Nubian Rock Art

Nubian rock art consists of handmade works on rock surfaces that differ significantly from the official images and texts of pharaonic Egypt. The oldest examples of such art are dated to the late Palaeolithic age and the Epipaleolithic Period. These are geometric representations as well as naturalistic depictions of bovids (wild cattle or aurochs), birds, hippopotamuses, gazelles, fish, hartebeest and stylized human figures, dated as far back as 15,000 bce. Similar motifs can be found both in the Nile Valley and in the adjacent desert areas of Upper Egypt and Lower Nubia, indirectly cited as proof of the existence of common cultural traditions in these regions and the notable mobility of contemporary hunter groups. Although Upper Egypt and Lower Nubia as early as the Early Dynastic Period (3200–3050 bce) saw the evolution of rock art from the “Preformal artistic stage” to a “Formal canonical phase” and became standardized and formalized, such a conclusion would be unsuitable for Upper Nubia, in which the evolution of rock art occurred in entirely different cultural circumstances. International activities aimed at rescuing Nubia’s heritage, under the auspices of the Merowe Dam Archaeological Salvage Project (MDASP), has led to the discovery of many sites with rock art and to recording changes that occurred in the cultural landscape of the Fourth Nile Cataract over the course of several thousand years. This has provided reliable foundations for an analysis of the changes to Upper Nubian rock art within its specific archaeological and historical context and environmental setting.