Running Horned WomanTassili n’Ajjer, Algeria, ca. 6000–4000 bceA 7,000-year-old pai

Running Horned WomanTassili n’Ajjer, Algeria, ca. 6000–4000 bceA 7,000-year-old painting from Tassili n’Ajjer in southeastern Algeria in the central Sahara (at that time a verdant savanna) is one of the earliest and finest surviving examples of rock art. The painter depicted a running woman with convincing animation and significant detail. The dotted marks on her shoulders, legs, and torso probably indicate that she is wearing body paint applied for a ritual. Her face, however, is featureless, a common trait in the earliest art. The white parallel patterns attached to her arms and waist appear to represent flowing raffia decorations and a raffia skirt. Horns—shown in the twisted perspective, or composite view, typical of prehistoric art—are also part of her ceremonial attire. Notably, the artist painted this detailed image over a field of much smaller painted human beings, an indication of why it is often so difficult to date and interpret art on rock surfaces, as subsequent superimpositions are frequent. Nonetheless, scholars have been able to establish a rough chronology for African rock art, an art form that continues to this day. (x) -- source link

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