Rock art sites of
Jebel Arkenu, Jebel Kissu and Yerguehda Hill

The smaller granite massifs surrounding Jebel Uweinat contain a few sites with paintings. While not as spectacular as the main Uweinat sites, some are certainly worth a visit.

Jebel Arkenu

The main transverse valley at Jebel Arkenu contains a few shelters with very faint, damaged paintings. One was noted (but not photographed) by Rhotert, the others were found (but again, not published) by the 1962 Sandhurst expedition. During our 2001 visit we found three of the supposed six sites.

Further up the main valley, Friedrich Berger discovered an interesting site in 1997, with a very large and some smaller human figures, and a large bovid.

In the upper reaches of the main wadi, on the south side, there is a very fine set of engravings reported by the Sandhurst expedition. This is the only known engraving in the granite area.

Jebel Kissu

In 1934, during the occupation of Bir Murr, F.G.B. Arkwright discovered a painted shelter among the granite boulders at the southern end of Jebel Kissu. Later he visited the site with Almasy, who reported it in "Recentes explorations". The site contains a number of bovids and a decorated human figure.

Photos courtesy Giancarlo Negro

Yerguehda Hill

The paintings were discovered by Bagnold and party in 1932. They run intermittently along a fairly long low shelter along the west side of the low hill that lies almost exactly 70 kilometres due south from Ain Doua. There is a curious semi-circular arrangement of stone platforms, apparently of a prehistoric date, facing the shelter on the plain below.