Tassili nAjjer Rock Art - Tin Merzouga Sector
Early Holocene to 1st millennium CE (10,000 BCE–500 CE)·Saharan hunter-pastoralist (Capsian, Pastoral Neolithic)·🇩🇿 Illizi Province, Algeria
About
About Tassili nAjjer Rock Art - Tin Merzouga Sector
Tassili n'Ajjer Tin Merzouga – Saharan sandstone forest with 15,000+ paintings/engravings (10,000 BCE–500 CE) in the Tin Merzouga erg-edge sector: Round Head period giant pastoral figures (Jabbaren), Cattle Period pastoral with Tassili cows, Horse and Camel periods documenting Sahara humid to arid transition. Jabbaren, Sefar and Tamrit galleries in 72,000 km² plateau (largest WHS). UNESCO 1982.
Why it mattersSahara's humid Holocene visual encyclopedia across 10 millennia
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Dating precision and pigment chronology
- 02Symbolic meaning and shamanic interpretation
Theories
- 01Ceremonial centre and cosmological alignment
- 02Territorial marker and ritual landscape
Theories are interpretations, not findings. The seal above tells you how much scholarly weight the place carries.
History
How it came to be
- Built
- Rock paintings 10 ka BCE–5th c. CE; Tin Merzouga panels Holocene
- Period
- Early Holocene to 1st millennium CE (10,000 BCE–500 CE)
- Culture
- Saharan hunter-pastoralist (Capsian, Pastoral Neolithic)
- Builders
- Saharan Holocene groups
- Purpose
- Saharan rock art preserving humid Holocene fauna and pastoral scenes
- Excavation
- Excavation ongoing
Rock paintings 10 ka BCE–5th c. CE; Tin Merzouga panels Holocene
Initial construction
On the ground
Structures & features
26.4833° N · 8.8333° E · 1400 m · 3 mapped features
Jabbaren Round Head Gallery
rock art panelRound Head period giant horned figures (3000 BCE) at Jabbaren massif
26.4883° N · 8.8373° ESefar Tassili Painted City
rock art clusterSefar 'city' of 15,000 paintings with bovids and chariots
26.4793° N · 8.8303° ETin Merzouga Cattle Panel
rock art panelCattle Period long-horn pastoral panel documenting humid Sahara fauna
26.4843° N · 8.8353° E