Rock Art of The Djelfa Region - The "Hunters" Stage

The "Hunters" Stage

In the stage of Hunters the authors gather the depictions of the large wild fauna: ancient buffalo (or Hartebeest), elephants, rhinoceros, lions, ostriches and human figures.

Of the seventeen buffalo recorded in the region, twelve belong to the large, naturalistic art and are similar to those of the south-Oranian. They are found at Oued el Hesbaïa (frieze of three buffalo, including one of more than two meters), Aïn Naga (two buffalo in procession), at Station de l'Autruche (buffalo of 1.50 meters surmounted by a hollowed disc), Djebel Doum (buffalo of 2.35 meters of which the left horn supports a "lengthened semi-circular attribute"), Safiet el Baroud, Hadjra Mokhotma north (buffalo of 2.63 meters, where a human figure seems to touch the horns), Kheneg Hilal (buffalo of 1.20 m.) and Ben Hallouane.

Large, medium or small, the twenty-two elephants seem to belong to various ages. The largest (1 to 2 m), naturalistic in style, are found at Aïn Naga, Theniet bou Mediouna I, Oued Remeilia, Aïn Mouilha, Oued el Hesbaïa (where the "elephant panel", an accumulation of depictions superimposed through the centuries, shows six), Safiet Bou Khenan, Zaccar, Feidjet Elleben and Bou Sekkin.

Seven rhinoceros, of lesser quality and often decadent in style, are recorded at five stations, at Oued Remeila (the oldest), Feidjet Elleben, Bou Sekkin, Aïn Naga, and Oued el Hesbaïa.

Nine representations of Hartebeest antelopes (Bubalis alcelaphus boselaphus) are in naturalistic style. The most famous is that of Zaccar, devoured by a lion (1.50 m in length). A similar scene is found at Daïet el Hamra. At Hadjra Mokhotma north, the animal is confined within a circular trap. Other antelope have been engraved at Safiet el Baroud, Theniet el Mzab and Feidjet Elleben. Otherwise there are numerous antelope-type creatures, often much stylized and in small-scale, like those of Sidi Abdallah ben Ahmed and Safiet bou Khenan, related to the style called the Tazina School, found in south-Oran.

Eighteen in number, the lions represented can be classed into three groups: "naturalistic lions in profile, three times shown in hunting scenes" (Oued el Hesbaïa, Zaccar, Daïet el Hamra, Hadjara Mokhotma north, Oued Remeilia), "fairly large lions with the stylized head facing and the body in profile", "weaker in style and carving method", "late by comparison with the south-Oran prototypes" (Djebel Doum, Kheneg Hilal, Hadjra Mokhotma south), and thirdly the "smaller felines, lightly drawn and generally late", "of mediocre style and carving method"(pp. 81–85).

The ostriches, fairly numerous, are (with the exception of the representations at Safiet bou Khenan and at Oued el Hesbaïa) "generally of a poor quality." boars, in a group of three, are on the other hand rare, limited to the stations of El Idrissia (a lost group) and Sreissir.

The human depictions are forty in number notably at Oued el Hesbaïa, El Gour, Theniet bou Mediouna II, Aïn Naga, Daïet es Stel, Oued Remeilia, Safiet bou Khenan, Hadjra Mokhotma south and Ben Hadid. Authors attribute to them the model of the "twenty-five characteristic traits of physical or psychic valour of the hunter culture" which they have identified "in the Nile area and in various Saharan regions" (p. 85).

Thus they explain the images of men under animal skins, the wearing of false tails and phallic protections, masks, the presence of ithyphallic depictions and of men touching animals (buffalo, antelopes and elephants at Hadjra Mokhotma north, Theniet bou Mediouna II and Bou Sekkin). Among the weapons they record bows, long and curved weapons, clubs, a hatchet and a shield. Several traps are depicted as well as the hands. Thus, "all the cultural traits of hunters are attested in the Djelfa region, apart from the lasso and the spirale (?bolas), which are by compensation strongly represented at Tassili in the Oued Djerat sector."(p. 93).