Tibesti

The Tibesti Massif or Tibesti Mountains are located in central Sahara, extending from Niger and Libya. The mountains are volcanic and are approximately 300 miles long and 175 miles wide.

The Tibesti Mountains are renowned for their rock and parietal art. Around 200 engraving sites—including some 1800 different representations—and 100 painting sites have been identified. Most date from between the 5th and 3rd millennia BC, although some date from the 6th millennium BC. The earliest works often portray animals that have since died out due to climate change in the Tibesti, including elephants, rhinoceros, hippopotamus and giraffes. More recent art includes ostriches and antelopes, which have an exceptional presence on the edge of the range, as well as gazelles and sheep, which are more common.

The rock art that exists in these mountains was created before dramatic climate change in the Saharan Desert caused the inhabitants to move towards the Nile Valley. Large animal engravings and other rock art dates to between 12,000 and 4,000 years ago.

Later works, dated less than 2000 years old, portray domesticated animals, such as oxen and camels. Other engravings portray warriors, known as owoza, dressed in feathers or spiked ornaments and armed with bows, shields, assegai, or traditional knives. Some portray dance scenes. The walls of a canyon near Bardaï have engravings that measure over 2 m (6 ft 7 in) in height, including that of the "man of Gonoa," Gonoa being the name of the enneri that runs through the valley. These primarily show hunting scenes. The paintings, often drawn with a red Faidherbia albida base, signify a turn towards domestication in the Tibesti, because the scenes are more pastoral. The Tibesti art is unique in the Sahara because of the absence of inscriptions, the relative lack of chariots, and the low representation of camels and horses until comparatively recently. The art has remained important to the Toubou; around 1200 AD, a man named Yerbou engraved a palm leaf into rock, symbolizing his love for a married woman.

There is evidence of human occupation of the Tibesti dating back to the Stone Age, when richer paleovegetation facilitated human habitation. The Toubou settled in the region in the 5th century BC and established trade relations with the Carthaginian civilization. Around this time, Herodotus portrayed the Toubou, which he labeled "Ethiopians" because of their skin color, and described as having a language akin to the "cry of bats."

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tibesti_Mountains