The ‘factoid’ point stayed with me. A possible route can become accepted history very quickly once enough later maps and books repeat it. I also hadn’t realised how many of these chariot scenes may show hunting or prestige rather than warfare.
I can imagine how frustrating it is for professional archaeologists working in the Sahel who have never come across evidence of northern material culture in their sites from before the Common Era, but are forced to listen to empty speculations about ancient trade based on one throwaway line from Herodotus.
These chariots were basically bicycles pulled by horses that probably didn't even have the capacity to carry a few waterskins for their riders, and riders probably couldn't have kept their posture for more than a few minutes at a time. So the idea that they could cross the Sahara is just ludicrous.
On the other hand, using them for prestige hunting in controlled environments sounds like a lot of fun. The fact that they were hunting antelopes is also very intriguing since the modern range of antelopes is much further south, (nearly 1,000 miles south from Tassili)
The waterskins point makes the long-distance trade theory feel even stranger. The antelope range is fascinating too. Do you think those hunting scenes can help us understand the environmental shift, or is the rock art too difficult to date closely?
The ‘factoid’ point stayed with me. A possible route can become accepted history very quickly once enough later maps and books repeat it. I also hadn’t realised how many of these chariot scenes may show hunting or prestige rather than warfare.
I can imagine how frustrating it is for professional archaeologists working in the Sahel who have never come across evidence of northern material culture in their sites from before the Common Era, but are forced to listen to empty speculations about ancient trade based on one throwaway line from Herodotus.
These chariots were basically bicycles pulled by horses that probably didn't even have the capacity to carry a few waterskins for their riders, and riders probably couldn't have kept their posture for more than a few minutes at a time. So the idea that they could cross the Sahara is just ludicrous.
On the other hand, using them for prestige hunting in controlled environments sounds like a lot of fun. The fact that they were hunting antelopes is also very intriguing since the modern range of antelopes is much further south, (nearly 1,000 miles south from Tassili)
The waterskins point makes the long-distance trade theory feel even stranger. The antelope range is fascinating too. Do you think those hunting scenes can help us understand the environmental shift, or is the rock art too difficult to date closely?
The rock art is surprisingly easy to date directly, at least within some range
read this
https://journals.openedition.org/pm/715?lang=it
Thank you. I’m going to read this. I had assumed the dating would be much less direct, so this is exactly the kind of correction I need.