The Tassili n Ajjer National Park (80,000 sq km
in extent), one of the richest rock-art areas on
earth, is situated in the southeast of Algeria
(see Map). In the southwest, the park borders
the Ahaggar National Park and in the east
and south it borders protected areas in Libya
and Niger. Tassili n Ajjer is a Tamahaq name
meaning ‘plateau’ of the Ajjer people, the
name of the Kel Ajjer group of tribes whose
traditional territory was here. It is a vast, sandstone
tableland, its surface now heavily eroded
and cut by deep gorges with permanent water
pools in the north , and sandstone
forests of clustered, rock pillars and
some 300 rock arches in the southeast .
Four species of fish survive in the pools and
a variety of plants in the gorges includes 250
Saharan cypress (Cupressus dupreziana) known
locally as Tarouts; one of the rarest plants on
earth the Tassili cypress is an endemic
species which only exists on the Tassili. It is
also one of the oldest trees in the world after
the barbed pine (Pinus aristata) in the USA.
In addition to the living trees there are 150
dead Tarouts on the Tassili. Most large animal
species have disappeared, but Barbary sheep
(mouflon), gazelle, hyrax, wild cats and possibly
cheetah are still present. There are over 15,000 rock paintings and engravings in the
gorges and in the shelters of the sandstone
forests (Hachid, 1998) although the true figure
is hard to estimate. Until 1960, the shelters
were strewn with Neolithic artefacts, ceramic
pots and potsherds, stone arrowheads, bowls
and grinders, beads and jewellery. Sadly, researchers
and tourists have removed most of
these artefacts (Keenan, 2002).
Today, the park director, the senior research
officer, wardens and guides are stationed in
Djanet, a small town north of the Niger border.
Other offices with wardens and guides are
located throughout the Tassili, especially at
Bordj, el-Haouas (Zaouatanllaz), Eherir, Afara
and Illizi. This short paper mainly explores
the rock art.
Background
By the early 20th century the Tassili’s rock art
was already known to the outside world. In
the 1930s, French legionnaires visited the art
and Lt. Brenans made numerous sketches and
notes between 1933 and 1940 which he submitted
to the director of the Bardo Museum
in Algiers, Maurice Reygasse, who sent them
to the famous prehistorian, the Abbé, Henri
Bréuil in France (Keenan, 2002). On several
expeditions undertaken in the 1930s, Brenans
took Henri Lhote, a French archaeologist, to
the Tassili where he and some Kel Ajjer Tuareg
guided Lhote through the stone forests and
introduced him to the art. Lhote returned in
1956-1957, 1959, 1962 and 1970 with different
recording teams.
Henri Lhote was a romantic: Today, some of
his theories are considered to be controversial,
if not questionable. His team was also accused
of ‘faking’ images (Lajoux, 1962; Soleilhavoup,
1978; Hachid, 1998; Keenan, 2002). Unfortunately,
during recording campaigns paintings
were sponged down to make them brighter
for tracing and photography resulting in serious
damage and colours being reduced to a
travesty of their original splendour (Hachid,
1998; Keenan, 2002).
Lhote’s subsequent book, The Search for
the Tassili Frescoes, and an exhibition of large
reproductions held in1957-58 at the Louvre,
Paris put African rock art on the world map,
publicising it as ‘fine art’ rather than ‘primitive
art’.
Finally in 1972, part of the area was declared
a National Park.
Changing climate
and human responses
Between 12th and 7th centuries BP (Before the
Present), Central Sahara’s climate was moist;
rivers flowed out of the mountains into the
surrounding plains forming a mosaic of savannah
and woodland interspersed by waterways
and lakes. Wildlife was prolific and included
elephant, rhinoceros and hippopotamus as
well as numerous predators, giraffe and plains
animals such as antelope and gazelle (Brooks
et al, 2005). Some 12,000 years before the
present, hunter-gatherers, some of whom also
fished, entered the area, mainly from the south
but also from the east, probably following the
monsoon rains as they expanded northwards
(Brooks et al, 2005).
Pottery found in Niger’s nearby Aïr Mountains
has been dated to 11,500 BP, the most
ancient pottery ever discovered, along with
the Jomon civilisation of Japan. About 7,000
BP, domestic cattle as well as sheep and goats,
first appeared in the Central Sahara, possibly
brought in from the Middle East or by
Nilotic peoples from the southeast (Brooks et
al, 2005). Some researchers also believe that
the indigenous African aurochs may have been
domesticated in the Sahara. At this time some
Saharans adopted a pastoral lifestyle, while
others continued to hunt and gather.
The wet phase was not to last; by 6,000 BP
the Sahara had become much drier; rivers and
lakes began to disappear and what woodland
was left gave way to scrub savannah. By 4,500
BP, many people had taken their livestock and
moved south and southeast following the retreating
tsetse belt. Wild animal populations
changed: hippo disappeared, elephant and
rhino became scarce, and animals requiring
little water, giraffe, antelope, gazelle and
ostrich, inhabited the plains.
Rock Art
Researchers estimate there are at least 15,000
individual rock-art pictures in the Park, the
earliest dating tentatively to 12,000 or more
years ago (Mori, 1998). There are however
two major schools of thought regarding the
chronology and further differences of opinion
within these schools. These are the Early/Long
chronology (10,000/12,000 BP) proposed by
Fabrizio Mori, Henri Lhote and Malika Hachid
and the Recent/Short chronology (6,000 BP)
proposed by Alfred Muzzolini and Jean-Loïc Le
Quellec. The art itself comprises paintings and
engravings on exposed rock faces, and includes
pictures of wild and domestic animals, humans,
geometric designs, Libyc and Tifinagh inscriptions
(ancient and recent Tuareg/Berber script)
and a very few plants and trees. Many scenes
exist, but these lack background details such
as hills, rivers and foregrounds to draw images
together: probably the earlier paintings and
engravings are all symbolic. While many images
reflect large animals such as elephant,
giraffe, ostrich and lion, almost certainly they
were not drawn for art’s sake. Compositions
may depict huge animals with tiny men ,
men with animal heads and dog-headed men
involved with large animals
Engraved
spirals are often associated with animals
and sometimes with people. Even painted
camp scenes with naturalistic cattle, people
and objects must have held meaning for the
artists (Holl, 2004).