Rock Art of El Hosh

Preserving rock art at risk

Frederick Hardtke directs the fieldwork component of a new Macquarie University mission to the site of El Hosh in Egypt in collaboration with the Royal Museum of Art and History, Brussels. El Hosh is one of the most extensive Nilotic rock art sites in Upper Egypt. Featuring some of the oldest rock art in North Africa, the petroglyphs found at El Hosh include a dazzling array of boats, hunted wild animals, and enigmatic abstract signs scattered over a wide area. Recording and interpretation of this rich artistic medium will provide new insights into the early history and cultural development of Nilotic communities, significantly increasing our knowledge of the Egyptian Paleolithic, Epipaleolithic and Predynastic horizons (circa 13000 to 3000 BC), for which documentary evidence is still fragmentary. The project commences in late 2019.

Our project will contribute to the history of Egyptian rock art research through precise relocation of previously found sites and comparison of rock art in its current state to that in the archival records.

The aims of the project

1. Determine how the site was used, by whom and what role rock art played in this usage of the landscape – be it ritual or otherwise.

2. Establish the periods of usage of the site and how the choice of rock art motifs, style and placement/distribution changed over time.

3. Determine how the choice of rock art motifs (representations of animal species etc.) and any changes observed over time can be used in their interpretation, particularly through linkages or differences between Prehistoric/Predynastic themes and later, Dynastic ones.

Other aims of the project

Rescue and preservation of rock art close to current human habitation. The site of El Hosh has large expanses of rock art localities close to the villages of El Hosh and El Hammam. Other sites on the concession are also mainly close to villages. These are expanding, and the local sandstone is a desirable building material for the residents. Disturbance of rock art has already been noted in some areas where records exist from previous expeditions.

In addition, re-discovery and re-assessment of sites described by previous missions to the area are important. The sites were visited and described by expeditions such as the Deutschen inner-afrikanischen Forschungsexpedition, (DIAFE no. 8) in 1926 and by the Robert Mond Expedition in the late 1930s. This early exploration shall be considered in order to assess how the rock art has survived over the past almost 100 years of local encroachment. It will also contribute to the history of Egyptian rock art research through precise relocation of previously found sites and comparison of rock art in its current state to that in the archival records.