MARC21: Pastoralist appropriation of landscape by means of rock art in Ennedi Highlands, Chad

Pastoralist appropriation of landscape by means of rock art in Ennedi Highlands, Chad

Research into the Saharan rock art has from the very first day been linked to the question of how the people of the past managed to live in this environment. It was about the enigma of climatic conditions and cattle herders who obviously once inhabited regions that meanwhile have become uninhabitabl...

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Pubblicato in:	URI:https://journals.openedition.org/aaa,
Autore principale:	Lenssen-Erz, Tilman
Natura:	Article ou chapitre numérique
Lingua:	Anglais
Pubblicazione:	Afrique : Archéologie et Arts 2015
Soggetti:	art rupestre appropriation du paysage pastoralisme bétail rock art landscape appropriation pastoralism cattle
Accesso online:	Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM

id	openedition-oai:revues.org:aaa_414
record_format	openedition
collection	OpenEdition Journal
language	Anglais
format	Article ou chapitre numérique
building	0/Bibliothèque numérique/ 1/Bibliothèque numérique/OpenEdition Journals/
topic	art rupestre appropriation du paysage pastoralisme bétail rock art landscape appropriation pastoralism cattle
spellingShingle	art rupestre appropriation du paysage pastoralisme bétail rock art landscape appropriation pastoralism cattle Lenssen-Erz, Tilman Pastoralist appropriation of landscape by means of rock art in Ennedi Highlands, Chad
description	Research into the Saharan rock art has from the very first day been linked to the question of how the people of the past managed to live in this environment. It was about the enigma of climatic conditions and cattle herders who obviously once inhabited regions that meanwhile have become uninhabitable desert. The first rock picture discovered by a European researcher was the “Apollon Garamante” showing two masked persons on the side of cattle (Barth 1857: 210). This made the discoverer Heinrich Barth wonder about the possibilities of keeping cattle in this region, the Libyan Messak Settafet, and the necessarily more advantageous former climate (ibid.: 215-218). At this juncture, it is worth noting that there is ubiquity of cattle in Saharan rock art on the one hand, but, on the other hand, that the “green Sahara” never was anything like the deep green meadows of Europe. Accordingly this land never sustained permanent habitation that could settle in a certain place for centuries (except for the oases), even if the economic system would not have necessitated mobility such as in a hunter-gatherer economy. Therefore this paper seeks to elucidate the hypothesis that the appropriation of the land and the advertisement of identities by prehistoric Saharan pastoralists of the Ennedi Highlands were not effectuated by settlements and built structures but through rock art in various expressive forms.
author	Lenssen-Erz, Tilman
author_facet	Lenssen-Erz, Tilman
author_sort	Lenssen-Erz, Tilman
title	Pastoralist appropriation of landscape by means of rock art in Ennedi Highlands, Chad
title_short	Pastoralist appropriation of landscape by means of rock art in Ennedi Highlands, Chad
title_full	Pastoralist appropriation of landscape by means of rock art in Ennedi Highlands, Chad
title_fullStr	Pastoralist appropriation of landscape by means of rock art in Ennedi Highlands, Chad
title_full_unstemmed	Pastoralist appropriation of landscape by means of rock art in Ennedi Highlands, Chad
title_sort	pastoralist appropriation of landscape by means of rock art in ennedi highlands, chad
publisher	Afrique : Archéologie et Arts
publishDate	2015
container_title	URI:https://journals.openedition.org/aaa
url	https://ezproxy.univ-orleans.fr/login?url=https://doi.org/10.4000/aaa.414 https://ezproxy.univ-orleans.fr/login?url=https://journals.openedition.org/aaa/414
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spelling	openedition-oai:revues.org:aaa_414 https://doi.org/10.4000/aaa.414 urn:doi:10.4000/aaa.414 en https://journals.openedition.org/aaa/414 2015-10-23T02:00:00Z info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess article info:eu-repo/semantics/article urn:handle:20.500.13089/8htc All rights reserved Pastoralist appropriation of landscape by means of rock art in Ennedi Highlands, Chad Afrique : Archéologie et Arts CNRS - UMR 8068 Technologie et Ethnologie des Mondes PréhistoriqueS - TEMPS info:eu-repo/semantics/reference/issn/2431-2045 info:eu-repo/semantics/reference/issn/1634-3123 URI:https://journals.openedition.org/aaa Lenssen-Erz, Tilman art rupestre appropriation du paysage pastoralisme bétail rock art landscape appropriation pastoralism cattle Sahara Ennedi Tchad/Chad Research into the Saharan rock art has from the very first day been linked to the question of how the people of the past managed to live in this environment. It was about the enigma of climatic conditions and cattle herders who obviously once inhabited regions that meanwhile have become uninhabitable desert. The first rock picture discovered by a European researcher was the “Apollon Garamante” showing two masked persons on the side of cattle (Barth 1857: 210). This made the discoverer Heinrich Barth wonder about the possibilities of keeping cattle in this region, the Libyan Messak Settafet, and the necessarily more advantageous former climate (ibid.: 215-218). At this juncture, it is worth noting that there is ubiquity of cattle in Saharan rock art on the one hand, but, on the other hand, that the “green Sahara” never was anything like the deep green meadows of Europe. Accordingly this land never sustained permanent habitation that could settle in a certain place for centuries (except for the oases), even if the economic system would not have necessitated mobility such as in a hunter-gatherer economy. Therefore this paper seeks to elucidate the hypothesis that the appropriation of the land and the advertisement of identities by prehistoric Saharan pastoralists of the Ennedi Highlands were not effectuated by settlements and built structures but through rock art in various expressive forms. Au Sahara, les recherches en art rupestre ont été conçues dès le début comme un moyen d’approche du mode de vie des populations dans leur environnement. La présence manifeste d’éleveurs de bétail dans ce milieu désertique, devenu aujourd’hui inhabitable, a longtemps constitué une énigme. La première représentation rupestre découverte par un chercheur européen fut celle de l’« Apollon Garamante », qui représente deux personnages masqués se tenant aux côtés d’un bovin (Barth 1857 : 210). Son inventeur, Heinrich Barth, s’est interrogé sur les possibilités d’élevage de bétail dans cette région, le Messak Settafet libyen, dans un cadre climatique qui ne pouvait qu’être jadis plus adapté (ibid. : 215-218). À ce sujet, il est intéressant de noter, d’une part, l’omniprésence de bétail dans l’art rupestre saharien mais aussi, d’autre part, que le « Sahara vert » n’a jamais ressemblé aux vertes prairies d’Europe. En conséquence, un habitat permanent perdurant plusieurs siècles (à l’exception des oasis) n’apparaît guère possible, même avec un système économique ne nécessitant pas la mobilité, tel celui des chasseurs-cueilleurs. Cet article développe l’hypothèse selon laquelle l’appropriation du territoire par les populations pastorales du massif de l’Ennedi et l’affirmation de leur identité n’ont pas été réalisées par l’habitat et les structures bâties, mais plutôt par l’art rupestre dans toutes ses formes d'expression. Die Erforschung der Felskunst der Sahara beschäftigte sich vom ersten Tag an mit der Frage, wie die Menschen der Vergangenheit es schafften, in dieser Umwelt zu leben. Es ging dabei um das Rätsel der Klimabedingungen unter denen Rinderhirten Landstriche besiedelt hatten, die zwischenzeitlich zu unbewohnbarer Wüste geworden waren. Anlass gab das erste Felsbild, das dort von einem (europäischen) Forscher entdeckt wurde, der “Apollo der Garamanten”, das zwei maskierte Figuren gemeinsam mit Rindern zeigt (Barth 1857: 210). Dies ließ seinen Entdecker über die Möglichkeiten spekulieren, in dieser Region (dem Libyschen Messak Settafet) Rinder zu halten, und darüber, dass dort notwendigerweise ein besseres Klima geherrscht haben müsse (ibid.: 215-218). An dieser Stelle ist zu bedenken, dass Rinder in der Saharanischen Felskunst allgegenwärtig sind, dass jedoch die „grüne Sahara“ niemals vergleichbar mit den sattgrünen Wiesen Europas war. Daher hat dieses Gebiet niemals eine dauerhafte Besiedlung ermöglicht, in der einzelne Orte (mit Ausnahme der Oasen) über Jahrhunderte fortgesetzt bewohnt wurden, selbst wenn das ökonomische System diese Mobilität gar nicht erforderte, wie etwa in einer Jäger-Sammler Gesellschaft. Daher soll in diesem Artikel die Hypothese belegt werden, dass die Aneignung des Landes und die Offenlegung von Identitäten durch die prähistorischen Hirten des Ennedi Hochlandes nicht durch Siedlungen und gebaute Strukturen erfolgte, sondern durch Felskunst in verschiedenen Ausdrucksformen.

Pastoralist appropriation of landscape by means of rock art in Ennedi Highlands, Chad

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