Day 254. Timna

После долгих, бесконечно тянувшихся часов обволакивающей, непроницаемой тьмы шахты он любил приходить сюда – в расщелину между скал, ее убаюкивающую оберегающую прохладу. Здесь, в тени, вдали от слепящего пустынного солнца, он вслушивался в дыхание камня под своими пальцами, он рисовал. А горы читали его сны, впитывая их в свою вечную память.
Безымянный художник раскаленного песка...

Египетские медные шахты 13 века до нашей эры. Петроглифы. Патриархат.
The figures are scratched deep into the rock wall with a sharp and pointed instrument. Within an imaginary frame, they are interrupted by small series of holes, mainly in the left part of the picture. The meaning and the purpose of these holes has not been determined so far. The whole panel is distinctly made up of three rows of compositions with the center one telling the gist of the story, but, alas, being the worst in quality. On the left one recognizes a human figure with arms streched apart and four fingers at both hands also spread out. Remarkable is the sexual organ of the figure, erected and oversized. The off-side position of the person and the fact that it is male und thus his authority superior to all other subjects leads to the idea of a special context. Similar figures with enlarged phallus are found quite often in the Araba Plain.

In the bottom row on the right side a depiction of a cart can be found but only its axles and wheels are clearly visible. It is not distinguishable whether the cart has a platform, and how it is pulled by draft animals. Heavily damaged by erosion, two big capricorns with long horns bent backward and a sort of a yoke on their heads can be made out only with great difficulty. It is possible in this case that the engraver has pictured something seen in another place. This suggests a special type of depiction as the larger part is drawn naturalistically and only the cart schematically.

The prevalent objects are manned war chariots with four-spoked wheels and their axle a little displaced to the rear. A railing to protect the drivers against falling from the vehicle cannot be detected. Oxen-like beasts are pulling the chariot by means of a yoke.

A new type of depicting human beings. Their body consists of two vertical lines which may indicate unnormal body height. Their heads are not shown in the normal round shape but as if wearing helmets. They are dressed in frock-like clothing with fringes and carrying long swords with sheath.

More animals can be seen than in the rest of the panel: capricorns, ostriches, dogs and some of the very rare Oryx antelopes (Oryx leucoryx) with their typical straight horns. This kind of antelope is not to be found in any other rock writing in the Near East although it occurs still in South Arabia.

The story of this panel seems to refer to three topics. The first topic is where people or rather the local population was confronted with newcomers in strange dressing. Thus the subject of the story is pure information of something new. The second topic told by several sections of the total composition can be the field of hunting. The third topic deals with war and war insignia, weapons, emblems of quarrel and power, and also consists of a series of individual pictures. The dating of the origin of these engravings must be done on the basis of characteristic components and these, in return, refer to a period of the 19th and 20th dynasties of the Egyptian kingdom. The engravings in the valley of Timna as a whole represent a maximum history span from 9000 years B.C. until Romain classical era ending at about 500 years A.D. with an ultimate fourth epoch when the Bedouin emblems or Wasems were produced by strolling nomads. (© Stone Watch)

День 254. Парк Тимна