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Giraffe Rock Carving - Dabous, Niger, Africa
The 8,000 year-old giraffe rock carving at Dabous, Niger in Africa is considered one of the finest in the world. The giraffe has a leash on its nose implying some level of taming the animals. It was found just ten years ago on the top of a granite hill by local Touaregs and dates to the Kiffian times (7000-9500 years ago).
The two giraffe, one large male in front of a smaller female, were engraved side by side on the sandstone’s weathered surface. The larger of the two is over 18 feet tall, combining several techniques including scraping, smoothing and deep engraving of the outlines. However, signs of deterioration were clearly evident. Despite their remoteness, the site was beginning to receive more and more attention, as these exceptional carvings were beginning to suffer the consequences of both voluntary and involuntary human degradation.
Resources
- Mike Hettwer photographed the image above. He has photographed dinosaur and archaeology expeditions to the Sahara and Gobi Deserts. His photos have appeared in over 2,500 magazines, newspapers, books and web sites including National Geographic Magazine and The New York Times.
- The Bradshaw Foundation - its primary objective is to discover, document and preserve ancient rock art around the world.
The Dabous Giraffes are a neolithic petroglyphs, completed sometime between 9000 BC and 5000 BC. The giraffe carvings were first documented by David Coulson in 1997 while on a photographic expedition at a site in Niger, Africa. The carving is 20 feet in height and consists of two giraffes carved into the Dabous Rock with a great amount of detail.
