Australian archaeologists from Macquarie University in Sydney have uncovered a surprising sequence of rock paintings deep within the Sahara Desert in Sudan. The artifacts, dating to more than 4,000 years ago, portray grazing cattle and an array of boats, a combination that seems incongruent with the current arid landscape of the region. The findings were published in the Journal of Egyptian Archaeology, a respected scholarly journal in the field of ancient studies.
Researchers observed that the nearest water source during this era, Lake Nubia, lies roughly 100 kilometers from the site of the petroglyphs. This portion of the Eastern Sahara, sometimes called the Atbay Desert, appears to have been less suitable for sustained animal herding during the distant past, raising questions about how communities accessed water and resources.
The discovery contributes to a broader narrative about a period scholars refer to as the African Wet Period. Occurring around five millennia ago, this epoch saw the Sahara transformed by rainfall into a landscape dotted with streams and green pastures, supporting herding and other human activities that would later shift as climate conditions changed.
Archaeologists propose that the cave paintings were created before the arrival of the African monsoon, which eventually reshaped grasslands into desert terrain and pushed people to concentrate their settlements closer to the Nile River. Climate shifts around 3000 BCE played a pivotal role in redirecting patterns of settlement, migration, and subsistence strategies across the region.
Earlier research suggested that the Green Sahara era facilitated movements of groups from Africa into Eurasia, contributing to broader patterns of cultural and genetic exchange. The current findings add a valuable data point to this ongoing discussion, illustrating how ancient people adapted to a changing climate and how symbolic representations preserved in rock art can illuminate those adaptive strategies.