THE CAVE SHRINE AND THE GEBEL

Bruce Williams

The peoples of northeastern Africa often made use of
natural rock formations, especially faces, hollows,
indentations or bays, and caves as places of worship.
In this region, the use of caves especially had reli-
gious implications that led to significant develop-
ments in monumental architecture. In tracing these
developments, an early work of Manfred BIETAK and
Reinhold ENGELMAYER plays an important role.
ROCK SHELTERS AT SAYALA
In 196061, the Austrian Expedition to rescue the
antiquities of lower Nubia excavated and recorded a
cluster of rock-shelters near Sayala.1 These had some
ordinary and ritual objects,2 but one, so enclosed it
was actually a cave, was also decorated with pain-
tings that ranged in date and type from the Neolithic
or A-Group to the age of the camel.3 Caves or shelters
with ritual or religious symbolism had been found
previously,4 but this discovery became a significant
source of comparisons, substantially because of its
prompt and exemplary publication.
The group of shelters, called a settlement by
Manfred Bietak and Reinhold Engelmeyer, was loca-
ted on the south side of the Khor Nashriya which
separates Sayala from Maharaqa, actually at the
head of the gulch.5 Overhanging rocks made an irre-
gular row of five shelters which were enclosed on
other sides by piles of rock, crude walls, and boul-
ders.6 These shelters, and several open spaces in the
rocks, contained fire pits.
Pottery from the site, dating largely to A-Group,
consisted mostly of ordinary wares, with none of the
fine ripple-burnished or painted pottery found in
tombs of the middle and later phases.7 Nevertheless,
imported black-topped pottery indicates that the
occupation began by early Naqada II times.8 Later
imports, such as an ovoid jar of marl-clay,9 indicate
the occupation continued in late A-Group, a date
corroborated by vessels with the V-shaped profile of
the late painted beakers.10 In addition, there was
pottery of other periods,11 and even some Roman
Period sherds.12
Small objects were not remarkable in type or
number. They included stone axes,13 chipped stone
tools,14 ground stone mortars and pestles,15 and a pair
of stone spheres.16 The only remarkable objects were
three fragments of ground stone jars in the shape of
the low convex vessels with pierced lug handles well
known in Naqada II contexts.17 These were painted
with red-brown strokes on a rim,18 bands on a lug and
below the rim,19 and spiral lines or concentric circles.20
The covered shelter with the paintings contained two
ceramic disks. Found with the other detritus of occu-
pation debris, such as acacia charcoal and cattle
bones, were pieces of ostrich eggshell.21
The stone vessels were certainly unusual, and they
indicate that these shelters were more than refuges
for itinerants of varied occupations and dates. The
painted ceiling in the covered shelter was more deci-
sive. With many groups of cattle and human figures

1 11
BIETAK and ENGELMAYER 1963, especially 9. Ibid., pl. X, Shelter 2.
2 12
Ibid., 1723. Ibid., pl. X, Roman level; also pl. XVII, 5.
3 13
Ibid., 2642 generally, plan 3, and pls. XXXXXIV. For a Ibid., 2122.
14
summary of early recording and interpretation of rock art Ibid., 2223, pl. XIX.
15
in this area, including Sayala, see ERVIEK 1974, 110. Ibid., 2122, pls. XIII, XVI, and XVIII, 7.
4 16
WILDUNG 1977. Ibid., pl. XI, 9.
5 17
BIETAK and ENGELMAYER 1963, 9, map, plans 1 and 2, and Ibid., 20, pls. XI2, from the space in front of Room I, and
pl. IV. XIV, from Shelter 3.
6 18
Ibid., 914, pls. IIII, and IV(second)VII. Ibid., pl. XIV, 2.
7 19
Ibid., 1718. Ibid.
8 20
Ibid., 18; for example, and pl. XI, 1. Ibid., pls. XI, 2, XIV, 2.
9 21
Ibid., pl. XVII, 4. Ibid., 23, 25.
10
See, for example, Ibid., pl. XI, 67, XVIII, 3.
150 Bruce Williams
in different styles, the shelter was clearly of special
interest for some time. A loose fragment with a dra-
wing of a crewed sickle boat indicates the work began
quite early,22 and camels with riders show that the
last contributions were made after these animals
began to be ridden here.23 In some cases, groups of
figures might be recognized; a hunter with a bow
would be found opposite game he had at bay, an event
that must have happened quite often in the khors of
Nubia. The figures themselves were not remarkable
except for the fact that they were painted.24 Rock art
in Nubia is normally pecked or incised, and found in
the open; there were several such figures in the khor
near the shelters. This circumstance, the fact that the
paintings were concentrated in the one shelter, that
the shelter hardly had room for any mundane activi-
ties, and the presence nearby of unusual types of
stone vessel, indicate that this was not a simple shel-
ter, but some kind of shrine.
Cave-shrines are an infrequently noted, but persi-
stent, aspect of culture in the Nile Valley, and the
Lexikon der gyptologie cites this one as a significant
precursor to such shrines as Serabit el-Khadim,
Speos Artemidos, the Nubian rock temples, and
Kanais.25 Some examples exist in addition to those
WILDUNG cited in the Lexikon that tighten the con-
nection between religious practice and caves, and
expand our ability to see this relationship at work in
Egypt, Sudan, and the deserts.
A Cave at Adindan
Shortly after the publication of the Sayala shelters,
the Oriental Institute Nubian Expedition recorded a
small cave in the rock east of a C-Group cemetery at
22
Ibid., 36, pls VIII, 1, and XXXIII, 16. Even if the boat
may not be as early as ENGELMAYER thought, it is not late.
23
Ibid., pl. XXVIII; for remarks, see 40. Engelmayer dates
them later than 300 AD.
24
Ibid., 27; Engelmayer notes that this is the most significant
occurrence of rock painting east of Uweinat. See HINKEL
1979, below, note 83 and KUPER 2002, 79; The use of paint
here and in the caves of Uweinat and the Gilf el-Kabir takes
on a new significance in the light of A-Groups recently-found
involvement in the Libyan Desert (LANGE n.d.). Note painted
animals and humans at Korosko (below 3) and the painted ani-
mals and Meroitic panels at Gebel Qeili (below 5).
25
WILDUNG 1977.
26
WILLIAMS 1989, 312.
27
Ibid., 3.
28
Ibid., fig. 1ab, pl. 45.
29
The method was to groove a surface,then remove the inter-
vening ridges by pounding with a stone hammer.
Adindan on the east bank of the Nile just north of
the administrative border with Sudan.26 This cave
differed from the Sayala cave-shelter in that it was
not decorated. However, its structure had been alte-
red in a way that indicates a use for it other than as
a common shelter.27 The caves entrance was partial-
ly blocked by large blocks of stone, which apparent-
ly fell when part of the khor wall collapsed exposing
part of what might have been a much larger cave.28
Whether or not they were deliberately moved later
was not determined. Inside the cave, a narrow vesti-
bule that would accommodate people standing led to
a deep shelf or loculus. This was carved with parallel
grooves of the type made by workmen cutting an
Egyptian tomb or working in a quarry.29
The contents were rather sparse, but not all typi-
cal of a dwelling site. Some thirty-two potsherds were
of Neolithic, probably Abkan, date, including red-
coated and burnished, black burnished, and coarse
gray open bowls.30 Records mentioned flints, and one
cortex-backed blade from a nodule was available for
study, along with a narrow bone point.31 A skull frag-
ment from a horned animal32 and some gourd frag-
ments were also not unexpected, but a skull of an
adult woman was.33
A number of fragments of ostrich egg shell with
incised decoration made this context unusual.34 Some
pieces joined to make a large part of one shell, deco-
rated with several figures of giraffes filled with inci-
sed hatching in the manner of Naqada I art.35 A few
other fragments might belong to this shell,36 but one,
with hatched and crosshatched lozenges, clearly does
not.37 There were at least two, and probably more,
decorated egg shells in the cave.
30
WILLIAMS 1989, 48, pl. 12.
31
Ibid., 9, pl 13a.
32
Ibid., pl. 13a.
33
Ibid., 9. The skull was not available for study, by contract
with the authorities.
34
Ibid., 9, table 2, fig. 1ck, and pls. 811.
35
Ibid., pl. 8 and fig. 1ce. See KANTOR 1948 for a decorated
egg from Naqada I Egypt, and BONNET 2000, fig. 118b for
a giraffe on an ostrich egg from Kerma. We need not take
sides in a disagreement over the meaning of the giraffe in
Egyptian and rock art (HUYGE 2002, 199200) to notice
that the giraffes importance in early rock art in Egypt and
Nubia is disproportionate to what must have been its actu-
al importance in the ancient fauna and to the human econ-
omy. Giraffe representations must have been symbolic.
36
WILLIAMS 1989., fig. 1fj, pls. 10b and 11ae.
37
Ibid., fig. 1k, pls. 10c and 11fh.
 The Cave Shrine and the Gebel
The Satet Temple at Elephantine
The rocks of the cataracts were often decorated,
and especially where they formed sheltering enclo-
sures or bays, which offered some seclusion. It is
hardly surprising that one such structure was used
as a shrine. It attracted deposits of offerings, gra-
dually acquired structural elements, and finally gre-
ater formality.38 This temple to Satet began in the
Naqada Period or the Archaic Period; Elephantine
had been in the territory of A-Group at one time,
and might have been so still when the temple was
founded.
The details of the temple and its offerings need
not be recounted, but it is important to note that
objects included unusual containers,39 representa-
tions in the form of votive figures40 and many ost-
rich egg shells, found in all levels.41
A Shelter at Korosko
In the introductory survey to the last Nubian rescue,
H.S. SMITH discovered a shelter with incised drawings
and paintings. These were mostly long-horned
cattle, but there were some human figures and a boat.
This last, described as high-prowed, might belong to
several periods, but it is not late. Smith believed that
pottery from this cave dated primarily from A- to C-
Group with a small amount of late (Christian) mate-
rial.42 The C-group material might actually be Pan-
Grave.43
Other Lower Nubian Grottos and Shelters
If ervieks conclusion that virtually all ancient
rock art was magical or religious is correct, it follows
that places where large numbers of drawings appear
were places of devotion, invocation, or worship.44
While bays, grottos and caves of this sort are nume-
rous, some of special interest with rock drawings
were found in the Second Cataract.45 Many of these
were A-Group, but some were Abkan.46
38
DREYER 1986. For an outline, see 1124.
39
Ibid., 12325, mostly faience.
40
Ibid., 6062. The earliest is archaic.
41
Ibid., especially 97; see catalog number 458, and generally
catalog, 99153. For an illustration of cat. 458, see pl. 8e,
deposited with other votive objects. Ostrich eggshell was
found in almost all levels and there were numerous frag-
ments (97).
42
H.S. SMITH 1962, 7990.
43
Ibid., 83, fig. 2 and 86, fig. 4.
151
SUMMARY, CAVE AND ROCK-SHRINES
INEARLY NUBIA
By themselves the rock shelters of Sayala and the
cave of Adindan would hardly create a pattern, but
the Satet Temple and the cave at Korosko add weight
to the idea that rock-shelters and caves were special
places in Nubia for religious practice. Three of them
either contained objects with decoration sacred in
other contexts or were themselves decorated. All of
them but Korosko contained ostrich egg shell, and
three of them had objects of ritual interest, the voti-
ves of Elephantine, the unusual stone jars of Sayala,
and the skull of Adindan.
THE EASTERN DESERT OF EGYPT
As is well known, the Eastern, or Nubian Desert,
especially in Egypt, contains vast accumulations of
rock art on rock faces, under overhangs or in shelters,
in enclosing groups of rocks or bays, and caves. Space
permits mention of one bay or cave, most famous of
Winklers discoveries, the site he designated M18 in
the Wadi Gash, which contained large numbers of
Naqada Period drawings.47 These included hunts and
many ships, some alone, some, perhaps, in proces-
sions. Such was the significance of this site that three
crowned figures of pharaonic rulers, dating from as
early as Naqada II were found there. Given the large
number of opportunities for drawing in the Wadi
Gash, one investigator concluded that the place had
been made special as a place of worship, to comme-
morate successful expeditions.
LATER UNDERGROUND SPACES IN NUBIA
Rock-shelter and cave-shrines were not just prehisto-
ric or early phenomena; they occur in all phases of
ancient Nubia. Other ritualized subterranean spaces,
which exist from various periods, can be considered
part of a long-lasting tradition of using caves for
worship.
44
ERVIEK 1986, 7175, 89.
45
HELLSTRM and LANGBALLE 1970, map 15, site 160a, appa-
rently with a structured access.
46
NORDSTRM 1972, 233 and pl. 135, Abka site 378g, called 387;
see also 22223, pl. 130, Farki 408-1; 229, pl. 135, Abka 424.
47
WINKLER 1938, 2526, also 30 and 40; see pls. XIIIXV;
the crowned figures are pl. XIII, 23, and XIV, 12. ROHL
(2000, 910), failed to find the site and believes it buried.
See also WILKINSON 2003, 22, 46, 8081 and figs. 234.
ALFANO 1990, 119, refers to this site as a shrine to Min.
152 Bruce Williams
Some of these are themselves representations, and
together they can help interpret some of Nubias
most enigmatic and impressive structures.
Caves at Barkal
Toward the end of the 1980s, an expedition of the
Boston Museum of Fine Arts excavated a small cave
beside a quarried kaolin outcrop at Gebel Barkal.
This cave was used in many periods, and contained
Neolithic, Pre-Kerma, Kerma, Pan-Grave, and Napa-
tan sherds. While it also contained a piece of ostrich
egg shell, the meager finds did not indicate any spe-
cial use, nor was any decoration found. However, a
cluster of six small caves situated beneath an over-
hanging ledge on the west side of the mountain just
below the summit had Meroitic graffiti on the rock
wall adjacent to them, one of which depicts Amun
seated inside the mountain. For this reason, Kendall
proposed that these caves were thought to give access
to the god.48
Serra East Rock Shelters
In 1962, the expedition from the Oriental Institute,
the University of Chicago, explored and excavated a
number of late (X-Group) habitations built against
the rock scarp north and south of the fortress.49 The
structures used the rock faces for walls, with walls
constructed to enclose dwelling space containing bins
and hearths; there were ovens nearby. The most com-
plex, LC, was a group of three structures north of
the fort, the largest with three well-built rooms.50
It was probably in the vicinity of this shelter that
remains of four offering tables were found south of
an otherwise unknown locus LD.51 Two of these were
recovered, one square with a deep oval reservoir, the
other square with a deep square reservoir, a type
characteristic generally of fourth century Bab
Kalabsha52 and Roman Berenike.53 LB had an incen-
se burner.54
Taifa, the Valley Temple
At the head of a khor above Nagc Tifa Gharb stood a
partly rock-cut chapel which Ricke believed once had
48
KENDALL 1990b, 5, fig. 5; 1994, 14344, where he cites
1990b, 6, fig. 9. The isolated cave was some 4.6m wide 4.8m
wide and 14m dee No dimensions were given for the smaller
caves, but they were not large enough for human activity.
49
WILLIAMS 1993, 22936. For mention of other late rock
shelters near Gebel Adda, see H. S. SMITH 1962, 18.
50
WILLIAMS 1993, 23334.
51
Ibid., 236, pls. 39a. 41ab.
a daily cult. Built in the fourth century, like the
neighboring temples above Bab Kalabsha (bergheilig-
tum), Taifa is possibly the latest of the constructed
cave-shrines from pharaonic culture.55
Cavern-symbolism in a temple at Barkal
Much topography in northern Sudan is in broad
expanses with little relief punctuated by the dikes of
the cataracts, ridges, and prominent isolated mounts
or inselbergs that dominate the surrounding landsca-
pe. Of all Sudans inselbergs, Gebel Barkal is the
most famous, not only because the Kushites centered
an empire on it for centuries, but also because its
shape and location had made it one of the greatest
centers for the worship of the god Amun. Here, the
concept of the deity within a rock formation, dwel-
ling in a cavern, was given expression in the most stri-
king way. On a rock-cut wall of the Mut Temple,
Amun is shown seated inside the mountain, which is
shown with a uraeus springing up before it, represen-
ting the peak before the mountain, reshaped in the
time of Taharqo to actually be a uraeus.56
Gebel Qeili
Although not as high as Gebel Barkal, Gebel Qeili is
a dramatic presence in the Butana. Despite a low
crescent of rocks on the northeastern side, it is an
inselberg, with no other prominent features of relief
in sight. It has been an attraction for life also; there
are wells nearby, a now-dry hafir, and a disused
market.
The German Butana Expedition found rock dra-
wings and cup marks at various places on the gebel,
especially near the top.57 It is best known, however,
for the monumental victory inscription on the
smooth surface of a large rock that stands beside the
gebel like a stela. Carved by Sherkaror some time near
the end of the Second Century AD, this superb car-
ving, the last victory monument remaining from the
Meroitic State, shows Sherkaror presenting a victory
to a rather Hellenistic-looking god with a rayed dia-
dem, who hands him a head of wheat in return, like-
ly a reference to the fertile Taka (Gash Delta) or
52
RICKE 1967, pls. 7d, 10.
53
SIDEBOTHAM and WENDRICH 2001, 259, fig. 21.
54
WILLIAMS 1993, 230, Table 5312.
55
RICKE 1967, 2532, Folding plan 3, pls. 1215.
56
See below, note 63.
57
Below, note 62. Note also they found an extraordinary
amount of settlement in the area (HINTZE 1959, 19192).
WHITEHEAD and ADDISON 1926, 53.
 The Cave Shrine and the Gebel
Aksum. Earlier rock drawings share this stela-rock,
on its north face.58
Very near this rock, a little way up the side of the
gebel, a cave large enough to walk into upright cuts into
the mount. Fairly deep into the cave were painted rock
drawings of cattle and goats. In front of these, and one
partly superimposed on them, were two Meroitic pain-
ted scenes. The innermost showed the god Amun, pos-
sibly standing, with only his back, part of his pleated
skirt, and crown preserved.59 The outer panel, more
complete on a smooth slab of rock near the entrance,
shows Amun seated with Mut behind him, worshipped
by a Meroitic lady followed by a man, presumably the
queen and the crown prince.60 At the entrance of the
cave was a well-painted group of cattle.61
Although much more modest than those of Gebel
Barkal, the royal monuments of Gebel Qeili are cle-
arly part of the same traditional pattern. They
strongly reinforce a connection between the gods and
prominent landforms, and they proclaim the use of
caves for worship, especially of Amun, who was belie-
ved to dwell within the mountain.62 There are also
other decorated caves in the rocks of the Butana,
such as one at Gebel er-Rau which contained figures
of cattle, giraffes, and, camels.
Abu Simbel
As is well known, Amun is shown inside the mountain
at Abu Simbel as well as Barkal and Gebel Qeili.
While the scene in question may refer to Barkal,63
Abu Simbel was also a Pure Mountain and an
immense, although man-made, cave-dwelling for the
god. In fact, with such an inviting rock, it is difficult
to believe that no earlier monument existed there as
a predecessor to these great temples.
58
WHITEHEAD and ADDISON 1926, 54. They consider the tri-
umph panel earlier because it is the best surface on the
rock, although the choice of face may have had more to do
with the figures visibility than the texture of the stone
surface. Also, the main rock face may have been smoothed
before Sherkarors monument was inscribed. Certainly, it is
extremely large for no preparatory work on this stone to
have been done, even if no such work is obvious.
59
Ibid, 53 and fig. 3. The authors had some difficulty seeing
this as a single figure, and thought the projection indicated
some kind of bird. However, the two feathers of Amun
seem fairly clear, as is the pleated kilt. WHITEHEAD and
ADDISON felt that the animals were probably later than the
more complete Meroitic panel, but they did not recognize
the inner figure as a Meroitic deity, and it has clearly
replaced part of one of the cattle behind the back.
60
WHITEHEAD and ADDISON 1926, 52..
153
Wadi Abbad/Kanais
The increasingly formal reuse of a rock-art site cul-
minating in a temple is illustrated dramatically in
one Eastern Desert location. Here, in the Wadi
Abbad, the Egyptians actually cut a cave-temple
into a rock drawing site. Important Naqada Period
representations of ships, one of them showing the
god Min, were augmented by rock-cut stelae. Finally
the temple of Kanais was constructed, cut mostly
from the stone.64
A Decorated Deffufa at Kerma
Above, we have noted natural caves that were progres-
sively enhanced until they were buildings altogether,
or until they appeared as buildings carved into the
solid rock. Below, we consider buildings made as repre-
sentations of landforms with sacred caves within.
The great brick shrines, the deffufa of Kerma
town and cemetery, have been subjects of significant
research and discussion in the last quarter-century.
Chief among the points raised is that they do not clo-
sely resemble any monumental structure from any of
the ancient high cultures. Although the two cemetery
deffufas resemble each other more than they do the
structure in the city, they resemble it well enough for
all three to be subject to a common explanation.65
Both the city temple (Western Deffufa) and the
older cemetery deffufa (KXI) were built and rebuilt,
stages encasing prior stages. This feature indicates
that they were not a sudden or arbitrary invention,
but a traditional element of the Kerma cultural
landscape. Kendall briefly proposed to see in them a
representation in brick of Sudans premier inselberg,
Gebel Barkal.66 On the other hand, Gebel Qeili clear-
ly shows that other inselbergs were also sacred to
61
Ibid., fig. 4 and 53.
62
HINTZE 1959, See pl. XLV for cup marks at Gebel el-Khia-
ri. Site 29. At Jebel Qeili, (18992) he reports the cave, rock
drawings, especially giraffes and cattle, and cup marks. Site
33 Gebel el-Rau has cup marks, rock drawings in a cave,
including giraffes, cattle, and camels (19293).
63
KENDALL 1990a, 111, 12223. The scene in the Mut Temple
of Barkal is in the rock-cut portion.
64
For recent exploration and recording at Kanais, see ROHL
2000, 1423. See also WILKINSON 2003, 412.
65
BONNET 2000. For comparative plans of the three struc-
tures, see fig 80. For KII, see 112133. For KXI, see
54111. For earlier stages in the interpretation of these
structures, see OCONNOR 1984 and LACOVARA 1986.
66
KENDALL 1997, 4748; for further interpretation, see 7678.
154 Bruce Williams
Fig. 1 Gebel Alarambi near Tumbos and Kabodi, north of Kerma
Amun, and probably other gods. It seems more likely
that the structures at Kerma invoked the presence of
closer geological features, or combined aspects of
several, to obtain a desired effect.
From the west (river), the city deffufa rather
resembles Gebel Alarambi, which looms to the north
in the distance behind Tumbos (Fig. 1). This gebel
does not have a table-like profile, but appears from
various westerly directions as a series of platforms or
crenellations, with a notch in the center.67 This notch
forms a rather gentler slope than the peaks on either
side, and the ascent there is rather easier. At the base,
almost in front of the notch, is a large, square block
that appears almost as though it should be an altar,
but it is apparently unworked. The gebel was sacred
enough in ancient times for a small number of ring-
tumulus graves to be sited near the block at its base.
The axis of the pyramid-tomb of Si-Amun at Tum-
bos is pointed straight at it.
67
Viewed from the rocks of Hannek, across the river, its pro-
file appears crenellated, and it is so shown in a drawing on
the rocks there. Viewed from the New Kingdom cemetery
at Tumbos several kilometers to the west of the gebel, the
notch is prominent, and the hill appears as the Egyptian
horizon sign.
68
Gebel Alarambi is actually somewhat crescentic, with the
higher peaks on the west sloping toward the north and
south. The crescent open roughly to the east,where its steep
The general shape of Gebel Alarambi might be
reflected in the Western Deffufa, with its staircase up
the center echoing the notch. However, the altar plat-
form seems to differ, and the long, narrow, almost
corbelled chapel room is not paralleled by any
obvious extant structure on Gebel Alarambi, alt-
hough there are small caves in it. However, if the def-
fufa is an interpretation in mud-brick of an inselberg,
this chapel certainly represents a cave, and the round
altar in front of it, a block before the entrance.68
If the city deffufa is an inexact interpretation of a
natural inselberg with a cave to be visited on the way
to a platform in the sky,69 the cemetery deffufas are
quite different. Although quite as massive as the city
deffufa, oriented the same way, and apsidal on the
north end, these buildings each have a corridor lea-
ding to two chambers at ground level approached
from the southern end. They also had stairways, but
these started from the east wall of the outer chamber
inner slopes form a dramatic amphitheater. The small caves
are located in this amphitheater above, where the slope
becomes a scarp, and they appear to be difficult of access.
69
British administrators recorded a famous and significant
use of such an artificial mountain in southern Sudan which
is probably related. PERCY CORIAT (1939, 22225) describes
in some detail the so-called Pyramid of Wundeng, or Ngun-
deng, which Gwek of the Nuer used to climb to contact the
deity, or be possessed by it (see 22629).
 The Cave Shrine and the Gebel
of KII and the inner chamber of KXI, and presum-
ably led to the roof, as in the city deffufa. There Bon-
net reconstructs a tall stela. The ceilings of the cha-
pels were ultimately each supported by a single row
of columns down the center, although spring-courses
of brick indicate they were originally vaulted.70
Remains of a rosette-inlaid panel at KII and a win-
ged sun disk carved on its lintel testify to a close rela-
tionship with the celestial aspect of Egyptian reli-
gion, but the narrow, cave-like pillared halls in the
massive structure represent something indigenous,
especially in the painted decorations of KXI. These
are a mix of Kerma and Egyptian themes, although
painted in an Egyptianizing style.
Like KII, the chapel in KXI consisted of a long
hall with two pillared chambers. Only fragments
remain of the painted decoration in the hall and the
chambers. Except for a great cargo ship in the vesti-
bule, which sails outward and southward, all of the
figures on the west walls are processional and face
inward. The second vestibule and jamb were covered
with at least eight marching rows of hippopotami.71
The inner hall had a row of cattle,72 and the two
chambers, rows of giraffes.73
The east wall was more complex. Opposite the hip-
popotami was a fishing scene reminiscent of those in
Upper Egyptian tombs,74 with a column of hippopo-
tami on the jamb, while opposite the cattle were a pair
of bulls that face each other with a well-shaft between
them.75 Beyond, riverboats row inward, while above, a
scattered mix of animals and humans may be a
hunt,76 a hint that the decoration of the upper walls
differed from the lower. The first chamber and inner
corridor have boats rowing inward, while beyond a
jamb are more giraffes. The inner chamber has two
pairs of bulls in (supervised) combat.77
A climax is expected on the end wall, and the
remaining fragment, showing two figures with oppo-
70
BONNET 2000, 11417, figs. 8283.
71
Ibid., fig. 53.
72
Ibid., fig. 57.
73
Ibid., figs. 61, 59.
74
Ibid., fig. 62.
75
Ibid., fig. 63.
76
Ibid., fig. 64.
77
Ibid., fig. 66.
78
Ibid., fig. 68. BONNET connected the ladders to certain
sacred texts relating to celestial ascent, but siege scenes
showed ladders or towers as well as the ladders in the Pun-
tite village shown by Hatshepsut. For siege ladders, see
PETRIE 1898, pl. IV from Deshasheh and QUIBELL and
HAYTER 1927, frontispiece, from Saqqara, both of the late
155
sed ladders, one possibly with a shield, is a tantali-
zing hint that it was a victorious siege. The fragment
would depict the crossing of a ditch of the type that
surrounded the Second Cataract and other forts.78
Except for the scene of fishing, the siege, and the
bulls fighting, which are Egyptian, the themes in this
painting are, despite their relative formalization, cha-
racteristic of rock art. In fact, some fairly complex
historical compositions in rock art do date to this
period,79 as do some bull fights,80 although both have
more or less Egyptianized appearance. If a deffufa is
an artificial sacred mountain, then these chambers
are artificial sacred caverns within.
THE LIBYAN DESERT
This is hardly the space to discuss in detail the large
topic of early relations with the Libyan Desert,
which has come strongly to the fore in recent years.
It is important to take note of these relations when
dealing with the rock art and caves there.81
Cave of the Swimmers at Wadi Sura
The Libyan Desert also contained a number of caves
with decoration. Best known is the cave in the Wadi
Sura (Gilf el Kebir) that has lately become famous as
the Cave of the Swimmers.82 Although it is not incon-
ceivable that the ancient water nearby was deep
enough to swim in,it seems more likely that these
painted figures are casualties in a battle scene of the
type found on well-known early Egyptian objects.
Caves at Karkur Talh
Several caves, as well as many rock faces and bays, in
the gorge of Karkur Talh in Uweinat were painted
and engraved with figures of animals and humans
including some complexes. While these did not differ
from other rock paintings, their occurrence in caves is
as significant as it is elsewhere.83
Old Kingdom. For an open wooden tower closely related to
ladders, see JARO-DECKERT 1984, pl. 1, and folding-plate 1.
79
For the most elaborate and best known, see BASCH and
GORBEA 1968, 5056, fig. 16 and pls. III and IV, from Nag
Kolorodna. For the date, note the axe wielded by the figure
confronting the chariot.
80
See, for example VHALA and ERVIEK 1999, pl. 10, no. 28.
81
LANGE n.d., KUPER 2002.
82
For a recent, and brief comment on this famous cave, with
its companion, see KUPER 2002, 34.
83
The exploration and recording of this area has been com-
plex. HINKEL 1979, 7882 contains detailed bibliography
brief descriptions, and plans, also of Karkur Murr (82), and
Ein Dua (8384) for example.
156 Bruce Williams
A Cave at Djarra
This large cave on the way to Farafra contained sta-
lactites and stalagmites. One of the latter, a few
meters inside the cave was covered with animal car-
vings. Despite the fact that the cave was surrounded
by occupation debris from the seventh millennium
B.P., no other cultural material was found in the cave
despite a test pit several meters deep.84
CAVES AND BEINGS UNDERGROUND
It was ervieks opinion that ancient rock art was
religious in nature, intended to address the deity wit-
hin the stone.85 While this idea would be difficult to
defend as a global rule, there were definite places and
times where it is true. Chief among these are the
representations of Amun within the mountain at
Gebel Barkal and Abu Simbel. More exactly, the god
is worshipped within the mountain in the cave at
Gebel Qeili. In the latter location, the formal scenes
of Meroitic times were superimposed on earlier, more
conventional, drawings of animals. This last site not
only tightens the connection between the caves and
religious art, and, in turn, rock art, it shows that
Amun in the mountain was not exclusively associated
with Gebel Barkal.
The movement of celestial beings into the ground
and back was obvious to the ancients from the diurnal
cycle. There was also evidence in the ground of colos-
sal beings that had once lived; Bahriyya has sauropod
dinosaurs,86 and the Tuareg of Niger consider the
bones of its graveyard of dinosaurs to be Jobar, a
mythical giant camel.87 Despite the distance from the
Nile, natural barriers against travel and the spread of
ideas hardly existed in the wetter savanna conditions
of the day, and the Wadi Howar was a highway as far
as Chad.88 The quartz bones and gold flesh of the gods
84
KUPER 2002, 79.
85
ERVIEK 1986, 71, 9697.
86
SMITH et al. 2001.
87
SERENO and BECK 1999, note 5. For recent comment on the
role of large fossils in ancient myth and religion, see MAYOR
2000, especially 14952, where she refers to Tertiary fossils
in Egypt, especially Wadi Natrun.
were to be found in the Eastern Desert, but someti-
mes dramatically near, as at Hajar el-Merwa.
The suggestion here is that the rock bay and cave-
shrines and temples appealed to a different phase of
the god than the great city-temples that repeated the
First Time, when god emerged from the waters of
chaos on the primeval mound. In this phase, the
power of god is invoked from the stony eminence that
reveals his impending emergence.
This interpretation is relatively easy in the
obvious case of Gebel Barkal, or of Gebel Qeili or
Abu Simbel. It becomes difficult, however, to draw a
line on a map or a chronology chart to mark a clear
boundary between a time and place where such a con-
cept existed and one where it did not. This is not,
however, an attempt to derive a universal interpreta-
tion of art in caves based on examples in northeast
Africa. The pharaonic cultures had a special under-
standing of landforms and the spaces they found or
created in them to approach another world and these
remarks were an essay toward understanding it.
From the caves of the Dordogne to the hypogea of
Malta to the cavern of Speerlonga, caves were numi-
nous and significant to the ancient world. It is proba-
bly fair to say that their ritual or religious roles were
as diverse as the cultures that used them. In Nubia
and adjacent regions, on the other hand, there appe-
ars to have been a tradition of using caves, rock shel-
ters, and clefts or bays as places to approach the god
within, especially when these were located in promi-
nent landforms that itself invoked the presence of a
god.89 It appears at Kerma that where such land-
forms were absent, or located too far away to be the
focus of a procession from the city, they could be con-
structed altogether, with an equally artificial cave,
making more than a temple, creating a statue of the
mountain of the god.
88
See KUPER 2002, especially 24 and 910 and works cited
for settlement and long-range desert travel.
89
This certainly does not exhaust the topic of landforms and
their role in pharaonic art and architecture in Nubia, not-
ing, for example, the rock-stela of Tumbos, the stela on the
great twin rocks of Nauri, and the tomb of Hekanefer in
Lower Nubia.
 The Cave Shrine and the Gebel 157

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