72

Site
Site name
RA05/12
Description

A rock shelter located at the intermediate level of an isolate inselberg, above one of the wadis near the Wadi Adad. It belongs to a cluster of thirteen sites on the northeastern side of the massif that includes Site IDs 68, 69, and from Site ID 72 to 82. This site contains several panels with paintings and petroglyphs, including Horse/Bitriangular, Camel, and Modern Camel motifs and scenes. In front of the shelter, there is a concentration of large fallen boulders that contain nearly invisible pecked or carved petroglyphs. The petroglyphs seem to represent mainly zoomorphic motifs (camels, small giraffes), and pecked geometric signs. The shelter wall contains exclusively paintings in different styles, partially overlapped. Some of the paintings were heavily retouched and the poor conservation state of the pigments precludes any reconstruction of the original figurative structure. At least four different layers of paintings are identifiable. The first layer contains white paintings depicting: elongated human figures probably riding white horses at the top of the panel; stylized domestic cattle and possibly two dogs at the bottom. The second layer consists of red figures representing right-facing galloping horses painted over the white humans. Of the red horses, the three on the right are visible, while the other two are extremely faded and can only be seen with DStretch® enhancing. Additional red patches are visible all over the panel but unfortunately cannot be decoded. The third layer includes, on the right, faded white paintings that represent a couple of humans carrying a shield. Several scarcely visible white Tifinagh characters located at the right end of the main panel, also belonging to the same layer. The fourth layer contains clearly visible white paintings, including a couple of humans facing each other, carrying elongated objects (possibly weapons), and standing near to possible shields (rounded shaped with a long stick). The scene might represent a copy of the faded ones on the left end side of the wall. The fourth layer also includes, in the center of the panel, a big, white geometric camel with a rider holding the reins and, at the top, a white horse among the faded red ones. Further paintings were added in more recent times: a white human on the left, possibly a copy of a couple of fighting humans; a possible re-drawing of one of the cattle at the bottom of the panel; and a roughly schematic zoomorphic figure at the bottom right. A dark red Tuareg saddle is depicted in the center of the panel.