Cave of Archers

Cave of Archers

Rock paintings of the Cave of Archers
Shown within Egypt
Location	Gilf Kebir
Region	New Valley Governorate, Egypt
Coordinates	23°35′41″N 25°14′1″E
History
Periods	Neolithic

Cave of Archers is a rock art shelter of the Gilf Kebir National Park in the New Valley Governorate, Egypt. It is located on the south-eastern slopes of Gilf Kebir, 40 m to the south of the Cave of Swimmers.[1]

Description

The south-west oriented entrance of the cave is 10 m wide and 5 m tall and opens into a large cupuliform formation modeled in the sandstone. The rock paintings of the cave feature a few panels of persons with bows and arrows as well as a herd of bovines. The paintings are dated between 6300 BP and 5500 BP during the African humid period, much different from the present hyper-arid one.

Due to bedrock deterioration the sandstone is heavily weathered or fragmented and only a few painted sandstone blocks remain.[2]

References

1. Maria Cristina Tomassetti, Giulio Lucarini, Mohamed A. Hamdan, Andrea Macchia, Giuseppina Mutri, Barbara E. Barich; Preservation and Restoration of the Wadi Sura Caves in the Framework of the Gilf Kebir National Park Egypt, in: International Journal of Conservation Science, Vol.7, October 2016, pp. 913-934.
2. Restoring rock art in Egypt’s great Gilf Kebir Retrieved 2020/04/20.