Abstrakt
Gilf Kebir shelters with famous rock art are located close to the Egyptian border with Libya and Sudan. The most important sites are known as Wadi Sura I and Wadi Sura II.
Both of them are dated to the late Boreal-early Atlantic Holocene phases (9000-7000 BP) and both of them display painted decoration which features scenes and compositions which are unparalleled in the known rock art of northeast Africa. The decoration of the caves consists of hundreds of micromotifs whose mutual relationship are far from clear.
Yet several of them may be related to much later ancient Egyptian sets of beliefs: symbolism such as the chieftain smiting his enemies; souls of the deceased swimming in the waters of Nu the representations of the later mythological figures of Geb and Nut or a pair of hands representing the ka of the deceased. One specific group of scenes is represented by the so-called headless beasts.
These creatures occur both in Wadi Sura I and II. Based on the context of these scenes and much later parallels from Ancient Egypt it is suggested here that they represent baboons protecting the entrance into the Netherworld (represented by the shelters/caverns) and devouring the souls of the deceased who failed to meet ethical criteria postulated by local populations of herders. this motif adds to the importance of this distant art and supports its interpretation as a possible precursor of much later ancient Egyptian high culture.