par Vanhulle, Dorian
Référence Third International Conference: "The Rock Art of Northern Africa" (12-14 September 2023: Royal Academy for Overseas Sciences, Brussels)
Publication Non publié, s.d.
Communication à un colloque
Résumé : Catalogues of Egyptian and Lower Nubian pre-Pharaonic rock art mainly offer images of animals, human figures, and boats. They are generally combined to create complex visual compositions which are considered to express political, ideological, and symbolic concepts (Huyge 2002). The dominant interpretative scheme of these scenes is currently to describe them as an expression of the domination of Order over Chaos through the representation of ceremonial and ritual activities carried out by Upper Egyptian elites. Surprisingly, while Epipalaeolithic, Badarian-Naqada I and Naqada II productions fill most catalogues, Late Predynastic and Early Dynastic productions referring to kingship are less common: with few impressive exceptions (Tallet 2015 for more references), they are mainly limited to rare serekhs (palace facades bearing the name of a king and surmounted by the falcon Horus), and to a few elite/royal flotillas. This could give the impression that rock art was only marginally inserted into the official media sets used by early regional rulers and kings in Egypt. However, a close examination of the available data reveals a more nuanced and complex reality.This paper focusses on the use of rock art by local/regional raising powers in the Lower Nile Valley in the second half of the 4th millennium BCE. It aims to reassess current approaches to the interpretation of rock art from this crucial phase of Egyptian history. It also discusses how the Nilotic and desert landscapes were invested by local elites to impose codified messages of authority, but also how these messages were disseminated, influenced, and appropriated by groups of different ethnic origins crossing the region at that time.

Documents en relation