Caballine

Caballine

n this style, in paintings as in engravings, people are represented schematically, often with a short "stick-head", but the animals are sometimes "naturalistic" and elegant. The "flying gallop horse-and-chariot" paintings are the most outstanding of this style.

Some researchers ascribe them to the Garamantes. While the distribution of these last-mentioned paintings is limited practically to the Tassili and the Acacus, caballine rock art encompasses the whole Sahara. It is thus not credible to associate it with a single ethic group.

Caballine short "stick-headed" characters, accompanied
by cattle in the same style. Anshal - Acacus - Libya

	It is among the productions of this period that the first inscriptions in Tifinagh characters appear (tifinaghs are still used today by the Twareg to write their language, called Tamashek).
"Flying gallop horse-and-chariot" with "stick-headed" characters. Tamajert - Central Tassili - Algeria		Tifinagh inscriptions, characters with short "stick-heads" and "flying gallop horse-and-chariot". Ti-n-Anneuin - Acacus - Libya

The "Libyan warriors". This is a regional style of engraving, centred on the Air and the Adrar des Iforas, but with some ramifications in the neighbouring regions.

The style is very special: the people are depicted full-face, with a round or lobed head, and they are often out of proportion compared to the animals represented..

"Libyan warrior" next to a giraffe.
Kori Tanakom - Air - Niger

Last update of this website 28/05/10