587

Site
Site name
RA01/61
Toponym(s) of the site

In Ehed II

Description

A rock shelter (In Ehed II) along the right bank of the innermost course of the Wadi In Ehed, a right branch of the Wadi Teshuinat near four other sites with rock evidence (from Site ID 586 to 590). The rear wall of the shelter contains several paintings including two isolated white and red pictograms representing an ostrich and a cow and a key Pastoral scene reproduced on one of the chipboard panels in the Mori Collection. It likely represents a hunting or ceremonial scene with an elephant on the left and a group of four humans on the right. The red-contoured humans might represent a child (on the left) and three adults wearing headdresses and skirts. At least two of them hold bow and arrows. The first human on the left, now believed to represent a child, had not been previously documented. The state of conservation is critical; the older paintings are almost invisible to the naked eye owing to natural processes (erosion and exfoliation) and anthropogenic actions (wettings). The archaeological deposit is partially preserved. On the ground, there are various blocks with grooves and scatterings of archaeological materials (pottery sherds).