Tadrart Akukas - Libya The massif of Tadrart Acacus, a vast mountainous region (more than 250 square km) which is today a desert, is situated in the Fezzan, to the east of the city of Ghat, bordering Algeria. The area is renowned for its diverse topography and landscape formations, from differently coloured sand dunes to arches, gorges, isolated rocks and deep ravines or wadis (dry river beds). Paintings and engravings of various styles are scattered throughout almost all the valleys. The landscape is particularly rich in rock art and was designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1985 because of the significance of the rock paintings and engravings. Sporadically visited since the end of 19th century and at the beginning of the 20th century, the region became the subject of systematic investigation by Fabrizio Mori, who also published the first scientific papers on its rock art (1961), including a monograph (1965). In the late 1930s Paolo Graziosi formulated some initial interpretative hypotheses. Since then, the research has expanded to include a systematic survey of the area and stratigraphic excavations of archaeological deposits. Digital photograph (colour); view of painted rock art, detail from lower panel in 2013,2034.650 showing figure in yellow, with upright fringe of hair on round head, legs facing left. Seated woman with breast facing right, wearing white five-strand belt; figure has thin red arms outlined in white, extending to right, holding object (?).White figure (?) superimposes the figure moving to left and the seated figure. White seated figure facing right. Wadi Tanshal, Acacus Mountains, Fezzan District, Libya. Scanned Copyright TARA/ David Coulson 10 March 2008 (Date digitised) 2008 (28 March 2008) britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/search.aspx?images=true&people=197356&page=8
Posted on: Sun, 03 Aug 2014 09:36:50 +0000
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