Egypt's Oldest Known Art Identified, Is 15,000 Years Old

[Judi Lynn]

Egypt's Oldest Known Art Identified, Is 15,000 Years Old
Dan Morrison
for National Geographic News



July 11, 2007
Rock face drawings and etchings recently rediscovered in southern Egypt are similar in age and style to the iconic Stone Age cave paintings in Lascaux, France, and Altamira, Spain, archaeologists say.

"It is not at all an exaggeration to call it 'Lascaux on the Nile,'" said expedition leader Dirk Huyge, curator of the Egyptian Collection at the Royal Museums of Art and History in Brussels, Belgium.

"The style is riveting," added Salima Ikram of the American University in Cairo, who was part of Huyge's team.

The art is "unlike anything seen elsewhere in Egypt," he said.

More:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/07/070711-egypt-artwork.html

[Jed Dilligan]

1. Very realistic and beautifully observed

Eurocentrism projected back into the Paleolithic is laughable!

Thanks for posting

[semillama]

2. The similarities to the Lascaux style are very intriguing

I think more discoveries like this one will be very important in understanding the emergence of art as a vital form of human expression.