Tassili N'Ajjer: Algerian Cave Paintings In The Middle Of The Sahara

 25°48'49.06"N 8°08'02.05"E

(from Wikimedia Commons) 

    Tassili N'Ajjer is a 72000 square kilometers natural plateau made completely out of sandstone. It's geologically stunning, yet the biggest highlight are the multiple well-preserved cave rock carvings with at least 12000 years of age. This site proves that there were human populations in the Sahara already in the beginnings, even illustrating the form of life they kept.     

   Tassili N'Ajjer's literal translation is "plateau of rivers", even though it is actually a zone in the middle of the desert where the nearest equivalent to a river is a couple of wadis. It received this name because in Prehistoric times, it was a flourishing oasis with approximately hundreds of people living there during a span time of many thousand years. The only remains are the characteristic sandstone rocks, pillars, archways and other resistant structures made of that material. And likewise do remain the cave rock paintings, the star of today's episode.

Camping next to a rock arch (from Pexels) 

     15000 is the approximate number of drawings that the walls of Tassili N'Ajjer exhibit, which, as you could figure out, is a lot for the years that have passed. The most usual topics are dances, rituals and hunt and sex scenes. All the same, it shows examples of  different Prehistoric art periods such as the Round Head Period or the Pastoral Period.

  The caves work also as a big seek-and-find game, as you can notice some bizarre details. One of them is the "Martian God", a figure called so because of its big size, and many odd-looking features. Other curious figures are the so-called aliens (silhouettes who seem to wear sophisticated helmets and have alien heads) which could proof past human contact with extraterrestrials, according to ufologists, but that most probably represent something fictitious.   

Hail, Martian God! (from Wikimedia Commons) 

   Another prominent drawing can be find in Tegharghart: "the Weeping Cow" depicts a crying bovine, that historians believe could have ties to a severe drought that killed the cattle of the ancient inhabitants. Lastly, there are pictures of giraffes, elephants, rhinos... These clearly justify how flourishing this desertic landscape once was.

   Leaving history apart, the caves are nowadays a national park and UNESCO World Heritage Site in southeastern Algeria, that impresses both geologists and archaeologists (and ufologists). The usual visitors are regular groups of tourist camel caravans or local hikers, and it is actually a pretty safe and relatively uncrowded destination.

Giraffes at Tassili N'Ajjer(from Wikimedia Commons)

Sources and Picture Credits:

Sources: UNESCO, GANP, The Ancient Connection

All pictures are in the public domain.