Pastoral period
Pastoral rock art is the most common form of Central Saharan rock art, created in painted and engraved styles depicting pastoralists and bow-wielding hunters in scenes of animal husbandry, along with various animals, spanning from 6300 BCE to 700 BCE. The Pastoral Period is preceded by the Round Head Period and followed by the Caballine Period. The Early Pastoral Period spanned from 6300 BCE to 5400 BCE. Domesticated cattle were brought to the Central Sahara, and given the opportunity for becoming socially distinguished, to develop food surplus, as well as to acquire and aggregate wealth, led to the adoption of a cattle pastoral economy by some Central Saharan hunter-gatherers of the Late Acacus. In exchange, cultural information regarding utilization of vegetation in the Central Sahara was shared by Late Acacus hunter-gatherers with incoming Early Pastoral peoples.
The Middle Pastoral Period is when most of the Pastoral rock art was developed. In the Messak region of southwestern Libya, there were cattle remains set in areas in proximity to engraved Pastoral rock art depicting cattle. Stone monuments are also often found in proximity to these engraved Pastoral rock art. A complete cattle pastoral economy developed in the Acacus and Messak regions of southwestern Libya. Semi-sedentary settlements were used seasonally by Middle Pastoral peoples depending on the weather patterns.
Amid the Late Pastoral Period, animals associated with the modern savanna decreased in appearance on Central Saharan rock art and animals suited for dry environments and animals associated with the modern Sahelian increased in appearance on Central Saharan rock art. At Takarkori rockshelter, between 5000 BP and 4200 BP, Late Pastoral peoples herded goats, seasonally, and began a millennia-long tradition of creating megalithic monuments, utilized as funerary sites where individuals were buried in stone-covered tumuli that were usually away from areas of dwellings in 5000 BP.
The Final Pastoral Period was a transitory period from nomadic pastoralism toward becoming increasingly sedentary. Final Pastoral peoples were scattered, semi-migratory groups who practiced transhumance. Burial mounds were created set a part from others and small-sized burial mounds were created closely together. Final Pastoral peoples kept small pastoral animals and increasingly utilized plants. At Takarkori rockshelter, Final Pastoral peoples created burial sites for several hundred individuals that contained non-local, luxury goods and drum-type architecture in 3000 BP, which made way for the development of the Garamantian civilization.
Classifications
is categorized into different groups, based on a variety of factors.Compared to painted Round Head rock art, in addition to its art production method, depictions of domesticated cattle are what makes engraved/painted Pastoral rock art distinct; these distinct depictions in the Central Sahara serve as evidence for different populations entering the region. The decreased appearance of large undomesticated organisms and increased appearance of one-humped camels and horses depicted in latter rock art throughout the Sahara serves as evidence for the Green Sahara undergoing increased desiccation.
Chronology
Critique of overly simplistic and errant views presented in the long chronology is the value shown in the short chronology. Yet, the rather spontaneous development of Central Saharan rock art said to occur in the later 7th millennium BP, which is presented in the short chronology, is its challenge. While there is some evidence from archaeology to support this spontaneous development in 6500 BP, the amount of evidence from archaeology needed to support the short chronology, in providing explanation of the complex cultural developments in the Central Sahara, is lacking.Circular logic frequently serves as a basis for the intuitively reconstructed short chronology and long chronology. Nevertheless, a chronological model that can provide explication of the complex nature of the Holocene and the Sahara, at-large, is ideal.
With the exception of a few instances, the common assumption is that Pastoral rock art corresponds with Pastoral Neolithic cultures, which remains largely unsubstantiated. The traditional view is that of Pastoral rock art ending, followed by Horse rock art beginning and ending, and then Camel rock art beginning and ending, yet it is likely more complicated. Nevertheless, though general consensus has yet to be reached regarding correspondence between the start of the five millennia-long tradition of creating Pastoral rock art and what specific time it started in the Early Pastoral Period, the general consensus found among those who use contrasting approaches is that the start of the Pastoral rock art tradition should be viewed as corresponding with the archaeological cultures of Early Pastoral peoples.
Due to its reliance on evidence of changes caused by windblown sand, which can vary depending on the area of rock that is exposed to it, the common use of patina to discern the age of a particular rock art style, such as engravings, can be viewed as rather undependable. In the case of Pastoral rock art, what may be more dependable is the likelihood that painted cattle, engraved cattle, and pastoral motifs were composed by the same group of people. More work needs to be done to incorporate rock art styles that portray undomesticated animals into the existing chronological and cultural model.
More recently, black/dark patina, abundant in manganese, has been climatologically connected with the Green Sahara, connected with the engraving being performed before the development of the patina, and archaeologically connected with the Early Pastoral Period and before. Gray, light-colored patina, abundant in manganese, has been climatologically connected with the drying of the Green Sahara, connected with the engraving being performed amid the development of the patina, and archaeologically connected with the Middle Pastoral Period. Red patina, abundant in iron, is climatologically connected with a dry Sahara, connected with the engraving being performed after the development of the patina and before/amid mineral buildup, and archaeologically connected with the Late Pastoral Period and Final Pastoral Period. The absence of patina has been climatologically connected with a fully dry Sahara, too new for mineral buildup, and archaeologically connected with the Garamantian period and after.
A terminus post quem for the engraved rock art is established via evidence from archaeology for domesticated animals in the Central Sahara. Archaeological evidence for domesticated cattle is limited for the Early Pastoral Period, increases to established cattle pastoral economy for the Middle Pastoral Period, and decreases by the Garamantian period.
Patina containing an abundant amount of manganese underlie 53% of engraved animal rock art has been found at Wadi al-Ajal, which determines it to be probable that the engraved animal rock art at Wadi al-Ajal were engraved amid, or even prior to, the Early Pastoral Period and the Middle Pastoral Period. At Wadi al-Ajal, there were ten scattered archaeological sites - nine sites from the Early Pastoral Period and Middle Pastoral Period as well as one site likely from the Pre-Pastoral Period. Numerous engraved Pastoral rock art of animals may reflect an increase in activity among pastoralists amid the Early Pastoral Period and Middle Pastoral Period.
Amid the Middle Pastoral Period, dairy farming and cattle grazing at pastures in the area of Wadi al-Ajal as well as transhumance between the southern region of the Messak and Wadi al-Ajal may have occurred.
Amid the Late Pastoral Period and Final Pastoral Period, out of all of the engraved animal rock art, which included desert-adaptable animals, red-colored patina developed and underlay 33% of the engraved animal rock art at Wadi al-Ajal. Desertification availed new areas to creating Pastoral rock art that were previously unavailable in prior times.
Climate
Early Pastoral Period
From 8000 BP to 7500 BP, the climate of the Central Sahara may have been arid. From 6900 BP to 6400 BP, the climate of the highlands and lowlands of the Central Sahara may have been humid; consequently, from 6600 BP to 6500 BP, the lakes in Edeyen of Murzug and Uan Kasa growing to their largest.Middle Pastoral Period
The state of the Central Saharan environment amid the Early Pastoral Period and Middle Pastoral Period were favorable. Between the two periods, there was an arid period, which lasted from 7300 cal BP to 6900 cal BP.Late Pastoral Period
A considerably arid environment may have been present, which also involved wind-caused erosion in rockshelters. After 5000 BP, physical breakdown of rockshelters may have occurred as intense aridity began to set in throughout the region of the Sahara and a plant landscape similar to a steppe and desert region may have developed.Final Pastoral Period
The environment became increasingly dry and oases began to develop.Origins of Pastoralists
Pastoral Rock Art
Di Lernia et al. theorized: In 10,000 BP, black African hunter-gatherers may have migrated northward, along with the tropical monsoon rain system, from Sub-Saharan western Africa into the Central Sahara, particularly the Acacus region of Uan Muhuggiag; thereafter, in 7000 BP, pastoralists from the Near East and Eastern Sahara are believed to have migrated into the Central Sahara, along with their pastoral animals. Based on the view that some rock art from the Acacus region of Libya portrayed persons with the phenotype of white people, Savino Di Lernia characterized the Central Saharan pastoral culture that produced the child mummy of Uan Muhuggiag as mixed race.Pastoral rock art is thought to portray Mediterranean and Sub-Saharan African peoples. Most rock art is thought to predominantly depict Mediterranean peoples and depict fewer Sub-Saharan African peoples by 4000 BP. However, other scholars have contested this as Joseph Ki-Zerbo argues this view reflected modern, racial theories which "give prominence to influences from outside Africa are based on flimsy foundations" and rather all African physical types are reflected in the rock iconography.
Round Head rock art portrays human artforms with additional attributes and undomesticated animals ; the final period of the Round Head rock art portrayals have been characterized as Negroid. Pastoral rock art, as distinct from Round Head rock art, portrays situations from pastoral life and domesticated cattle; its portrayals have been characterized as Europoid.
Some rock art from the Pastoral period seem to portray Africans with Caucasian phenotypes residing among other African ethnic groups and also seem to portray some women with yellow-colored hair. While this may be the case, the uncertainty of whether or not the rock art portrayals actually reflect the phenotypic differences found among the African ethnic groups that occupied the region of ancient Libya has resulted in caution about the opinions formed regarding these rock art portrayals.