Ancient Masters
Explorer Discovers, Works to Preserve African Rock Art

Nov. 22, 2001 -- David Coulson is often forced to define "rock art" before he describes how to save it. At lectures and talks the photographer-explorer explains that "this has nothing to do with rock 'n' roll, because I think that's often a lot of people's first take on it." Simply put, rock art is ancient paintings and engravings on stone. The oldest example dates back over 30,000 years.

This engraving of warriors in northern Niger is 3,000 years old. Photo: David Coulson View a photo gallery.

"On every trip we do we find new things… There is so much that's still out there that hasn't been recorded at all," Coulson tells Alex Chadwick on Morning Edition.

Rock art can be found in every continent of the world -- including North America, in places like California, Nevada and Utah.

But it is especially plentiful in Africa, where Coulson has discovered "highly skilled" engravings as small as medallions that fit in the palm of the hand to life-size giraffes dating back some 8,000 years.

Coulson is the founder of the Trust for African Rock Art, an organization committed to preserving this fragile art. A professional photographer, Coulson has published a number of books -- his latest is African Rock Art. Coulson is now using his talent to create a global awareness of what he calls the "richness and importance" of rock art.

David Coulson with mold of a giraffe engraving on display at the National Geographic Society in Washington, D.C. Click for enlargement. Photo: Catherine Hefner Urice

While on expedition in the Sahara several years ago, Coulson was introduced to one of the marvels of the ancient world, hidden in the mountains of Niger. He and his team discovered a huge engraving of a giraffe, positioned strategically on a rocky outcropping over a riverbed. An exact mold of that engraving is now on display in Washington, D.C., and Coulson hopes it will raise consciousness about the need to protect rock art in Africa, and around the world.

Coulson says he hopes his book dispels "this rather archaic notion that rock art is the sort of primitive doodling of idle man. And we're talking here about great art by any standard… this is a truly extraordinary heritage."

"One of the things about rock art is that it gives you these windows onto vanished cultures and worlds in a very particular and important way," he says. "Indeed, we sometimes travel for over 1,000 miles in the Sahara without seeing a single living soul. Yet, there all around you are engravings, and likely as not, shards of pottery. You look around and then it dawns on you that there was a whole world, (a) whole culture. Maybe people lived there for thousands of years. But now it's returned to nothing and it's a very… humbling experience, because you think 'Well, is this what's going to happen to us?'"


Other Resources

• Trust for African Rock Art Web site

• African Rock Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art

• The Bradshaw Foundation

• 'Africa's Imperiled Rock Art Documented Before it Disappears' by National Geographic News

• The Rock Paintings of the Upper Brandberg, Namibia

• Rock Art in Namibia, National Museum of Namibia

• 'Saving Ancient Rock Art in Niger' from the U.S. State Department's State Magazine


Songs Featured in the Radio Story

Song 1: Zahrafat Al Sa-id (Rejoicing in Upper Egypt) from the album The Musicians of the Nile: Luxor to Isna, Real World Records Ltd.

Song 2: Allah Addu Jam from Missing You (Mi Yeewnii) by Baaba Maal, Palm Pictures LLC

Song 3: Xylophone Solo from African Tribal Music and Dances, Legacy International

Song 4: Kowoni Maayo (Mi Yeewnii) from Missing You by Baaba Maal
Song 5: Gnounba Gnibi from African Tribal Music and Dances, Legacy International

Song 6: Imada from Maya by Habib Koite & Bamada, Putumayo World Music