Les chasseurs de poissons d’El-Hosh (Haute-Égypte) : l’art rupestre le plus ancien de la vallée du Nil

Abstract

In November 1998 an international team, sponsored by the National Geographic Society and the Fund for Scientific Research-Flanders (Belgium), conducted a rock art survey in the vicinity of El-Hosh in Upper Egypt. A multitude of sites with thousands of petroglyphs was located. Attention was paid mainly to the oldest manifestations of rock art in the area representing intensively patinated, mushroom-shaped, curvilinear and geometric designs, as well as a number of seemingly associated anthropomorphic figures, footprints, and zoomorphs. Several of these drawings were sampled for possible AMS 14C dating. A number of complex rock art panels were recorded in their entirety. In addition, the distribution of the sites has been studied in relationship to the geomorphological particularities of the area.

Keywords

• Rock Art
• fish-traps
• chronology
• patina
• petroglyphs