- Museum number
- 2013,2034.3063
- Description
-
Digital photograph (colour); view of engraved rock art on two rock face (sandstone), including landscape. The engravings show a human figure, a buffalo, four ostriches, six camels and three Libyan-Berber graffiti. Rock face to the left, centre: outlined (polished) buffalo upright facing right, curved upturned horns. Right to the buffalo, outlined (polished) ostrich upright facing right, several small cupules inside (eggs?). Rightmost: two outlined (pecked) ostriches upright facing right. Lower right: pecked stick style human figure and two camels upright facing left. Leftmost: outlined (pecked) ostrich upright facing right, tail partially infilled (pecked). Under buffalo: two Libyan-Berber graffiti. Rock face to the right: four stick style camels upright facing right, squared shapes on backs (packages? Howdah?). A Libyan-Berber sign to the right of the camels. Wadi Beddis, Libya.
Scanned
- Production date
-
01 March 2008 (date digitized)
-
March 1998 (original photograph)
- Dimensions
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File size: 57.40 megabytes
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Resolution: 300 dots per inch
- Curator's comments
- Group of engravings corresponding to several chronological periods. The big buffalo and the ostrich to the right correspond to the Bubalus period, while the rest of ostriches have a later chronology. The graffiti in Libyan-Berber graffiti, the schematic human figure and the camels correspond to the Camel period, and thus they have a modern chronology (from 2.000 years ago onwards). The bigger ostrich has several cupules that could try to depict eggs.
The engravings are located near Wadi Beddis (or Geddis) Isar, at the northern Messak Plateau (Messak Settafet). Wadi Beddis is one of the many dry riverbeds that run east into the Murzuq erg in southwest Libya, near the borders between Algeria and Niger. The Messak, which runs southwest-northeast through the Libyan province of Fezzan, is divided in two by the Tilemsin pass, which defines two smaller plateaus (Settafet to the north and Mellet to the south). Although located to the north of the main area of engravings around the wadis Tilizaghen and Mathendous, its rock art engravings share similar features, as the distribution of depictions on vertical rocks along the wadi and the styles documented within it, mostly Bubalus, Pastoral, Tazina, Horse and Camel periods. Depictions include buffaloes, elephants, ostriches, rhinos and giraffes, along with domestic animals as camel and cows and human figures.
The Messak rock art has been known since Heinrich Barth’s expedition in 1850, although it wasn’t until 1932 when the engravings were systematically studied by Leo Frobenius. In more recent times the area has been extensively studied by Pesce (1969), Graziosi (1970) and Jelinek (1984, 1985). Figures appear both isolated and within complex scenes which include engraved life-size elephants, giraffes, crocodiles, buffaloes and figures which mix human and animal features (therianthropes) along with numerous figures of more modern periods as horses and camels. Most of the engravings belong to the so called Bubalus style, but Tazina, Pastoral, Horse and Camel styles are also well represented. Research at Wadi Beddis and its tributaries began later with respect to the core area around the Tilizaghen and the Mathendous wadis, with the first works taking place in the 80’s by Jelinek, Castiglioni and Negro.
- Location
- Not on display
- Acquisition date
- 2013
- Department
- Africa, Oceania and the Americas
- Registration number
- 2013,2034.3063
- Additional IDs
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Previous owner/ex-collection number: LIBMES0150040 (TARA number)