Animals in Rock Art Results of Archaezoological Research at the Site of El -Gamamiya 67 (Fourth Cataract, Sudan)
Animals in Rock Art Results of Archaezoological Research at the Site of El -Gamamiya 67 (Fourth Cataract, Sudan)

Summary/Abstract: A relative chronology of animal representations discovered in the rock art from the Valley of the Middle Nile in Sudan can be proposed by analyzing the morphology of the depicted animals, mainly cattle. Depictions of long-horned cattle from the Kerma period (2400–1400 BC), about 200 images of which were identified on the site of el-Gamamiya 67, are the oldest in the region. They were identified based on the acknowledged importance of cattle in this culture, breeding model, animal morphotype and characteristic horn deformation. The rock art representations proved very similar to modern sanga cattle. Short-horned cattle became common in the Valley of the Middle Nile later than in Egypt, most probably in the Kushite period (8th century BC–4th century AD ). Changes in herding patterns were reflected in the rock art from el-Gamamiya showing the cattle schematically and as isolated figures. The third kind is humped cattle, the long-horned variant of which is native to Africa. The short-horned or hornless humped cattle were brought from Asia in the Ptolemaic age (342–30 BC). Other domestic species: sheep, goats, dogs, horses were represented less often, as single figures in the rock panels at el-Gamamiya. Horses and camels dominated in the early Christian period images. Despite pigs having been kept in Makuria, there were no representations of this species recorded at the site.

• Details
• Contents