Ancient cave art found in Sinai Desert

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A team of archaeologists has discovered a cave adorned with unique engravings of animals in the northern Sinai Desert. Compared with cave art found in the southern Sinai, the newly described engravings boast a singular aesthetic.

“[This] cave is the first of its kind to be discovered in the area,” Aymen Ashmawi, head of the Ministry of Antiquities’ ancient Egyptian antiquities sector.

Artists active during the predynastic period likely created the engravings, says Hesham Hussein, lead archaeologist on the find and Sinai’s director of antiquities, in an email. He dates some of the inscriptions back to the Naqada III period, which lasted from approximately 3200 to 3000 B.C., but stipulates that the site has yet to be fully studied.

The carvings bear a resemblance to bas-relief designs, which feature images that only slightly protrude from the surface.

Found mostly along the walls of the inner cave, the engravings depict animals including ibexes, ostriches, camels, leopards, cows and mules, according to Hussein. 

“[T]he ancient Egyptians were inveterate graffiti artists,” said Darnell at the time. “They could not help but inscribe the landscape, especially on roads and at sites of activity in the deserts."

Source: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/egyptian-cave-filled-animals-etched-stone-180974793/