Ancient rock art shows how humans moved across the Sahara in search of resources as it gradually transformed from a wetland to desert over thousands of years, according to an archaeology expert lecturing at the University of Galway on 24 September 2026.
Fellowship awardee Professor Lakhdar Benbouzid explored how the trail of rock art originating in Tassili n’Ajjer National Park in southeast Algeria in the early Holocene 8 thousand BCE can be traced eastward over thousands of years through Libya and farther east to the Nile Delta in Egypt. Professor Benbouzid argues that this trail indicates the communities who created the art moved east across North Africa as the Sahara Desert became drier in a gradual transition that largely took place between 3,500 BCE and 2,500 BCE.
At the beginning of the Holocene, around 8 thousand BCE, the Sahara was a much wetter environment with woodlands and lakes spread across the region. As the Sahara dried slowly over thousands of years, Professor Benbouzid suggests this ancient group of people kept moving eastward in search of resources. Today, the trail of art they left behind can be traced like footsteps across approximately 2,200 kilometres.
A monument found in Emi Lulu in northern Niger (top photo), shares the same design as another monument found in Tassili n’Ajjer National Park (bottom photo). Human remains were found in these monuments, indicating there may have had a religious significance.
Professor Benbouzid believes these similarities between the two monuments, built almost 1 thousand kilometres apart, suggest that these ancient communities traveled across the Sahara likely in search of water. The concentric circles are thought to be reminiscent of water as it dried up across the Sahara.
The art mainly depicts pictures of everyday peaceful life. One image appears to show an accused person, witnesses and a penalty being imposed resembling modern day a court proceeding. Another shows a formal meeting of two separate groups where drinks are shared as a means of welcoming each other.
“We believe the majority of rock art was made by women,” Professor Benbouzid said during the lecture. One example, pictured right, depicts giraffes, antelopes, ostriches and cattle art from Tassili n’Ajjer. He said the small number of rock art pieces of that do depict violence are thought to be created by men.
Professor Benbouzid plans to continue to research what the significance of the circles and what they could reveal about the ancient that created them. Professor Benbouzid will return to Algeria on 29 September, following the conclusion of his two-week Fellowship with the Discipline of Archaeology.
