meanwhile in the past before ancient where there is nothing ) -These amazing engravings were drawn, long before ancient Egypt as we know it existed! They can be found in the heart of what is now the Tenere (Ténéré desert), in northern Niger, one of the Sahara’s most desolate regions. Tenere, literally means - ‘where there is nothing’ - is a vast area occupying thousands of miles and covered with sand dunes, rugged rocks and mountains that can be 3,400 m (11,000 feet) high. It is the heart of the Sahara. The Tuareg people inhabit a large area covering almost all the middle and western Sahara and for over two millenia, they operated the trans-Saharan caravan trade route connecting the great cities on the southern edge of the Sahara via five desert trade routes to the northern coast of Africa. Water is a true gift because only 100 mm rainfall is registered in Sahara annually, but the Sahara was not always like this. Long long ago, it was a fertile and green country. About 6,000-8,000 years ago, the rainfall was abundant, and Sahara flourished. Both archaeological and geological evidence reveal this fact because life in the region today known as the Sahara, evolved for millennia ago. Ancient rock art sites discovered in the Sahara give an evidence of rich flora and fauna that existed in the place where there is nothing today. The carvings are 20 feet in height and consist of two life-size giraffes meticulously carved into the Dabous Rock. One large male, which is more than 18 feet tall, was carved in front of a smaller female. Both were engraved side by side on the sandstone affected by time and weather. They were first found and recorded in 1987 by Christian Dupuy, a French amateur archaeologist who made his discovery on the top of a granite hill the slopes of the Air Mountains. The first photographs of the two giraffes appeared in the mid 1980s, are estimated to be between 7,000 and 10,000 years old. Who were these prehistoric creators of gigantic engravings? There are traces of two populations of Neolithic settlers, who could have lived in the area, namely the Kiffians and the Tenerians. These two groups of Sahara dwellers had lived more than a thousand years apart. The Kiffians, who lived on the shore of a large, shallow freshwater lake surrounded by savannah. They hunted wild animals and fished in the nearby lakes and lived from about 10,000 to 8,000 years ago. When the Sahara entered a dry period about 8000 years ago, the Kiffians vanished. They were replaced by another group of nomadic occupants, the Tenerians, who lived from approximately 6,500 to 4,500 years ago, and hunted fish, wildlife and herded cattle. Saharas savanna, stretching for hundreds or even thousands of miles disappeared but the carvings survived. Today, the Tuaregs and their camels live in the area, and the Sahara is dry and barren once again. This nomadic culture is not responsible the giraffe engravings and thousands of other depictions from prehistoric times were already there when the Tuaregs came. None of the prehistoric arrow heads, stone axe heads or other simple tools, found on the shores of an extinct Sahara lake were used to carve life-size animal figures of the Tenere Desert. Neither the Kiffians nor the Tenerians were responsible for the engravings which are on top of a 50 ft high outcrop of rock and about 300 yards in extent. A painting found in South Africa depicts a giraffe with its head above the clouds and rain falling upon it. A painting in Namibia shows a giraffes head and neck emerging from a cloud. A painting in Algeria depicts a tiny giraffe with a long neck like a tornado going into a cloud, David Coulson, chairman of the Trust for African Rock Art said. Apparently, the giraffe was thought to be possessed of special powers... It is not known why the giraffe depictions are so large; smaller ones have been found throughout Africa. And first of all, who the artists were is a mystery... The carvings were drawn by people during the “huntergatherer” period in Africa’s history, some scientists say. We have absolutely no idea, who made these carvings, others say. The first photographs of the two giraffes appeared in the mid 1980s. The myths from both sides of the African continent told of gods, the great kings who came from the sky. They arrived from space to meet people on Earth and they stayed to create great kingdoms and rich city states of West Africa. There is much more than only myths.. Very long time ago, a great civilization existed in the heart of the Sahara. This civilization is hidden under thick layers of the Saharas sand and we unfortunately, cannot find their traces. Did these very ancient sophisticated people know that Sahara would turn into a desert in near future? messagetoeagle/girtenerafrica.php#.VLhUKMlAqSo
Posted on: Fri, 16 Jan 2015 00:03:04 +0000
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