Facts about climate change from prehistoric Egyptian rock art

What do people usually think about the Sahara desert? Is it 3.6 million miles of sand stretching from the Red Sea in Egypt to the Atlantic Ocean in Morocco? Probably, because today 96% of Egypt is desert. But this land was not always so dry and barren.

In the past, the Sahara desert was teeming with life. Climate change seems to be a new thing. However, prehistoric Egyptian art and geological records have shown that a climate change is inevitable and often unrelated to modern human activities.

Climate change and prehistoric Egyptian rock art

Perhaps the most famous rock art is the paintings found in caves in Lascaux, France. But the arid regions of North Africa, and especially Egypt, are also home to millennia of rock art, a testimony that sheds light on the issue of climate change.

Lascaux Cave Art in France.

Animals played an important role in Egyptian religion and animal worship continued throughout the Greco-Roman period. In prehistoric times, many rock art pieces attested to the importance of certain animals and were a clear indication of the changing Saharan climate.

Climate change is most pronounced when it comes to North Africa. Originally, this was a very arid land. When the Ice Age began about 30,000 years ago, glaciers formed in the high African regions of Ethiopia, Uganda and Kenya. When the ice began to melt 12,000 years ago, a large amount of water flowed out of Lake Victoria, down the two tributaries of the Blue Nile and White Nile. They flood Egypt's Nile Valley and can wash away any archaeological remains.

The Sahara was uninhabited 11,000 years ago, because the climate was even more arid than it is today. The climate became wetter 10,000 to 6,000 years ago with monsoon rains in the summer.

Giraffes in Wadi Umm Salam-14, Eastern Desert, Egypt.

Wildlife and plants thrive in the savanna environment, with seasonal rivers and wetlands. These places, along with grasslands, would be home to a variety of wildlife similar to those found in other parts of Africa today, such as hippos, donkeys, whales, giraffes, ostriches, antelopes and antelopes. Hunter-gatherers have colonized the area, traveling great distances to sustain life and settling only in seasonal oases.

The beginnings of domestication and settlement in the Nile Valley

About 7,000 years ago, the inhabitants of the region began herding cattle. When searching for grasslands, they left rock paintings in the desert that document the origins of domestication. The cattle often have decorated bodies and wear necklaces and pendants. Milking scenes are also found.

About 6,000 years ago, the summer monsoon rains were replaced by winter night rains, making the environment more arid. As the drought progressed, raising sheep and goats became common.

Cattle sculptures at Wadi Sura, Egypt.

Eventually, humans began to settle in the Nile Valley, and they left behind a large amount of prehistoric Egyptian rock art. Here we see that in addition to bows and arrows, hunters used dogs to capture their prey.

People are sometimes depicted on boats. Dance imagery was also common in prehistoric Egyptian rock art around this time. These motifs bear resemblance to the pottery of that period, clearly indicating that the artists were now settled in the Nile Valley.

5,000 years ago, cattle ranching disappeared beyond the desert oases, and about 4,000 years ago the climate gradually became similar to today.

By the end of the Old Kingdom, the deserts of Egypt had reached their present level of aridity. However, the Egyptians did not stop carving stone. The kings of ancient Egypt directed many commercial, military, and mining expeditions into the deserts of the country. The men who participated in these expeditions left records of their travels on the rock faces scattered along the routes they took.

Sailing and hunting at Wadi Baramiya-9, Eastern Desert, Egypt.

Extinct species are sometimes taken as an indication of the age of rock art. While some of the animals found in prehistoric Egyptian rock art have disappeared from the Nile Valley, actual extinctions are not recorded here.

Climate change and threats to prehistoric Egyptian rock art

One of the most spectacular sites of prehistoric Egyptian cave art is the Cave of the Beasts, dating from 6500 to 4400 BC. Discovered in 2002, its name derives from several dozen paintings of headless animals. But what is really special is the image of the person.

There are war scenes, showing two groups of people fighting with bows and arrows. Scholars believe that the artwork found in this cave depicts Egyptian cultural concepts found in Pharaoh art in the Old Kingdom and later.

Art at the Cave of the Beasts, Wadi Sura II, Western Desert, Egypt.

The irony of prehistoric Egyptian rock art and climate change is that while they have served as an indicator of past climate change, climate change today is causing rock art to disappear. globally. Sandstone found in southern Egypt, where many rock art works are painted or carved, become easily absorbed by water and this causes them to erode and lose their historical content. .

Scientists are looking for ways to stop this decline, trying to preserve the earliest records of humanity before it disappears forever.