Rock Art.Exploring the Sahara Desert, photographer David Coulson had the sighting of his life when he scaled a 15-meter (50-foot) rock to the top. Coulson gazed down to see an awesome "masterpiece": A 6-m (20-ft) tall giraffe giraffe, African ruminant mammal, Giraffa camelopardalis, living in open savanna S of the Sahara. The tallest of animals, giraffes browse in treetops at heights inaccessible to other leaf-eaters. A male may be 18 ft (5.5 m) from hoof to crown. carved perfectly in sandstone (see left). The engraving, about 6,000 to 9,000 years old, may be the world's largest-known prehistoric work of art. Earlier this year the National Geographic Society National Geographic Society U.S. scientific society founded in 1888 in Washington, D.C., by a small group of eminent explorers and scientists “for the increase and diffusion of geographic knowledge. sent an expedition to make a cast of the carving, possibly to be displayed at the Louvre Museum Louvre Museum National museum and art gallery of France, in Paris. It was built as a royal residence, begun under Francis I in 1546 on the site of a 12th-century fortress. in Paris. Much rock art found in Africa is now threatened by vandalism and graffiti, as well as by the natural eroding forces of sun, wind, and water. Fortunately, the giraffe carving survived erosion--it was etched etch v. etched, etch·ing, etch·es v.tr. 1. a. To cut into the surface of (glass, for example) by the action of acid. b. on rock that faced away from harsh desert winds. The Sahara's dry climate helped, too. Coulson and others are trying to record Africa's more vulnerable rock art in photos before the art is gone with the wind. |
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