Tinzouline Petroglyphs

The Draa valley at Tinzouline has a rock art site of a different character to the older animal engravings further east. Here the panels carry horsemen carrying round shields and spears, chariots, and inscriptions in Libyco-Berber, the alphabet ancestral to modern Tifinagh - which places much of the work in the first millennium BC or later, in the period when the horse had arrived and when a written script was in use across North Africa. Older animal engravings occur alongside, so the site spans a long stretch. The inscriptions are the point of interest: Libyco-Berber texts are not fully deciphered and their distribution is one of the main lines of evidence for early Amazigh presence and literacy. The site is on open ground, unfenced and unstaffed, reached by a track with a guide from the village, and there is no interpretation at all.

What you actually see

• Horsemen with round shields - carvings from after the horse reached the region.
• Libyco-Berber inscriptions - the script ancestral to Tifinagh, still not fully read.
• Chariots - among the later motifs on the panels.
• Older animals alongside - engravings spanning a long period on the same ground.

When to go

October to April, at either end of the day. Two hours.

Honest expectations

The site is unfenced and unprotected - do not touch or mark the panels. A local guide is needed to find them. There is no shade, signage or facility. Summer heat is dangerous.

Nearby

Zagora is south down the valley; Agdz is north.