Bubalus Period

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Rock carving of the eponymous bubalus

Bubalus,

ostriches, and rhinoceroses.[3][6]

Classifications

Pastoral, Caballine, Cameline), based on a variety of factors (e.g., art method, organisms, motifs, superimposed).[5]

In 5000 BP, buffalo (Bubalus antiquus) in Africa underwent mass extinction; consequently, the engraved stone portrayals of these macroscopic, undomesticated buffalos in unenclosed rock art zones resulted in them being identified as Bubaline.[5] In contrast, located in enclosed rock art zones, there are engraved Kel Essuf ("spirit of dead" in the Tuareg language) rock art, which portray short-armed, little human artforms with legs and penile appendages.[5]

Chronology

For the rock art of the Sahara, the most contentious among academic debates has remained the topic of chronology.[5] Round Head, Kel Essuf, and Bubaline rock art, as the oldest chronological types, have been regarded as less certain compared to the younger chronological types (e.g., rock art depicting Saharan animals, which could be chronologically approximated to a specific timespan).[5] Consequently, two types of chronologies (i.e., high chronology, low chronology) were developed.[5]

The date for Bubaline rock art was approximated to the late period of the

Qurta rock art of prehistoric Egypt, which portray undomesticated animals, has been estimated to a minimum of 15,000 BP; this has been used as an additional consideration for Bubaline rock art dating much earlier than 10,000 BP.[5]

While the

Round Head rock art of the Central Sahara, the engraved Kel Essuf rock art is regarded to be the artistic precursor to the painted Round Head rock art.[5]

Credence to the high chronology is given via decoratively detailed Saharan ceramics dated to 10,726 BP.

Pastoral Period.[2]

Climate

From 60,000 BP or 40,000 BP to 20,000 BP, the

Aterian culture existed.[5] Between 16th to 15th millennium BP, the environment was humid.[5] From 20,000 BP to 13,000 BP, there was a varied climate system.[5] The high elevated regions with mountains were considerably more wet than low elevated regions without mountains, which led to the variation in climate.[5] Regions of high elevation had occurrences of considerable rainfall, to the extent that lakes developed, whereas, regions of low elevation had occurrences of considerable dryness.[5] Amid the late period of the Pleistocene, with its varied climate system, the mountainous environment remained sufficiently humid, which allowed for animal, plant, and human life to be sustained.[5]

Origins of the Bubaline Rock Art

According to Lhote (1976), the origin of the Bubaline rock art may be found in the activities of the ethnic groups that "occupied, in the Neolithic, the pre-Saharan Atlas, the Constantinois, the Fezzan and the Tassili while these regions benefited from a very humid climate under which the great fauna, known as Ethiopian, could live without difficulty."[7]

Most engraved Bubaline rock art appear in the northern region of Tassili, at

Niger-Congo and Nilo-Saharan linguistic phyla.”[8]

Bubaline Rock Art and Hunter-Gatherers

Bubaline Rock Art

The majority of the rock engravings in the Large Wild Fauna style are located in what is known as the

Tassili N'Ajjer, at Oued Djerat.[3] While engraved Kel Essuf rock art are mostly located in groups on the walls of rockshelters, engraved Bubaline rock art located in unenclosed areas, such as boulders, and broadly distributed throughout such areas.[10] While engraved Kel Essuf rock art is commonly located in the same rockshelters as painted Round Head rock art, engraved Bubaline rock art is not.[10]

The naturalistic depictions of animals were drawn at scale, isolated, and with a demonstrated deliberateness that indicates these large animals were of particular significance in the human world, or that these large animals were hunted by these socially organized hunter-gatherers.

ostriches, and rhinoceroses.[3][6] The extinct Bubalus antiquus, which has been renamed Syncerus complexus, may have continued to persist in some regions of the Central Sahara until 5000 BP.[6] While antelope and Barbary sheep characterize and may have had cultural significance for the artists of the painted Round Head rock art, buffalos, elephants, and giraffes characterize and may have had cultural significance for the artists of the engraved Bubaline rock art.[11]

While Bubaline rock art does not give prominence to humans,

Round Head rock art does give prominence to humans; the difference in human prominence depicted by Bubaline rock artists and Round Head rock artists, as indicative of increasing awareness of the importance and agency of humans, may be viewed as a representational transition in Central Saharan rock art from the Paleolithic period toward the Neolithic period.[6]

Hunter-Gatherers

Bubaline rock art portrays

Pastoral rock art, Round Head rock art and Bubaline rock art portray more women; while Barich (1998) views this as the loss of social status among women, Miller (2008) indicates that, while possibly valid, Pastoral rock art may also portray women differently, and that distinction between depicted genders are not always as clearly shown.[13]

Legacy

After the

circumcision may have also spread from the Central Sahara, toward the south in Sub-Saharan Africa and toward the east in the region of the Nile.[12]

References

  1. ^
    ISBN 9780520066960
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  2. ^
    ISBN 9781443845793
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  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Coulson, David; Campbell, Alec (2010). "Rock Art of the Tassili n Ajjer, Algeria" (PDF). Adoranten: 30.
  4. S2CID 240672205
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  5. ^
    S2CID 132225521
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  6. ^
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  7. S2CID 127108340
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  8. ^ a b Fleming, Harold C.; et al. (2013). "The Early Dispersions of Homo sapiens sapiens and proto-Human from Africa" (PDF). Mother Tongue. 18: 151, 154–155, 175.
  9. ^
    ISBN 978-0-13-612872-4
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  10. ^
    OCLC 1091181355
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  11. S2CID 143429582
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  12. ^
    S2CID 191103812. Archived from the original
    (PDF) on 2022-10-26. Retrieved 2022-09-04.
  13. S2CID 128804805
    .
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