistoire Ariegeoise 43: 179201.Google Scholar
Pesce, A. 1968. Rock carvings in Wadi Bouzna, Wadi el-Ajal valley, Fezzan. Libya Antiqua 5: 109–12.Google Scholar