The Lady of Aouanrhet (or Ancestor, Goddess, Shaman, or Sky Cow of ...) one of the greatest murals of Tassili-n-Ajjer in southeastern Algeria. Archaeologists date it to what they call the Round Head era (could just as well be called the Afr...o period after the coiffures) estimated at 7500-4000 bce. Really old. The Woman Shaman dvd looks at her ritual regalia (the fringed ties), horns, and the numinous field of dotted lines around her and (likely indicating tattoos or body paint) on her breasts, shoulders and legs. I've posted a detail of this painting before (in the Horned Women album, which has more commentary on the dotted fields and their analogous appearance on women's breasts in ancient Nigerian and Ethiopian art). This photo gives a broader view of the entire rock face. The rainfall theme proposed for the rectangular mass above her head, with a flow of dots around her horns and head, is echoed by a small female figure between her running legs, with a rainbow over *her* head. I see the Lady as a goddess or ancestral mother, but she is depicted with shamanic attributes (the fringed ties and the woven sleeves around her hands - puppets? they seem to have beaks). This is not at all uncommon: Auset, Inanna and Ishtar, Kybele, Xi Wangmu, Freyja, Durga, and many other goddesses are shown and described with attributes of shamans or priestesses. She is painted over an earlier red layer of small dancing or running men, whose profile views clarify that the "round heads" really are nothing other than natural African hair. One of the greatest masterThe Lady of Aouanrhet (or Ancestor, Goddess, Shaman, or Sky Cow of ...) one of the greatest murals of Tassili-n-Ajjer in southeastern Algeria. Archaeologists date it to what they call the Round Head era (could just as well be called the Afro period after the coiffures) estimated at 7500-4000 bce. Really old. The Woman Shaman dvd looks at her ritual regalia (the fringed ties), horns, and the numinous field of dotted lines around her and (likely indicating tattoos or body paint) on her breasts, shoulders and legs. I've posted a detail of this painting before (in the Horned Women album, which has more commentary on the dotted fields and their analogous appearance on women's breasts in ancient Nigerian and Ethiopian art). This photo gives a broader view of the entire rock face. The rainfall theme proposed for the rectangular mass above her head, with a flow of dots around her horns and head, is echoed by a small female figure between her running legs, with a rainbow over *her* head. I see the Lady as a goddess or ancestral mother, but she is depicted with shamanic attributes (the fringed ties and the woven sleeves around her hands - puppets? they seem to have beaks). This is not at all uncommon: Auset, Inanna and Ishtar, Kybele, Xi Wangmu, Freyja, Durga, and many other goddesses are shown and described with attributes of shamans or priestesses. She is painted over an earlier red layer of small dancing or running men, whose profile views clarify that the "round heads" really are nothing other than natural African hair. One of the greatest masterpieces of ancient art in the world, and among the most signficant.
http://www.suppressedhistories.net/womanshamandvd.html
http://www.suppressedhistories.net/Gallery/gallery.html
http://cas.uow.edu.au/projects/UOW095223.html
Centre for Archaeological Science
