523

Site
Site name
RA01/86
Toponym(s) of the site

Maharalgeli VII

Description

AA shallow rock shelter located on the intermediate position above the left bank of the Wadi Maharalgeli at the confluence with the Wadi In Taharin. The shelter’s back wall, partially covered by fallen boulders, was decorated with pictograms and petroglyphs. Some of the paintings were reproduced on a composite chipboard panel in the Mori Collection. The left part of the shelter contains a pecked wavy double line (over seven meters long) possibly representing a snake that was apparently executed when the wall was already damaged. The paintings reproduced on the composite panel are those lo- cated to the right of the wall. Unfortunately, their conservation state is quite ruinous owing to natural phenomena and anthropogenic actions mostly related to their reproduction (wetting and tracing with graphite). The main scene includes a white and red herd depicted in the Uan Tabu style and composed of at least thirty young and adult subjects in various poses distributed on three walls. A group of cattle is depicted in the center, about 2 meters above the ground. On the panel’s right end side, a painted giraffe and several eroded carvings are barely visible. On the ground there are various blocks with engravings and grooves and scatterings of archaeological materials (ostrich eggshells beads, grinding equipment, and pottery sherds).