Ancient wall markings of wild animals uncovered in South Aswan

Pre-Dynastic wall markings have been uncovered in Subeira Valley near Aswan

By Nevine El-Aref , Wednesday 4 Oct 2017

During an archaeological survey in the desert of Subeira Valley, south Aswan, an Egyptian archaeological mission from the Ministry of Antiquities stumbled upon pre-Dynastic rock markings.

Photo courtesy of Ahram Online

Mostafa Waziri, secretary-general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, explained that the markings can be dated to the late pre-Dynastic era, and were found engraved on sandstone rocks. They depict scenes of troops of renowned animals at that time, such as hippopotamuses, wild bulls and donkeys, as well as gazelles. Markings showing workshops for the production of tools and instruments were also found on some of the rocks.

Nasr Salama, director general of Aswan and Nubia Antiquities, described the newly discovered markings as "unique and rare" in Egypt. He pointed out that similar markings were previously uncovered at sites in Al-Qarta and Abu Tanqoura, north of Komombo town.

"These markings helped archaeologists to determine the exact dating of the newly discovered ones in Subeira Valley," Salama asserted. He added that 10 new sections of wall markings at around 15,000 years old had been discovered.

Adel Kelani described the discovery as important because it dates to the same period of markings founds in caves in southern France, Spain and Italy, which confirms the idea that art and civilisation during that time spread from Africa to Europe and not vice versa.

Source: http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/9/40/278221/Heritage/Ancient-Egypt/Ancient-wall-markings-of-wild-animals-uncovered-in.aspx

Yale archaeologists discover earliest monumental Egyptian hieroglyphs

By Bess Connolly Martell

Photo courtesy of YaleNews

A joint Yale and Royal Museums of Art and History (Brussels) expedition to explore the the ancient Egyptian city of Elkab has uncovered some previously unknown rock inscriptions, which include the earliest monumental hieroglyphs dating back around 5,200 years.

These new inscriptions were not previously recorded by any expedition and are of great significance in the history of the ancient Egyptian writing systems, according to Egyptologist John Coleman Darnell, professor in Yale's Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at Yale, who co-directs the Elkab Desert Survey Project.

“This newly discovered rock art site of El-Khawy preserves some of the earliest — and largest — signs from the formative stages of the hieroglyphic script and provides evidence for how the ancient Egyptians invented their unique writing system,” says Darnell.

The researchers also discovered rock art depicting a herd of elephants that was carved between 4,000-3,500 B.C.E. One of the elephants has a little elephant inside of it, which, according to Darnell, “is an incredibly rare way of representing a pregnant female animal.”

The archaeologists also identified a panel of four signs, created circa 3,250 B.C.E. and written right to left — the dominant writing direction in later Egyptian texts — portraying animal images of a bull’s head on a short pole followed by two back-to-back saddlebill storks with a bald ibis bird above and between them. The arrangement of symbols is common in later Egyptian representations of the solar cycle and with the concept of luminosity. “These images may express the concept of royal authority over the ordered cosmos,” says Darnell.

Neolithic rock art discovered in Egypt

The depictions feature an artistic marriage between Egyptian iconography and stylistics and pre-Egyptian method and motif.

By Brooks Hays   |   March 22, 2017 

March 22 (UPI) -- Newly discovered rock art may offer a link between the Neolithic period and Ancient Egyptian culture.

Photocredit: David Sabel/University of Bonn

The ritualistic engravings were discovered by Egyptologists at the University of Bonn and dated to the 4th millennium BC. The art features a series of small dots -- similar to pointillism -- depicting hunting scenes. Researchers suggest the scenes recall shamanistic art found elsewhere.

Scientists found the engravings while excavating a necropolis near Aswan, a city of ancient origins situated on the Nile in southeastern Egypt.

The necropolis, Qubbet el-Hawa, home to more than 80 burial mounds, has offered archaeologists a wealth of Egyptian artifacts through the decades, but the latest find is unique.

Previous discoveries showcased the lives of noble Egyptians living between 2200 and the 4th century BC. The rock engravings are much older.

"Style and iconography provide solid clues when dating these," Ludwig Morenz, head of the Egyptology department at Bonn, said in a news release. "It opens up a new archeological dimension."

Researchers suggest the depictions feature an artistic marriage between Egyptian iconography and stylistics and pre-Egyptian method and motif. The indentations are worn with age, but a close examination revealed three figures: a hunter with a bow, a shaman-like man dancing with his arms raised and, in between, an African ostrich.

"The archer clearly shows hunting for the large flightless bird, while the man with raised arms can be identified as a hunt dancer," explained Morenz.

Scientists say the hunt dancer appears to be sporting a bird mask. Similar shamanistic hunting depictions, featuring female dancers and bird masks were discovered at Hierakonpolis, an ancient Upper Egyptian city.

"This social practice and the associated complex of ideas have barely been looked at in Egyptology," Morenz concluded. "This opens up new horizons for research."

Source: http://www.upi.com/Science_News/2017/03/22/Neolithic-rock-art-discovered-in-Egypt/9831490190673/

Pharaonic Rock Carvings Found in Egypt

JAN 7, 2015 06:30 PM ET // BY ROSSELLA LORENZI

A rare wall relief showing an unidentified pharaoh has been discovered within the sandstone quarries of Gebel el Silsila, north of Aswan.

Carved into the vertical face of the quarry wall, some 5 feet above the ground, the stela depicts the pharaoh presenting offerings to Thoth, the ancient god of wisdom, and Amun-Ra, the king among gods.

“It’s particularly rare for these two deities to be portrayed together,” Lund University archaeologist Maria Nilsson, director of the Gebel el Silsila Survey Project, told Discovery News.

She added the three figures are rather poorly preserved, although some details can be made out.

“We can see the characteristic double feather crown of Amun-Ra, and the moon disc of the ibis-headed Thoth,” Nilsson said. “Unfortunately, the item presented by the pharaoh is no longer discernible.”

Preliminary study suggests the stela dates to the late dynastic period, perhaps the Third Intermediate Period, which began with the death of pharaoh Ramesses XI in 1070 B.C. and ended with the foundation of the Twenty-Sixth Dynasty by Psamtik I in 664 BC.

Readable inscriptions on the stela are merely titles of the gods, “Amun-Ra, King of the Gods, Lord of (-)”, and “Thoth, Twice Great, Lord of (-)”.

Discovering the artists of the Eastern Sahara

The identification of rock art found in Farafra as Neolithic adds substance to the argument that Egypt drew on cultural influences from Africa as well as the Near East.  At a talk tonight (19 May, 2014) archaeologist Dr Giulio Lucarini will talk about his fieldwork in the Egyptian Western Desert and show images of newly-identified Neolithic drawings to a public audience for the first time.

Recently discovered rock art on the walls of a cave in the Egyptian Western Desert has been provisionally dated by a Cambridge University archaeologist as between 6,000 and 7,000 years old, created at least 1,000 years before the building of the pyramids. The drawings add weight to the argument that Egyptian culture drew on cultural influences from Africa and not only from the Near East.

Spotted by a tourist to Wadi el Obeiyid, north of Farafra Oasis, drawings of a giraffe, a bovid (cow-like mammal) and two boats, plus the outline of a human hand, were examined last month by Dr Giulio Lucarini who co-leads a team of archaeologists looking at the pathways, and timings, by which domestic animals and plants from the Levant arrived in Egypt. The engravings are thought to have been discovered in 2010. The onset of revolution in Egypt meant that they were not investigated for some time.

Based at the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research at Cambridge University, Lucarini is an expert in the transition from foraging to farming in North Africa. With Professor Barbara Barich of ISMEO in Rome, he is co-director of a project (the Archaeological Mission in the Farafra Oasis) that has been studying the archaeology of this region of the Eastern Sahara since the late 1980s.

Ancient Spider Rock Art Sparks Archaeological Mystery

By Owen Jarus, LiveScience Contributor   |   December 20, 2013

Archaeologists have discovered a panel containing the only known example of spider rock art in Egypt and, it appears, the entire Old World.

The rock panel, now in two pieces, was found on the west wall of a shallow sandstone wadi, or valley, in the Kharga Oasis, located in Egypt's western desert about 108 miles (175 kilometers) west of Luxor. Facing east, and illuminated by the morning sun, the panel is a "very unusual" find, said Egyptologist Salima Ikram, a professor at the American University in Cairo who co-directs the North Kharga Oasis Survey Project.

The identification of the creatures as spiders is tentative and the date of it uncertain, Ikram told LiveScience in an email. Even so, based on other activity in the area, the rock art may date to about 4000 B.C. or earlier, which would put it well into prehistoric times, before Egypt was unified, noted Ikram, who detailed the finding in the most recent edition of the journal Sahara.

The main panel shows what appear to be a few spiders, with a "star" that's possibly meant to depict a web next to the spider on the far left. There are also comblike drawings that are more enigmatic; Ikram said they could be insects being trapped by the spiders, plants or even silken tubes spun by the spiders.