Tag Archives: el-Hosh

The Côa Late Palaeolithic rock art in Portugal. A brief comparison with petroglyphs of similar age in Egypt

Posted on August 21, 2026 by Per Storemyr

On working with Late Palaeolithic rock art in Upper Egypt several years ago, sometimes we used to compare the naturalistic style of newly found petroglyphs with photos of those in the Côa Valley (NE Portugal). This was because the large Côa site has open air petroglyphs, whereas most other Late Palaeolithic rock art sites feature cave paintings. But I was never able to visit the Côa site to see for myself how the petroglyphs compare. Until now. On a road trip this summer we got a glimpse of the Côa images, at the Penascosa site. This brief article shows many similarities between the rock art in Côa and Upper Egypt, but also a harsh difference: Whereas Côa is a well-managed UNESCO World Heritage Site, the rock art in Egypt is under immense risk of destruction by modern mining. Continue reading →

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Palaeolithic rock art at risk: New discoveries in Wadi Abu Subeira, Upper Egypt

Posted on May 22, 2015 by Per Storemyr

The number of discovered Late Palaeolithic rock art sites in Wadi Abu Subeira (Upper Egypt) is ever increasing, now with finds also outside of the wadi, at el-Aqba el-Saghira. Archaeologist Adel Kelany of the Ministry of Antiquites (MAS) in Aswan has just published an overview paper, now listing ten sites, all with numerous panels. The largest site has a much as a hundred ones. As previously noted on this blog, this world-class rock art is under heavy pressure from modern mining, though efforts to protect the sites have shown some effect recently. Continue reading →

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New paper on the unique Epipalaeolithic geometric rock art at el-Hosh, Upper Egypt

Posted on August 12, 2013 by Per Storemyr

A year ago Dirk Huyge and I published a paper in the Sahara journal on a unique rock art “masterpiece” found among the Epipalaeolithic “geometric” (c. 5-9000 BC) assemblage at el-Hosh in Upper Egypt. Recently, we published another version of … Continue reading →

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A masterpiece of Epipalaeolithic geometric rock art from el-Hosh, Upper Egypt

Posted on August 17, 2012 by Per Storemyr

The rock art at el-Hosh in Upper Egypt is renowned for its fish trap motifs dating to the Epipalaeolithic period (c. 9000-5000 BC). However, during the 2010 field season undertaken by the Royal Museums of Art and History in Brussels … Continue reading →

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