New Discovered Rock Art Shows The Sahara Was A Radically Different Place 4,000 Years Ago

PUBLISHED
3 days ago

TOM HALE
Senior Journalist
Edited
by
Maddy Chapman



A painting of a cow alongside that of a human found in a Sudanese rock shelter suggests the Sahara was radically different in millennia gone by.

Image credit: Julien Cooper

Written on the walls of sites in the Atbai Desert in Eastern Sudan, prehistoric rock art tells the story of a very distant past. While the region today is achingly arid, the artwork implies it was once a lush, green land filled with water, pastures, and animal life.

Remarkably, the artwork only dates to around 4,000 years ago, suggesting this part of the Sahara Desert underwent a rapid and radical change in just the past few millennia.

In their new study, archaeologists at Macquarie University describe the discovery of 16 rock art sites in the deserts around Wadi Halfa, a city in northern Sudan near the border with Egypt.

Among the many figures depicted in the art, the researchers found illustrations of humans, antelopes, elephants, and giraffes. There was also the recurrent appearance of cattle – which is pretty astonishing when you consider the current hyper-arid climate of the Atbai Desert.

More:
https://www.iflscience.com/rock-art-shows-the-sahara-was-a-radically-different-place-4000-years-ago-74114