Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean (15.2003(2004))

DAKHLEH OASIS


FIELD WALKING IN CENTRAL DAKHLEH


discovered in the Central Dakhleh
(Drawing E. Kuciewicz)

This season the field party walked the
rocky, sandstone area in the central part of
the Oasis, between Mut and Balat, to the
south of the modern paved road. The
region is cut by a number of wadis now
filled with sand. The survey registered
(including GPS locations) a large number
of rock art sites with petroglyphs executed
mostly on vertical surfaces in the rocky
hills and less frequently on the summits of
hills or on individual blocks of sandstone
resting at the foot of a hill.
The recording of the sites included
photographing each site and its petro-
glyphs (black-and-white 6 x 4.5 cm
negatives plus small-size color slides), and
in some cases tracing of the petroglyphs on
transparent film.
The petroglyphs found in the central
part of the Oasis, especially those from the
older stage of rock art development, appear
to parallel those occurring in the eastern
Dakhleh. The presence of game animals is
marked at this stage, with giraffes (Fig. 3)
clearly predominating over antelopes, oc-
casionally occurring in association with
humans. In some cases, the scenes show
a giraffe connected by a line to a man
(Fig. 4), apparently depicting a successful
lassoing.
A second group of petroglyphs shows
figures of women, rather schematically
executed with engraved lines and sunk
(ground) surface (Fig. 2). In a few cases,
these female figures occured in association
with giraffes. In one instance, at an
especially impressive-looking rock art site
(Fig. 5), there were three such schematic
figures of “goddesses” with sunken bodies
executed in close association with a group
of giraffes (Fig. 6). Another petroglyph
shows a human figure holding what seems
to be a bow in the front of a very

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