digital photograph(colour)
- Museum number
- 2013,2034.6053
- Description
-
Digital photograph (colour); view of desert landscape, with a palm tree growing by a dam and the Atlas foothills at the background. Draa valley, Morocco.
Scanned
- Production date
-
22 October 2010 (date digitized)
-
March 1998 (original photograph)
- Dimensions
-
File size: 69.90 megabytes
-
Resolution: 300 dots per inch
- Curator's comments
- This photograph is part of the Rock Art Image Project Archive and was taken by David Coulson during his trip to Morocco in 1998.
See 2013,2034.5238 to 2013,2034.5947 for the rock art images.
The photograph shows a landscape near the Draa valley, Morocco’s longest river (1100 km). The Draa river flows from the High Atlas south-east into the Atlantic Ocean, although the lower part of the course falls dry most of the year. Along the river course an in the nearby areas at least 120 rock art sites have been documented, being by far the biggest concentration of rock art in Morocco. Engravings (only a score of painted rock art sites have been documented in Morocco insofar) consist mostly in wild animals –including ostriches, lions or rhinoceros- and cattle, along with depictions of warriors on horses and camels. The classification of Moroccan rock art is slightly different from that of the Sahara, consisting on three main periods: Tazina, Cattle (Saharan Pastoral period) and Libyan-Berber (Saharan Horse and Camel periods). The first mentions of the Draa valley rock art date from the late 19th century, but it was after the treaty of Fes in 1912 when a true interest for the subject arise, especially among the authorities of the new created French Protectorate. However, it wasn’t until the 1960s onwards when a systematic research started thanks to the efforts of A. Simoneau, who in 1977 published a catalogue of the rock art sites of this area that still remains as the most comprehensive approach to the subject.
- Location
- Not on display
- Acquisition date
- 2013
- Department
- Africa, Oceania and the Americas
- Registration number
- 2013,2034.6053
- Additional IDs
-
Previous owner/ex-collection number: MORATMNAS0023 (TARA number)
