"New" Giraffe Engravings Found

Found at a so far undisclosed location in the deserts of Niger, the above rock carving of a slightly larger than life giraffe is causing a worldwide stir amongst African Rock Art experts. They were disclosed at the beginning of October 1998, but had been 'discovered' in November 1997 by David Coulson chairman of the Trust for African Rock Art, Alec Campbell founder of the National Museum of Botswana and pictured above with a Tuareg guide, and Jean Clottes the heritage curator of the French Ministry of Culture and president of the International Committee on Rock Art. Said Jean Clottes 'When I saw the first giraffe, I was amazed because it was so big. That is highly unusual. Occasionally you find some rock art motifs several metres long. These are very big, perfectly proportioned, and the technique is expert.' The Louvre is said to be planning to make a cast for display. The engraving is on top of a 50 ft high outcrop of rock some 300 yards in extent and apparently covered in rock art.

Coulson says the giraffes were engraved between 6,000 and 9,000 years ago on a slightly inclined outcropping of rock. Smaller giraffe paintings have been found throughout Africa. 'We have no idea who carved it, but one or two interesting things we do know,' Coulson says. 'We've been all over Africa, and the giraffe appears to dominate the art in most areas of the continent. It was an incredibly important animal for so many apparently unrelated cultures.' The Niger Sahara giraffe and its smaller companion both have a line coming out from the nose and terminating in the form of a tiny man. A painting found in South Africa depicts a giraffe with its head above the clouds and rain falling upon it. A painting in Namibia shows a giraffe's head and neck emerging from a cloud. A painting in Algeria depicts a tiny giraffe with a long neck like a tornado going into a cloud. An engraving in Libya shmws a man copulating with a giraffe. Another shows a man feeding the giraffe. 'Whatever it was, the giraffe was thought to be possessed of special powers,' Coulson says.

Mark Davidson (a 153 Club member) remembers seeing the giraffe engravings in 1984. Christer Wilkinson (a 153 Club member) then e-mailed me to say that the pictures rang a bell and he then found that the following photograph of the two giraffes appeared in the Saharan Exhibition Guide of the Abbey at Senanque in the mid 1980s. Finally (for the moment) Jean-Loic Le Quellec has given me the following 1988 article reference:
DUPUY (Christian): Evolution iconographique de trois stations de gravures rupestres de l'Aïr méridional (Niger) Orstom, Cahiers des Sciences Humaines 24 (2) : 303-315 (1988) (a good tracing of the giraffes and of all the surrounding petroglyphs is pl. II, No. 9).

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Rock Art Chariot