The Ancient Rock Art of Africa
A glimpse into the ancient cave paintings and engravings of the African continent.
Beyond fragments of bone and tools, our first real connection with ancient people comes through their artists. Rock art, painted or engraved onto the walls of caves, provides an enduring glimpse into prehistoric life as seen by those who lived it. We may never know their names or full intent, but the images they left behind are a tangible reminder of humanity’s timeless creativity, skill, and connection to nature.
Cave art can be found all over the world, often showing striking similarities in style, materials, and subjects. The dry, sheltered caves of many African nations have preserved some of the oldest and most extensive of these sites. Read on to learn more about rock art across the continent, including the most notable locations known today.
Where Are the Oldest Cave Paintings?
Whenever prehistoric art is discussed, the question of Pinpointing the very oldest paintings, however, is not easy. Dating techniques are still imperfect, and many cave sites have been painted over and refined by new generations for thousands of years.
In fact, some of the oldest known cave paintings are not in Africa at all. The island of Sulawesi in Indonesia, for example, is home to art almost 40,000 years old. Similarly ancient paintings can be found in Australia and the spectacular caverns of Spain and France, including at Lascaux, Altamira, and Chauvet Cave. Their ancient artists depict a far more dangerous Europe, roamed by bison, lions, hyenas, and even rhinoceroses.
Until 2002, Africa’s oldest discovered cave art could be found in Namibia, at the Apollo 11 Cave, circa 27,000 years old. Blombos Cave, near Cape Town, South Africa, then yielded a small rock carved and painted with ochre an estimated 77,000 years ago. If accurate, it would be the oldest known example of cave painting by tens of thousands of years.
African Cave Art Sites
The cave paintings and engravings of Africa spans an entire continent and much of human (pre-)history. They represent hundreds of distinct cultures and the individual artists within them, spread out over millennia and vast distances. Below are just a few of the most notable rock art sites in Africa.
Tassili n’Ajjer
In the southeast corner of Algeria, a sand-swept, rocky plateau towers over the dunes of the Sahara. Tassili n’Ajjer was not always so dry; in past millennia, wide rivers flowed across its landscape, carving out now-eroded sandstone columns. This more hospitable climate supported human life in abundance, as evidenced by the over 15,000 paintings and engravings left behind. The cave art of Tassili n’Ajjer ranges from about 10,000 to 2,000 years old. It records periods of prosperous cattle culture, horse-riding warriors, and the later adoption of camels. Today, the plateau is protected as a national park and UNESCO World Heritage Centre.
The Ennedi Plateau
Southeast of Tassili n’Ajjer, in the nation of Chad, the Ennedi Massif offers another rocky refuge from the Sahara desert. Green oases nestled into its ravines still attract humans, their livestock, and wild animals, but like Algeria, the plateau was once much wetter. The paintings of Ennedi provide a glimpse into bygone days, when life thrived before the advancing Sahara. In 2017, however, a number of these paintings were damaged by vandals.
The Apollo 11 Cave
South of the Sahara, the landscapes of Africa transition into fertile grasslands and lush rainforest. Nations like Namibia, Botswana, and South Africa then meet the Southern Ocean with drier climates, ranging from sandy desert to mountainous forest. Discovered in 1969, just as NASA successfully landed on the moon, the Apollo 11 Cave lies in the Huns Mountains along Namibia’s border with South Africa. It is notable as the oldest known site of figurative art in Africa. There, about 25,000 years ago, its inhabitants drew animal figures on loose stones in ochre and charcoal. While the site is not as impressive as others, it represents a turning point in human art that occurred all around the world.
San Bushmen Cave Art Sites
Perhaps the most prolific rock artists of Africa are the San Bushmen, or Khoisan, a major ethnic and linguistic group of southern nations like Namibia, Botswana, Lesotho, and South Africa. Modern San peoples have inherited an artistic tradition thousands of years in the making. They include dozens of distinct cultures and language groups practicing lifestyles from pastoralism to hunting and gathering. Many view the art left behind by their ancestors as sacred sites, treating them with respect and reverence. Notable sites include Twyfelfontein and Brandberg Mountain in Namibia’s Damaraland; the Tsodilo Hills in Botswana; and Drakensberg in South Africa and Lesotho.
These locations represent only a fraction of the total rock art known in Africa today, and more are always waiting to be discovered. If these works have piqued your interest, you may be closer to ancient paintings and engravings than you know. What prehistoric art sites exist in your own area?
Sources
“Ennedi Massif: Natural and Cultural Landscape.” UNESCO, UNESCO World Heritage Centre, https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1475.
Lewis-Williams, J.D. San Rock Art. Ohio University Press, 2013.
Marchant, Jo. “A Journey to the Oldest Cave Paintings in the World.” Smithsonian, Smithsonian Institution, 1 Jan. 2016, https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/journey-oldest-cave-paintings-world-180957685/.
“Tassili N'Ajjer.” UNESCO, UNESCO World Heritage Centre, https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/179.
“Twyfelfontein or /Ui-//Aes.” UNESCO, UNESCO World Heritage Centre, https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1255.
“Where Is the Oldest Rock Art?” Bradshaw Foundation, Bradshaw Foundation, http://www.bradshawfoundation.com/africa/oldest_art/index.php.
Willcox, A.R. The Rock Art of Africa. Routledge, 2018.
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