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99-606: Rock art is categorized into different groups (e.g., Bubaline , Kel Essuf, Round Heads, Pastoral , Caballine, Cameline), based on a variety of factors (e.g., art method, organisms, motifs , superimposed). In 5000 BP, buffalo ( Bubalus antiquus ) in Africa underwent mass extinction; consequently, the engraved stone portrayals of these macroscopic, undomesticated buffalos in unenclosed rock art zones resulted in them being identified as Bubaline. In contrast, located in enclosed rock art zones, there are engraved Kel Essuf ("spirit of dead" in

198-966: A "deep significance" that is not always understandable to modern scholars. In many instances, the creation of rock art was itself a ritual act. In the Upper Palaeolithic of Europe, rock art was produced inside cave systems by the hunter-gatherer peoples who inhabited the continent. The oldest known example is the Chauvet Cave in France, although others have been located, including Lascaux in France, Alta Mira in Spain and Creswell Crags in Britain and Grotta del Genovese in Sicily . The late prehistoric rock art of Europe has been divided into three regions by archaeologists. In Atlantic Europe ,

297-429: A composition analysis, which most of these figurines are made of steatite but there are still made of other materials. As a result from these archaeological studies, these figures provided context about spheres of interaction between tribal groups, demonstrate economical significance, and possibly hold a ritual function as well. Under one study by archaeologists Richard T Fitzgerald and Christopher Corey, they dated

396-500: A narrowing which is indicative of it being a neck; additionally, this category of artforms may sometimes possess more than two appendages at the region of their “head”, bear decorative curvilinear attributes near their “shoulder” regions, and even bear trace evidence of having previously been painted. The Kel Essuf rock art tradition of engraving may have developed into the monumental Round Head rock art tradition of painting . The painted Round Head rock art of Aman Sammedni, located in

495-807: A population of approximately 1.2 billion, Africa only has 37 weather radar stations, in stark contrast to the 636 stations in the United States and European Union. This scarcity of weather stations and early warning systems leads to inadequate disaster preparedness and response, compounded by maintenance issues with many existing radar systems. The lack of proper infrastructure results in high fatality rates and extensive damage during disasters. For instance, in 2023, severe flooding and landslides around Lake Kivu resulted in at least 600 deaths, and Cyclone Idai in East Africa caused over 1,000 deaths due to insufficient early warnings. These incidents underscore

594-719: A refined material culture (e.g., stone tools, decorated pottery ) as early as 10,000 BP, also created the engraved Kel Essuf and painted Round Head rock art styles located in the region (e.g., some in the Acacus , some in the Tadrart) of Libya , in the region (e.g., some in the Tadrart , most abundant in Tassili n'Ajjer ) of Algeria , in the region (e.g., Djado) of Nigeria , and the region (e.g., Djado ) of Niger . Concealed remnants of dismantled furnished flooring are found in 75% of

693-452: A result, there will be negative consequences on people's lives and sustainable development in Africa. Over the coming decades, warming from climate change is expected across almost all the Earth's surface, and global mean rainfall will increase. Currently, Africa is warming faster than the rest of the world on average. Large portions of the continent may become uninhabitable as a result of

792-401: A rock relief or rock-cut relief is a relief sculpture carved on solid or "living rock" such as a cliff, rather than a detached piece of stone. They are a category of rock art, and sometimes found in conjunction with rock-cut architecture . However, they tend to be omitted in most works on rock art, which concentrate on engravings and paintings by prehistoric peoples. A few such works exploit

891-544: A savannah climate in Sub-Saharan Africa, such as Ghana , Burkina Faso , Darfur , Eritrea , Ethiopia , and Botswana have a distinct rainy season. El Nino results in drier-than-normal conditions in Southern Africa from December to February, and wetter-than-normal conditions in equatorial East Africa over the same period. In Madagascar , trade winds bring moisture up the eastern slopes of

990-656: A significant component of their cultural heritage. It also serves as an important source of cultural tourism, and hence as economic revenue in certain parts of the world. As such, images taken from cave art have appeared on memorabilia and other artifacts sold as a part of the tourist industry. In most climates, only paintings in sheltered sites, in particular caves, have survived for any length of time. Therefore, these are usually called "cave paintings", although many do survive in "rock-shelters" or cliff-faces under an overhang. In prehistoric times, these were often popular places for various human purposes, providing some shelter from

1089-726: A specific point in time and space (in Rose Valley, Inyo County). Rose Valley is located in the boundaries of the cultural Great Basin and the territory of the Timbisha Shoshone . This site is important to understanding the symbolism and value of North American rock art because it is one of the largest collections of rock art unrelated to the Coso (an indigenous tribe/people of the Mojave Desert ). Its importance to territorial and anthropological studies helps many understand

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1188-554: A stamp. Alternately, the pigment could have been applied on dry, such as with a stick of charcoal. In some societies, the paint itself has symbolic and religious meaning; for instance, among hunter-gatherer groups in California, paint was only allowed to be traded by the group shamans, while in other parts of North America, the word for "paint" was the same as the word for "supernatural spirit". One common form of pictograph, found in many, although not all rock-art producing cultures,

1287-544: A standardized reference model, the Kel Essuf rock artforms of category two possess appendages on their sides, with semi-disc-shaped aspects that may be interpreted as being shoulders, and three finger-like digits extending from the ends of the two appendages. The Kel Essuf rock artforms of category three possess two appendages on their sides that are curvilinear (two parallel lines that do not close at their ends), an additional appendage without finger-like digits, and possesses

1386-548: Is a charcoal drawing on a rock fragment found during the excavation of the Nawarla Gabarnmang rock shelter in south western Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory . Dated at 28,000 years, it is one of the oldest known pieces of rock art on Earth with a confirmed date. Nawarla Gabarnmang has one of the most extensive collections of rock art in the world and predates both Lascaux and Chauvet cave art -

1485-583: Is a negative print of the hand, and is sometimes described as a " stencil " in Australian archaeology. Miniature stencilled art has been found at two locations in Australia and one in Indonesia . Petroglyphs are engravings or carvings into rock which is left in situ . They can be created with a range of scratching, engraving or carving techniques, often with the use of a hard hammerstone , which

1584-403: Is a range of climates such as the equatorial climate , the tropical wet and dry climate , the tropical monsoon climate , the semi-arid climate (semi-desert and steppe), the desert climate (hyper-arid and arid), the humid subtropical climate , and the subtropical highland climate . Temperate climates are rare across the continent except at very high elevations and along the fringes. In fact,

1683-840: Is a rare occurrence in Johannesburg ; it fell in May 1956, August 1962, June 1964, September 1981, August 2006, and on 27 June 2007, accumulating up to 10 centimetres (3.9 in) in the southern suburbs. Additionally, snow regularly falls in the Atlas Mountains in the Maghreb , as well as the Mediterranean regions and Sinai peninsula of Egypt . Snowfall is also a regular occurrence at Mount Kenya and Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. There have been permanent glaciers on

1782-420: Is a subset of the wider term, rock art. It is mostly on rock walls, but may be on ceilings and floors. A wide variety of techniques have been used in its creation. The term usually is applied only to prehistoric art , but it may be used for art of any date. Sheltered parietal art has had a far better chance of surviving for very long periods, and what now survives may represent only a very small proportion of what

1881-486: Is always high, and it is a hot continent. Warm and hot climates prevail all over Africa, but mostly the northern part is marked by aridity and high temperatures . Only the northernmost and the southernmost fringes of the continent have a Mediterranean climate . The equator runs through the middle of Africa, as do the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn, making Africa the most tropical continent. Globally, heating of

1980-463: Is at Dallol, Ethiopia , which averages a temperature of 33.9 °C (93.0 °F) throughout the year. The hottest temperature recorded within Africa, which was also the world record, was 57.8 °C (136.0 °F) at 'Aziziya , Libya, on 13 September 1922. This was later proven to be false, being derived from an inaccurate reading of a thermometer. The world's hottest place is in fact Death Valley , in California. Apparent temperatures, combining

2079-550: Is battered against the stone surface. In certain societies, the choice of hammerstone itself has religious significance. In other instances, the rock art is pecked out through indirect percussion, as a second rock is used like a chisel between the hammerstone and the panel. A third, rarer form of engraving rock art was through incision, or scratching, into the surface of the stone with a lithic flake or metal blade. The motifs produced using this technique are fine-lined and often difficult to see. Normally found in literate cultures,

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2178-472: Is crucial to focus on the variable resources to understand how cultures were abiding with their environment. However, the rock art related sites at Little Rock can't be directly dated or analyzed. Australian Indigenous art represents the oldest unbroken tradition of art in the world. There are more than 100,000 recorded rock art sites in Australia . The oldest firmly dated rock-art painting in Australia

2277-675: Is found in caves or partly enclosed rock shelters ; this type also may be called cave art or parietal art . A global phenomenon, rock art is found in many culturally diverse regions of the world. It has been produced in many contexts throughout human history. In terms of technique, the four main groups are: The oldest known rock art dates from the Upper Palaeolithic period, having been found in Europe, Australia, Asia, and Africa. Anthropologists studying these artworks believe that they likely had magico-religious significance. The archaeological sub-discipline of rock art studies first developed in

2376-615: Is known as the Hadley cell and leads to the formation of the subtropical ridge. Many of the world's deserts are caused by these climatological high-pressure areas , including the Sahara Desert. Temperatures are hottest within the Sahara regions of Algeria and Mali , and coolest across the south and at elevation within the topography across the eastern and northwest sections of the continent. The hottest average temperature on Earth

2475-493: Is that it is placed on natural rock surfaces; in this way, it is distinct from artworks placed on constructed walls or free-standing sculpture. As such, rock art is a form of landscape art, and includes designs that have been placed on boulder and cliff faces, cave walls, and ceilings, and on the ground surface. Rock art is a global phenomenon, being found in many different regions of the world. There are various forms of rock art. Some archaeologists also consider pits and grooves in

2574-436: Is the hand print. There are three forms of this; the first involves covering the hand in wet paint and then applying it to the rock. The second involves a design being painted onto the hand, which is then in turn added to the surface. The third involves the hand first being placed against the panel, with dry paint then being blown onto it through a tube, in a process that is akin to air-brush or spray-painting. The resulting image

2673-570: Is under study in Colombia , South America at Serranía de la Lindosa was revealed in November 2020. Their age is suggested as being 12,500 years old (c. 10,480 B.C.) by the anthropologists working on the site because of extinct fauna depicted. Rock paintings or pictographs are located in many areas across Canada. There are over 400 sites attributed to the Ojibway from northern Saskatchewan to

2772-702: The Ottawa River . However, cave art is not the only type of rock art. While cave art provides the two-dimensional view on a rocky surface, figurines made of a rock material can provide a three-dimensional view that gives insight on indigenous views towards their visual arts. Many sites along and off the California coastline, such as the Channel Islands and Malibu , have both realistic and abstract styles of zoomorphic effigy figurines. From archaeological studies at these sites, archaeologists and other researchers discovered many of these figurines and performed

2871-776: The Rwenzori Mountains , on the border of Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo . However, by the 2010s, the glaciers were in retreat, and they are under threat of disappearing through rising temperatures. Climate change in Africa is an increasingly serious threat as Africa is among the most vulnerable continents to the effects of climate change . Some sources even classify Africa as "the most vulnerable continent on Earth". Climate change and climate variability will likely reduce agricultural production , food security and water security . As

2970-684: The Tadrart of Algeria and a few archaeological sites in the Tadrart of Libya depicting at least twenty Kel Essuf rock artforms. Kel Essuf rock art usually depicts oval-shaped artforms, which possess four short appendages – two upper appendages, or arms, that may have between three and four finger-like digits, and two lower appendages, or legs – as well as an additional appendage, or penile appendage, without finger-like digits, which may be indicative of maleness. More than 90% of Kel Essuf rock artforms bear an additional appendage, which do not possess finger-like digits. The Kel Essuf rock artforms can be divided into three sub-categories. With category one serving as

3069-877: The Westerlies , can also bring significant winter rainfall. Once a decade, tropical cyclones lead to excessive rainfall across the region. Snow is an almost annual occurrence on some of the mountains of South Africa, including those of the Cedarberg and around Ceres in the South-Western Cape, and on the Drakensberg in Natal and Lesotho . Tiffendell Resort, in the Drakensberg , is the only commercial ski resort in South Africa, and has "advanced snow-making capability" allowing skiing for three months of

Kel Essuf Period - Misplaced Pages Continue

3168-532: The late period of the Pleistocene , with its varied climate system, the mountainous environment remained sufficiently humid, which allowed for animal, plant, and human life to be sustained. Amid the Kel Essuf Period, there may have been increasing regional isolation due to adverse climate within the region. Mori (1967) first hypothesized that Round Head rock art evolved from Kel Essuf rock art in

3267-581: The megafauna may have persisted later in refugia (wetter areas of the continent) as suggested by Wells (1985: 228) and has suggested a much younger age for the paintings. Pigments from the Gwion Gwion of the Kimberley are so old they have become part of the rock itself, making carbon dating impossible. Some experts suggest that these paintings are in the vicinity of 50,000 years old and may even pre-date Aboriginal settlement. Miniature rock art of

3366-506: The stencilled variety at a rock shelter known as Yilbilinji, in the Limmen National Park in the Northern Territory , is one of only three known examples of such art. Usually stencilled art is life-size, using body parts as the stencil, but the 17 images of designs of human figures, boomerangs , animals such as crabs and long-necked turtles , wavy lines and geometric shapes are very rare. Found in 2017 by archaeologists ,

3465-767: The Acacus region; this hypothesized evolution of one rock art type into another receives support due to Round Head rock art having been superimposed upon Kel Essuf rock art in the Tadrart of Algeria. The superimposed state of Round Head rock art upon Kel Essuf rock art is viewed as showing that Kel Essuf rock art chronologically precedes Round Head rock art and is also perceived as a pattern of development, from simpler detailed Kel Essuf engravings to more complexly detailed (e.g., fingers) Round Head paintings. Mori (1967) has found continued support by Hallier & Hallier (1999) and Streidter et al. (2002–2003). The striking likenesses between

3564-607: The Americas is known as the "Horny Little Man". It is petroglyph depicting a stick figure with an oversized phallus and carved in Lapa do Santo , a cave in central-eastern Brazil. The most important site is Serra da Capivara National Park at Piauí state. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site with the largest collection in the American continent and one of the most studied. A site including eight miles of paintings or pictographs that

3663-509: The Central Saharan rockshelters where Kel Essuf rock artforms are found. The furnished flooring in these rockshelters were likely created for the purpose of collecting water and were subsequently dismantled after the earliest Round Head rock art began to be created. Based on these furnished floors purposed for the collection of spring water, the Kel Essuf rock art, which are cultural facies , may date at least as early as 12,000 BP amid

3762-521: The Djado mountains of northern Niger are viewed as having great likeness with the Round Head rock art in the region (e.g., Tadrart, Tassili) of Algeria and to some art in the region (e.g., Acacus) of Libya; hence, this is viewed as showing that the hunting societies who created these rock art were of the same cultural unit and cultural ideology, though having cultural varieties unique to each area. While

3861-600: The Indian Ocean across East Africa and to the Congo rainforest. In doing so, they leave East Africa unusually dry for its latitude. Low-level southwesterlies emanating from the Gulf of Guinea are the key moisture source for the West African monsoon in northern hemisphere summer. The Tropical Easterly Jet , which forms high up in the atmosphere, 15-17 km above the surface, is another important factor. Variations to

3960-580: The Kel Essuf and Round Head rock artforms, along with likeness in shape, include the following notable traits: forms shaped like a “half-moon” connected to the shoulder(s), engraved forms shaped like a “half-moon” near “figures”, forms bearing bows and sticks, and horns atop the heads of the Kel Essuf forms that are like the Round Head forms in configuration (e.g., shape, position). Due to the absence of these likenesses in Pastoral rock artforms, these likenesses may be concluded as cultural particularities unique to

4059-472: The Kel Essuf rock art and Bubaline rock art have not been found layered above one another, in addition to the Kel Essuf rock art being found within a dark hued patina , it has been found layered beneath Round Head rock art. Due to the layering and the artistic commonalities between the Kel Essuf rock art and Round Head rock art of the Central Sahara , the engraved Kel Essuf rock art is regarded to be

Kel Essuf Period - Misplaced Pages Continue

4158-619: The Round Head rock art is found in less abundance in the mountainous regions (e.g., Tadrart, Acacus) of Algeria and Libya, it is found in greatest abundance in the plateau area of Tassili. The precursors for Round Head rock art may have originated in the mountainous northern area (e.g., Adrar Bous, Air) of Niger. These areas are viewed as archaeologically similar (e.g., pottery). Undomesticated flora and animals were used in Epipaleolithic and Mesolithic hunter-gatherer cultures between 10,000 BP and 8000 BP as well as 8800 BP and 7400 BP. Based on

4257-583: The Round Head rock art tradition well into the Pastoral Period . Based on the furnished floors purposed for the collection of spring water, the Kel Essuf rock art, which are cultural facies , may date at least as early as 12,000 BP amid the late period of the Pleistocene . From 60,000 BP or 40,000 BP to 20,000 BP, the Aterian culture existed. Between 16th to 15th millennium BP, the environment

4356-615: The Sahara is a narrow semi-desert steppe (a semi-arid region) called the Sahel , while Africa's most southern areas contain both savanna plains , and its central portion, including the Congo Basin , contains very dense jungle ( rainforest ) regions. The western equatorial region is the wettest portion of the continent. Annually, the rain belt across the continent moves northward into Sub-Saharan Africa by August, then passes back southward into south-central Africa by March. Areas with

4455-473: The Sahara may be linked with the origin of both the Round Head and Kel Essuf rock art, which occupy rockshelters in the same regions (e.g., Djado , Acacus , Tadrart ) as well as have common resemblances (e.g., traits, shapes) with one another. Kel Essuf rock art is the earliest form of engraved anthropomorphic Central Saharan rock art , which was produced prior to 9800 BP. There are twenty archaeological sites depicting more than 300 Kel Essuf rock artforms in

4554-460: The Tuareg language) art, which portray short-armed, little human artforms with legs and penile appendages. Human and undomesticated animal (e.g., Barbary sheep , antelope ) artforms are usually portrayed, with a variety of details (e.g., dancing , ceremonies , masks , spiritual animal forms), in painted Round Head rock art. Painted Round Head rock art and engraved Kel Essuf rock art usually share

4653-475: The artistic precursor to the painted Round Head rock art. Credence to the high chronology is given via decoratively detailed Saharan ceramics dated to 10,726 BP. A spatula and lithic grinding tools with ocher remnants on them, which serves as evidence of painting, were found in an Acacus rockshelter with Round Head rock art. Paint from Round Head rock art in the region (e.g., Acacus) of Libya was also tested and dated to 6379 BP. Altogether, these show continuation of

4752-421: The band was twice the height of the others, and held in his hand something resembling the whaddie, or wooden sword of the natives of Port Jackson ; and was probably intended to represent a chief. They could not, as with us, indicate superiority by clothing or ornament, since they wore none of any kind; and therefore, with the addition of a weapon, similar to the ancients, they seem to have made superiority of person

4851-442: The chasms were deep holes or caverns undermining the cliffs; upon the walls of which I found rude drawings, made with charcoal and something like red paint upon the white ground of the rock. These drawings represented porpoises, turtle, kanguroos [sic], and a human hand; and Mr. Westall, who went afterwards to see them, found the representation of a kanguroo [sic], with a file of thirty-two persons following after it. The third person of

4950-420: The climate of Africa is more variable by rainfall amount than by temperatures, which are consistently high. African deserts are the sunniest and the driest parts of the continent, owing to the prevailing presence of the subtropical ridge with subsiding, hot, dry air masses. Africa holds many heat-related records: the continent has the hottest extended region year-round, the areas with the hottest summer climate,

5049-592: The coastal seaboard on the west of the continent, which stretches from Iberia up through France and encompasses the British Isles, a variety of different rock arts were produced from the Neolithic through to the Late Bronze Age . A second area of the continent to contain a significant rock art tradition was that of Alpine Europe , with the majority of artworks being clustered in the southern slopes of

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5148-637: The country's strongest ever landfall. In 2020, Cyclone Freddy struck Mozambique in two different locations, producing widespread rainfall that killed 1,434 people along its path, mostly in Malawi. Occasionally, cyclones in the Mediterranean can affect northern Africa, and which also have characteristics of a tropical cyclone. In September 2023, Storm Daniel moved ashore Libya and produced heavy rainfall, producing flash flooding after two dams failed. The storm killed at least 4,333 people in

5247-591: The country, becoming the deadliest storm to hit Africa in recorded history. In September 1969, a cyclone in the Mediterranean Sea killed nearly 600 people in Tunisia and Libya . Cyclones from the Indian Ocean can strike the Horn of Africa . In November 2013, a deep depression struck Somalia and killed 162 people while also causing extensive livestock damage. The temperature contrast between

5346-491: The culture and period concerned, and except for Hittite and Persian examples they are generally discussed as part of that wider subject. The vertical relief is most common, but reliefs on essentially horizontal surfaces are also found. The term typically excludes relief carvings inside caves , whether natural or themselves man-made, which are especially found in India. Natural rock formations made into statues or other sculpture in

5445-412: The dark hued patina . Rock walls were estimated to have developed between 9200 BP and 5500 BP using substances of organic origin found within the depths of the rock walls. The Qurta rock art of prehistoric Egypt , which portray undomesticated animals, has been estimated to a minimum of 15,000 BP; this has been used as an additional consideration for Bubaline rock art dating well before 10,000 BP. While

5544-581: The dates acquired for the ceramics in the northern Sahara (8th millennium BP), Tibesti (8949 BP), Libya (8950 BP), and Tin Hanakaten (9420 BP), the core area for the most ancient ceramics of the Sahara may have likely been in the shared region (e.g., Tassili, Air , Adrar Bous ) of Niger and Algeria. The Round Head rock artists may have originated in this core area, and may have had a cultural practice of association, via long distance, among other Round Head rock artists. The emergence and expansion of ceramics in

5643-620: The desert pavements (pebbles covering the ground) to reveal a negative image on the bedrock below. The best known example of such intaglio rock art is the Nazca Lines of Peru . In contrast, geoglyphs are positive images, which are created by piling up rocks on the ground surface to resulting in a visible motif or design. Traditionally, individual markings are called motifs and groups of motifs are known as panels . Sequences of panels are treated as archaeological sites . This method of classifying rock art however has become less popular as

5742-470: The earliest figurines to be around the Middle Holocene, suggesting two socioeconomic interactive spheres (one in the northern and one in the southern Channel Islands) and linguistic similarities between Takic-speaking Gabrileno and Chumash neighbors. These figurines share similar styles between these tribes, providing a history of interactive contact. Little Lake is a complex of rock art located in

5841-547: The earliest known art in Europe - by at least 10,000 years. In 2008 rock art depicting what is thought to be a Thylacoleo was discovered on the north-western coast of the Kimberley . As the Thylacoleo is believed to have become extinct 45000–46000 years ago (Roberts et al. 2001) (Gillespie 2004), this suggests a similar age for the associated Gwion Gwion rock paintings . Archaeologist Kim Akerman however believes that

5940-530: The early 21st century. In the Sahel , the increase has been as much as 3 °C for the minimum temperature at the end of the dry season. Data for temperature and rainfall shows discrepancies from the norm, both in timing and location. For instance, Kenya has a high vulnerability to the impacts of climate change. The main climate hazards include droughts and floods as rainfall will likely become more intense and less predictable. Climate models predict that temperatures will rise by 0.5 to 2 °C. In

6039-466: The earth near the equator leads to large amounts of upward motion and convection along the monsoon trough or Intertropical Convergence Zone . The divergence over the near-equatorial trough leads to air rising and moving away from the equator aloft. As it moves towards the Mid-Latitudes, the air cools and sinks, which leads to subsidence near the 30th parallel of both hemispheres. This circulation

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6138-858: The eastern coast with the Indian Ocean. Powerful tropical cyclones regularly affect southeastern Africa. On average, 1.5 tropical cyclones strike Madagascar each year, which is the most affected area in Africa. In March 1927, a tropical cyclone struck eastern Madagascar, killing at least 500 people. In March 2004, Cyclone Gafilo hit northeastern Madagascar as one of the island's strongest ever cyclones, killing 363 people, leaving US$ 250 million in damage. In March 2019, Cyclone Idai hit central Mozambique and killed 1,302 people across Southern Africa, – affecting more than 3 million people. Total damages from Idai across Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Madagascar, and Malawi were estimated to be at least $ 2.2 billion (2019 USD ). Roughly one month later, Cyclone Kenneth struck northern Mozambique as

6237-468: The effect of the temperature and humidity, along the Red Sea coast of Eritrea and Gulf of Aden coast of Somalia range between 57 °C (135 °F) and 63 °C (145 °F) during the afternoon hours. The lowest temperature measured within Africa was −24 °C (−11 °F) at Ifrane , Morocco, on 11 February 1935. Nevertheless, the major part of Africa experiences extreme heat during much of

6336-707: The existence of the Somali Desert. Low-level jets of the Sahara are known to be important for raising dust off the dry desert surface. For example, the low-level jet over Chad, is the driver of dust emission from the Bodélé Depression , the largest source of atmospheric dust on the planet. Easterly low-level jets which form in river valleys across the East African Rift System supply millions of tonnes of water vapour originating from

6435-513: The high rock shelters of the Tadrart region of Algeria, bear close resemblance to the standard engraved Kel Essuf rock art. Painted Round Head rock art and engraved Kel Essuf rock art usually share the same region and occasionally the same rockshelters. Round Head rock art bears considerable similarity with traditional Sub-Saharan African cultures . Amid an early period of the Holocene, semi-settled Epipaleolithic and Mesolithic hunters, who created

6534-454: The highest sunshine duration, and more. Owing to Africa's position across equatorial and subtropical latitudes in both the northern and southern hemisphere, several different climate types can be found within it. The continent mainly lies within the intertropical zone between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn , hence its interesting density of humidity. Precipitation intensity

6633-425: The hot Sahara Desert in northern Africa and the cooler Gulf of Guinea to the south produces the African easterly jet , which generates tropical waves , or an elongated area of low pressure . These waves are often the formation source of Atlantic and Pacific hurricanes . Africa's weather forecasting infrastructure is significantly underdeveloped, affecting its ability to manage severe weather events. With

6732-459: The hunter-gatherers who created the Kel Essuf and Round Head rock artforms. A cultural particularity unique to the Kel Essuf rock art, in contrast to the Round Head rock art, are penile forms; these penile forms, or additional appendages, may be indicative of maleness, and may be absent from the Round Head rock art due to taboo. Aside this absence, both the Kel Essuf and Round Head rock art are largely composed of male artforms. Comparative analysis of

6831-400: The in-depth descriptions and stylistic analyses of large rock art concentrations, which are valued by archaeologists, anthropologists, ethnographers, and even art enthusiasts. Referring back to these sites help social scientists understand and record the values that were important to the creators; it shows economic values or settlement patterns that were once a daily part of life. As a result, it

6930-401: The informal urban settlements of Nairobi the urban heat island effect adds to the problem as it creates even warmer ambient temperatures. This is due to home construction materials, lack of ventilation, sparse green space, and poor access to electrical power and other services. In chapter 9 of the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report, it is reported that although greenhouse gas emissions are among

7029-404: The island's rock shelters, Flinders discovered an array of painted and stenciled patterns. To record these images, he enlisted the ship's artist, William Westall . Westall's two watercolour sketches are the earliest known documentation of Australian rock art. In his journal, Flinders not only detailed the location and the artworks but also authored the inaugural site report: In the deep sides of

7128-441: The island, which is deposited as rainfall, and bring drier downsloped winds to areas south and west, leaving the western sections of the island in a rain shadow . This leads to significantly more rainfall over northeast sections of Madagascar than its southwestern portions. Southern Africa receives most of its rainfall from summer convective storms, tropical lows, mesoscale convective systems . Extratropical cyclones moving through

7227-583: The late period of the Pleistocene . Given the occurrences of furnished flooring for collecting water and production of engraved Kel Essuf rock art, these rockshelters may have been inhabited during periods of decreased availability of local water sources. Consequently, there may have been increasing regional isolation due to adverse climate within the region. Rock art#North Africa In archaeology , rock arts are human-made markings placed on natural surfaces, typically vertical stone surfaces. A high proportion of surviving historic and prehistoric rock art

7326-590: The late-19th century among Francophone scholars studying the rock art of the Upper Palaeolithic found in the cave systems of parts of Western Europe. Rock art continues to be of importance to indigenous peoples in various parts of the world, who view them as both sacred items and significant components of their cultural heritage. Such archaeological sites may become significant sources of cultural tourism and have been used in popular culture for their aesthetic qualities. The term rock art appears in

7425-488: The lowest in Africa, anthropogenic climate change has severely threatened daily life. People experience extreme food insecurity, high mortality rates, major biodiversity loss, and more as a result of global warming. Additionally, because of reduced economic activity and growth and inequities in funding, the ability for adaptation to these conditions is also reduced. Tornadoes can occur regularly in South Africa along

7524-639: The mountainous region, in what is now south-eastern France and northern Italy. Cave paintings are found in most parts of Southern Africa that have rock overhangs with smooth surfaces. Among these sites are the cave sandstone of Natal, Orange Free State and North-Eastern Cape, the granite and Waterberg sandstone of the Northern Transvaal, and the Table Mountain sandstone of the Southern and Western Cape. The oldest reliably dated rock art in

7623-553: The natural contours of the rock and use them to define an image, but they do not amount to man-made reliefs. Rock reliefs have been made in many cultures, and were especially important in the art of the Ancient Near East . Rock reliefs are generally fairly large, as they need to be to make an impact in the open air. Most have figures that are over life-size, and in many the figures are multiples of life-size. Stylistically they normally relate to other types of sculpture from

7722-576: The only other recorded examples are at Nielson's Creek in New South Wales and at Kisar Island in Indonesia. It is thought that the designs may have been created by stencils fashioned out of beeswax . The first European discovery of aboriginal rock paintings took place on 14 January 1803. While on a surveying expedition along the shores and islands of the Gulf of Carpentaria , British navigator and explorer Matthew Flinders made landfall on rugged Chasm Island off Groote Eylandt . Within

7821-502: The origins of art and belief. One of the most significant figures in this movement was the South African archaeologist David Lewis-Williams , who published his studies of San rock art from southern Africa, in which he combined ethnographic data to reveal the original purpose of the artworks. Lewis-Williams would come to be praised for elevating rock art studies to a "theoretically sophisticated research domain" by Whitley. However,

7920-667: The principal emblem of superior power, of which, indeed, power is usually a consequence in the very early stages of society. In New Zealand, North Otago and South Canterbury have a rich range of early Māori rock art. The archaeological sub-discipline devoted to the investigation of rock art is known as "rock art studies". Rock art specialist David S. Whitley noted that research in this area required an "integrated effort" that brings together archaeological theory , method, fieldwork, analytical techniques and interpretation. Although French archaeologists had undertaken much research into rock art, Anglophone archaeology had largely neglected

8019-403: The published literature as early as the 1940s. It has also been described as "rock carvings", "rock drawings", "rock engravings", "rock inscriptions", "rock paintings", "rock pictures", "rock records", and "rock sculptures". Parietal art is a term for art in caves ; this definition usually extended to art in rock shelters under cliff overhangs. Popularly, it is called "cave art", and

8118-400: The rapid effects of climate change, which would have disastrous effects on human health, food security, and poverty. Regional effects on rainfall in the tropics are expected to be much more spatially variable. The direction of change at any one location is often less certain. Observed surface temperatures have generally increased by about 1 °C in Africa since the late 19th century to

8217-486: The rock art from Tassili n’Ajjer and Djado resulted in the conclusion that the Round Head rock art of Djado was the precursor to the Round Head rock art of Tassili n’Ajjer. With the enneris of the mountainous area of Djado as its origin, the creators of the Round Head rock art of Djado migrated, from Djado to Tassili, and, as continuation of the Djado artistic tradition, produced the Round Head rock art of Tassili n’Ajjer. The "pecked Djado-Roundheads", or Kel Essuf rock art, in

8316-451: The rock known as cupules , or cups or rings , as a form of rock art. Although there are exceptions, the majority of rock art whose creation was recorded by ethnographers had been produced during rituals. As such, the study of rock art is a component of the archaeology of religion. Rock art serves multiple purposes in the contemporary world. In several regions, it remains spiritually important to indigenous peoples , who view it as

8415-582: The round, most famously at the Great Sphinx of Giza , are also usually excluded. Reliefs on large boulders left in their natural location, like the Hittite İmamkullu relief , are likely to be included, but smaller boulders may be called stelae or carved orthostats . Earth figures are large designs and motifs that are created on the stone ground surface. They can be classified through their method of manufacture. Intaglios are created by scraping away

8514-443: The same region and occasionally the same rockshelters in contrast to engraved Bubaline rock art, which rarely appear in rock art zones where painted Round Head rock art is portrayed predominantly. For the rock art of the Sahara , the most contentious among academic debates has remained the topic of chronology. Round Head, Kel Essuf, and Bubaline rock art, as the oldest chronological types, have been regarded as less certain compared to

8613-561: The speed and position of this jet stream can affect rainfall in the Congo Basin and the Sahel . Great parts of North Africa and Southern Africa as well as the whole Horn of Africa mainly have a hot desert climate , or a hot semi-arid climate for the wetter locations. The Sahara Desert in North Africa is the largest hot desert in the world and is one of the hottest, driest and sunniest places on Earth. Located just south of

8712-540: The structure imposed is unlikely to have had any relevance to the art's creators. Even the word 'art' carries with it many modern prejudices about the purpose of the features. Rock art can be found across a wide geographical and temporal spread of cultures perhaps to mark territory, to record historical events or stories or to help enact rituals . Some art seems to depict real events whilst many other examples are apparently entirely abstract. Prehistoric rock depictions were not purely descriptive. Each motif and design had

8811-657: The study of rock art worldwide is marked by considerable differences of opinion with respect to the appropriateness of various methods and the most relevant and defensible theoretical framework. The UNESCO World Rock Art Archive Working Group met in 2011 to discuss the base model for a World Rock Art Archive. While no official output has been generated to date, various projects around the world — such as The Global Rock Art Database — are looking at making rock art heritage information more accessible and more visible to assist with rock art awareness, conservation and preservation issues. Climate of Africa The climate of Africa

8910-533: The subject for decades. The discipline of rock art studies witnessed what Whitley called a "revolution" during the 1980s and 1990s, as increasing numbers of archaeologists in the Anglophone world and Latin America turned their attention to the subject. In doing so, they recognised that rock art could be used to understand symbolic and religious systems, gender relations, cultural boundaries, cultural change and

9009-469: The tropical Atlantic and the eastern part of the Pacific during the warm season. The jet exhibits both barotropic and baroclinic instability , which produces synoptic-scale , westward-propagating disturbances in the jet known as African easterly waves, or tropical waves. A small number of mesoscale storm systems embedded in these waves develop into tropical cyclones after they move from west Africa into

9108-472: The tropical Atlantic, mainly during August and September. When the jet lies south of normal during the peak months of the Atlantic hurricane season , tropical cyclone formation is suppressed. Low-level jets are fast winds which form close to the surface (within 1.5 km). They affect a number of climate processes across Africa. The Somali Low-level Jet, which forms of the coast of East Africa, contributes to

9207-410: The use of ground ochre , while black paint is typically composed of charcoal , or sometimes from minerals such as manganese . White paint is usually created from natural chalk, kaolinite clay or diatomaceous earth. Once the pigments had been obtained, they would be ground and mixed with a liquid, such as water, blood, urine, or egg yolk, and then applied to the stone as paint using a brush, fingers, or

9306-407: The weather, as well as light. There may have been many more paintings in more exposed sites, that are now lost. Pictographs are paintings or drawings that have been placed onto the rock face. Such artworks have typically been made with mineral earths and other natural compounds found across much of the world. The predominantly used colours are red, black and white. Red paint is usually attained through

9405-519: The year, especially the deserts, semi-deserts, steppes and savannas. The African deserts are arguably the hottest places on Earth, especially the Sahara Desert and the Danakil Desert, located in the Horn of Africa. The mid-level African easterly jet stream north of the equator is considered to play a crucial role in the West African monsoon , and helps form the tropical waves which march across

9504-908: The year. The Mountain Club of South Africa (MCSA) and the Mountain and Ski Club (MSC) of the University of Cape Town both have equipped ski huts in the Hex River mountains. Skiing including snowboarding in the Cape is a hit-and-miss affair, both in terms of timing of snowfalls, and whether there is sufficient snow to cover the rocks. Table Mountain gets a light dusting of snow on the Front Table and also at Devil's Peak every few years. Snowfalls on Table Mountain took place on 20 September 2013; 30 August 2013; 5 August 2011; and on 15 June 2010. Snow

9603-412: The younger chronological types (e.g., rock art depicting Saharan animals, which could be chronologically approximated to a specific timespan). Consequently, two types of chronologies (i.e., high chronology, low chronology) were developed. The date for Bubaline rock art was approximated to the late period of the Pleistocene or early period of the Holocene using remnants of clay, manganese, and iron oxide in

9702-460: Was created. Both parietal and cave art refer to cave paintings , drawings, etchings, carvings, and pecked artwork on the interior of caves and rock shelters. Generally, these either are engraved (essentially meaning scratched) or painted, or, they are created using a combination of the two techniques. Parietal art is found very widely throughout the world, and in many places new examples are being discovered. The defining characteristic of rock art

9801-410: Was humid. From 20,000 BP to 13,000 BP, there was a varied climate system. The high elevated regions with mountains were considerably more wet than low elevated regions without mountains, which led to the variation in climate. Regions of high elevation had occurrences of considerable rainfall, to the extent that lakes developed, whereas, regions of low elevation had occurrences of considerable dryness. Amid

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