Prehistoric Fine-Line Rock Engravings in Tamanart (Morocco): Tachokalt and Anou L’haj

Abstract

In this article we isolate and analyse different graphic expressions executed with incised fine and very fine lines (stone blocks or vertical walls) in the Tamanart valley (South Morocco) which are located in two of its prehistoric art sites: Tachokalt and Anou L’haj. These present extremely patinated motifs, some zoomorphous figures whose species can not be identified, and some other ones depicting gazelles, aurochs, antelopes, ostriches and sinuous shapes (meanders) that have nothing to do with the rest of depictions registered in the area of our study (Tamanart valley) and which, at the same time, present a certain techno-stylistic and conceptual uniformity according to their conventionality and iconographic structures. From the graphic sequence that we propose for this area, which is in turn based on thematic, typological, technical and stylistic parameters, and also taking into account other aspects such as taphonomic processes, superpositions or spatial distribution, we consider these motifs to be the oldest of the series and we point out graphic parallelisms with the prehistoric art of the Iberian Peninsula, contemplating both the possibility of contacts between the south of Europe and the north of Africa as well as the achievement of similar results independently on both sides of the Strait of Gibraltar.