Deserto do Saara – Girafas na Arte Saariana – Líbia
Girafas rupestres em Wadi Mathendous ou Wadi Methkandoush
Existem 13 girafas em um painel vertical em Wadi Irahar Mellen, Messak Settafet, na Líbia.
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Abaixo, detalhe de arte rupestre na Líbia. Fotógrafo: Amerens Hedwich.
Imagem original de Lonely Planet Images – http://www.lonelyplanetimages.com/
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Abaixo, Engraving of a giraffe with heavy cupule infill from Wadi Irahar Mellen, Messak Settafet, Libya. Photograph made by Ulrich Hallier and reproduced here with his kind permission (http://www.bradshawfoundation.com/twyfelfontein/captions.html).
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PREHISTORIC SOCIETY TOUR TO SOUTH WEST LIBYA
14-21 Outubro de 2002
The 2002 study tour to the Fezzan of south west Libya was organised in conjunction with Andante Travel. It was lead by Prof David Mattingly of the University of Leicester with Isabella Sjostrom as the tour manager for Andante. Society President Prof. Graeme Barker (University of Leicester) joined us as a guide lecturer. Fourteen society members supported the trip and I was the lucky student to be awarded the free place.
On arriving at our hotel in Tripoli we had two hours to ourselves before visiting various sites around the old city. Little were we to know that these few hours would be the last free time we had before returning home a week later. Our trip commenced with a visit to the arch of Marcus Aurelius. The restored arch is one of the few Roman remains within the city. It is impressive though now overshadowed by surrounding buildings. The imported marble is carved with designs such as Roman imperial armour and a barbarian family in chains. The arch was used as a cinema in the early days of the twentieth century. The former British consulate is nearby. A top room provided a vantage point for nineteenth century ambassadors to spy on ships arriving in the harbour. We wandered through the old town, along narrow streets following the old Roman pattern. In the early evening people were shopping and going about their business. For foreign visitors like ourselves this was pleasant as we were left unmolested by touts or salesmen unlike in other countries. The evening finished off with dinner in the revolving restaurant, a circular cupola on top of a tower block.
The next day our trip began in earnest with a flight to the Fezzan city of Sabha. Our four wheel drives were waiting for us on arrival. One desert vehicle looked the part with its goatskin waterbottle swinging from the roof rack. Desert travel writers have often mentioned these and I thought they were bags made from goat leather. This waterbottle however was a whole goat. It was suspended from the roof-rack by the four legs. A loop of cord prevented leakage from its rear end and the bound up neck was the waterspout. Later in the trip I helped a driver decant some water the colour of brown soup into his mug.
We drove for a few hours west to Germa along the Wadi el Ajal. This was the centre of the Garamantian civilisation two thousand years ago. One of the clues to its success in such an arid climate is illustrated by a pit. This is an access shaft to a tunnel which channelled water from the ridge line to the centre of the wadi for cultivation. This foggara, as the irrigation system is known, is one of 600 water channels and 100,000 shafts providing a sophisticated method of irrigation.
Old Jarma has been recognised as Garama, the Garamantian capital. The mud brick buildings seen today are from the medieval and modern period. The historic town lies at depths of up to 5m below the surface. David Mattingly took us through the excavations of first Mohammed Ayoub in the 1960s, then those of Charles Daniels in 1969 and finally the work undertaken by the Fezzan Project in 1997- 2001 in which he was closely involved.
Overlooking modern Germa is Zinkekra promontory on the ridge line. It is the type site for early Garamantian settlement (with earliest occupation during the first millennium BC) and major walls were built for use as a defensible area. The ridge spur contains rock art, peckings of animals such as giraffes, bovids and Barbary sheep.
The next day we set off to explore the desert and do some dune bashing to explore two of the Dawada lakes in the Edeyen Ubari. These lakes are in the middle of the dune fields and look just like a film makers idea of a typical oasis. The first lake formerly held a settlement but was abandoned in the mid 1980s. The lake itself is now dry possibly due to the watertable lowering. Date palms surround it and there are the remains of mud brick houses. The second lake we encountered was even more stunning, a blue lake nestling at the foot of towering dunes surrounded by a ring of date palms. We joked about finding a souvenir stall in the desert and were surprised to discover two Tuareg men sitting by a blue cloth selling pendants, ear rings, spoons, engraved letter knives and trinket boxes made from camel leather. They seemed to be making a good business from us and when a second party of four wheel drives arrived their bartering recommenced.
We were now beset by delays. Returning from the dunes a vehicle lost an exhaust which needed repairing and then later our kitchen vehicle had a flat tyre. We ended up camping in the dunes near Al Uwaynat setting up tents in the dark. It could have been a soulless camp except our drivers had collected firewood and had a pleasant fire going.
Next morning Al Uwaynat was found to be out of petrol, so after refreshing sweet mint teas in a café we changed plan and drove to Ghat near the Algerian border. The rock formations viewed from the road were impressive, especially the Palace of Djinns with erosion features on the summit resembling Egyptian sphinxes. Ghat petrol station was a scene of chaos with it being the only petrol for miles. Locals were pushing their empty cars into place but we were able to fuel up without too much of a delay. Our planned route was to climb over the Tadrart Acacus by the Takhakhouri Pass and enter the Wadi Teshuinat on the eastern side of the massif. We travelled using wadis as tracks before climbing high onto the sand piste. This area is disputed territory with Algeria and in the middle of nowhere we came across a military outpost. The soldiers were pleased to see our vehicles and wanted to know if we had cameras. They were after someone with a Polaroid camera so they could have an instant picture of themselves. Wherever we stopped to let the other vehicles catch up at our feet would be lithic and pottery scatters. People have used this route for movement for thousands of years.
Wadi Teshuinat is the largest valley in the area and is the location of a great number of rock art sites. In a very hectic half day we saw nine sites! Uan Afuda, a large spectacular natural cave with a huge arched entrance, contains some faded paintings on one wall. The importance of the site was described by Prof. Barker, as excavations revealed that the inhabitants were living with Barbary sheep, having them penned up and feeding them grains (Late Akakus phase 8935-8000BP). Uan Mahuggiag is another important site. Paintings cover the shelter wall whilst excavations immediately in front provided pollen samples revealing progressive environmental degradation between 7000 – 4000 BP, a time period corresponding to an increase in pastoralism.
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Two more sites showed superb paintings. The first of these was Uan Amil, a small cave containing the famous hair dressing scene (Figura 1). One crouching figure’s hair is being dressed by a seated figure. Adjacent to this scene two figures are to be seen dressing a third in a long cloak. For these reasons the art panel is often referred to as showing preparations for a wedding. In Ehed art site is a ledge up on a cliff containing a hunting panel. Men armed with bows and arrows and using dogs are hunting Barbary sheep (Figura 2). A site shown to us by our guideAbdul had a large boulder carved with cups and sinuous grooves reminiscent of the British rock art tradition. Finally at lunchtime in the shadow of large cliffs, recent engravings by desert travellers depicted a Land Rover and a frog’s face!
We left Wadi Teshuinat by a large naturally eroded arch (and cave with a painted red rhinoceros) and headed out across the Erg Uan Kasa to the Messak Settafet. Before leaving the mountain area our route took us by a well which our drivers used as an opportunity to have a last wash (once clean water had been pumped). Our route through the dunes had been used many times in the ancient past as we crossed palaeo-lakes and found lithic scatters present. A collection of grinding stones and mortars had been assembled by previous dunes travellers.
As we headed towards the Messak Settafet, sand dunes in the distance took on a pink hue and looked like a theatrical backdrop. En route we stopped at a shelter to meet a blind Beduin who used a rope tied to a post to guide him when he walked away from his hut.
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The Messak Settafet appeared as a plain of stones of varying sizes covered in a dark patina. Straight tracks criss-crossed the plain, these being the remains of oil exploration seismic survey lines. A slight depression up ahead of us materialised into a deep wadi, Wadi Tiksatin. A bulldozed road left over from a seismic survey led from the top of the cliff to the bottom. The north face of the wadi contained many carvings in particular the famous Milking Scene (Figura 3). Here cattle are shown waiting their turn to be milked by a central figure who is already attending to a cow. Trees at the rear of the scene have hanging containers. Other carvings in the wadi show the African buffalo (Figura 4), ostriches and an elephant. Further along the wadi is the El Awrer site. This contains a glorious carved panel of over twenty two giraffes (Figura 5).
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A slight drama occurred on our last night in the desert. Returning from El Awrer to camp in the sand dunes, we were unable to find the kitchen vehicle which had gone on ahead to set up camp. The prospect of a hungry night lay ahead of us as we pitched our tents. However our drivers went out in further search parties and were able to find the cooks and bring them back complete with cooked dinner to our camp. One driver disappeared off again and returned later with a dead goat to be eaten by our Libyan crew. It had been killed elsewhere as the drivers were aware of our sensibilities. During dinner I noticed two drivers fiddling with something tied to the nearest vehicle’s roof rack. It was the goat they were gutting and skinning. Luckily I’d finished eating by this point! The goat meat, marinated in lemon juice, was barbecued on the camp fire and tasted fine.
Our last day in the desert took in the art site of Wadi Mattendush. Carvings are present along the north side of the wadi on the rock face and tumbled boulders. We spent a morning wandering around admiring the range and quality of work. Ostriches and buffalo are depicted along with many giraffes. The latter are often associated here with circular designs with radiating spokes described as sun wheels. Two important designs are on the same cliff section. The first is a large boulder on the summit carved with three large fighting cats: two on the front face and a smaller one on the side (Figura 6). Four birds separate the two larger cats. The other main panel is a carving of a dead rhinoceros on its back being dragged away by two dog headed men (Figura 7).
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An adjacent panel has a giraffe with associated “sun wheel”. A few tens of yards over to the left is a boulder with a large engraved crocodile (Figura 8). The antiquity of the panel is evident from the large split in the rock occurring after the carving had been made. This unusual animal may refer to back to wetter climatic conditions. However in eastern Chad stunted crocodiles are still said to occupy a spring fed waterhole. Two Tuareg had laid out a blue cloth and were selling trinkets and souvenirs near our vehicles. This was our last chance to buy so a shopping frenzy was soon underway.
 Figura 8 |
Our journey back to Sabha took the rest of the afternoon. The effects of seismic survey tracks were evident all over the Messak and the tracks were very dusty indeed. We passed through Germa again and were able to see the remains of Garamantian royal tombs, the site split in two by a metalled road providing access to the plateau for heavy vehicles.
In Sabha we had a hurried last night meal then caught the plane to Tripoli. At the airport we discovered one of our party (who shall remain nameless) had bought a four feet long sword from the Wadi Mattendush Tuareg. Our Libyan security service member tried to fit it in various bags and suitcases but it wouldn’t squeeze in so he had to get permission to bring it onboard the aeroplane.
Our last morning was spent in Tripoli museum seeing the glorious Roman galleries with their mosaics. Upper floors in the museum held other aspects of Libyan history, and the top floor had a cabinet of curiosities such as double-headed goats and other deformed animals.
To our surprise the café in Tripoli airport departure lounge held almost all the small change in Libya, the lack of which had bedevilled our attempts to purchase stamps, postcards, cups of coffee and sweets during the trip.
Arriving in Heathrow our bags were the first off the flight. As our goodbyes were said a large sword suddenly popped up on the carousel and went around and around. In unison we looked at each other and decided this was a suitable time for us to go our separate ways.
The Libyan experience is camping out in the desert with sand as far as the eye can see and wonderful night skies, racing over perilously steep dunes in four wheeled drives and seeing some of the world’s best rock art. I would like to thank the Prehistoric Society for giving me this wonderful opportunity to visit Libya.
A selection of rock art photographs from the trip can be accessed from the Durham University Prehistoric Art web page http://www.dur.ac.uk/prehistoric.art
Matéria estraída de: Michael Rainsbury - The Prehistoric Society Home Page - Registered Office University College London, Institute of Archaeology, 31-34 Gordon Square, London WC1H 0PY - http://www.ucl.ac.uk/prehistoric/past/past43.html
Emissões Filatélicas da Líbia
1972 – Série de 6 selos emitida em 1972 (Scott: 421/426) sobre Arqueologia; dois selos mostram #424 (25m), pintura pré-histórica da Gruta de Wan Amil, o outro #425 (55m), pintura pré-histórica em Wadi Zigza. NT
1978 – Veja desenhos rupestres de Wadi Mathendous com girafa...
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Última atualização: 11/03/2008. |
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