Archaeologists are raising the alarm over the rapid deterioration of Egypt’s ancient rock art, warning that thousands of prehistoric petroglyphs are under increasing threat from climate change and human vandalism.
Researchers working in Egypt’s Western Desert say centuries-old carvings are being steadily eroded by harsher weather conditions, while many surviving artworks are being permanently damaged by modern graffiti and carvings.
Dr Paweł Polkowski, head of the Dakhleh Oasis Project and a researcher at the Poznań Archaeological Museum and the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology of the Polish Academy of Sciences, said the country’s remarkable rock art heritage is facing unprecedented challenges.
“There’s a little less of it each year, and certainly less from decade to decade, or century to century,” he said.
Ancient desert gallery under threat
The Dakhla Oasis, located around 350 kilometres west of the Nile Valley in Egypt’s Western Desert, has been inhabited since prehistoric times and once served as a vital stop on caravan routes linking the Nile with the Sahara and Libya.
The oasis contains thousands of petroglyphs spanning more than 7,000 years of human history. Polish archaeologists have been documenting the site for more than four decades, with Dr Polkowski leading the project’s Petroglyph Unit since 2016 and becoming head of the international Dakhleh Oasis Project in 2019.
His team has recorded approximately 350 rock art sites, ranging from isolated carvings to extensive panels containing hundreds or even more than 1,000 individual images.
The artwork dates from around 6,000–5,000 BC through to the medieval and modern periods, with some carvings even dating from the 20th and 21st centuries. Alongside the petroglyphs, researchers have documented inscriptions in hieroglyphic, Coptic, Greek, Graeco-Latin and Arabic.
Climate change accelerating deterioration
According to Dr Polkowski, Egypt possesses one of the richest collections of rock art in Africa, yet many of its monuments remain largely overlooked compared with the country’s better-known pharaonic archaeological sites.
The carvings are increasingly vulnerable to environmental damage. Many were created on Nubian sandstone, a relatively soft rock that is naturally prone to erosion.
“Many of these rocks are so soft that you could scratch a rock carving with your finger,” Dr Polkowski explained.
Even harder iron-rich rocks are gradually breaking down as rising temperatures, powerful desert winds and fine airborne dust wear away their surfaces. More recently, changing weather patterns have introduced another serious threat.
The region, once characterised by extremely dry conditions, has experienced increasingly frequent and heavy rainfall as a result of climate change. These rains not only damage traditional desert buildings but also accelerate the destruction of exposed rock art.
Researchers fear these natural processes are irreversible, making detailed documentation an urgent priority before more carvings disappear.
Modern vandalism causing irreversible damage
Natural erosion is not the only danger facing the ancient artworks.
Dr Polkowski said many prehistoric carvings are being covered by modern drawings and inscriptions, permanently altering the archaeological record.
While newer markings provide evidence that people have continued using rock surfaces as a form of expression for thousands of years, he stressed that they constitute vandalism under modern heritage protection laws.
“Unfortunately, these changes are irreversible, and there’s no protection for these monuments, so such situations are numerous,” he said.
The problem extends beyond Egypt to Sudan and many other countries across the Sahara.
Ironically, overwriting older carvings is itself an ancient tradition. Archaeologists have identified Greco-Roman drawings carved over earlier dynastic and prehistoric images, while footprints have repeatedly been engraved beside older artwork throughout Egyptian history.
Among the more unusual modern discoveries is a sandstone carving resembling a smartphone, complete with a screen, keyboard and camera lenses. Researchers have also found depictions believed to show British soldiers carrying rifles and flags, likely carved during military operations in the oasis in 1916.
Research stalled by permit delays
Despite the growing urgency of documenting the endangered sites, archaeological work has largely come to a standstill.
Dr Polkowski said that since 2014 his team, along with many other international missions, has been unable to obtain all the permits required to resume fieldwork in Egypt’s Western Desert.
Although research proposals continue to receive approval from Egypt’s Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, additional security clearances have repeatedly failed to materialise, often without explanation.
As a result, very few archaeological expeditions have been able to operate in the region over the past decade.
Researchers say the lack of access is delaying efforts to create comprehensive records of the rock art, conduct excavations that could help establish more accurate dates for the carvings, and preserve evidence of one of Egypt’s oldest and least recognised cultural treasures before it is lost forever.
Header Image Credit : Dr. Paweł Polkowski
Sources : PAP
