“Running Horned Woman”

“Running Horned Woman” 

• Tassili n’Ajjer, Algeria

• Artist: prehistoric people (ancient North African)

• c. 6,000–4,000 B.C.E. (Prehistoric / Neolithic)

• Material: Rock art, painting (pigment on rock)

Content: supernatural beings, ceremony/ritual. The use of color, shape, lines, scale, and twisted perspective space forms a horned woman and her surrounding (human) figures. Some scholars have interpreted the woman as a horned deity instead of a human wearing ceremonial headgear. Perhaps a figure of a priestess of some agricultural religion or the picture of a goddess of such a cult who foreshadows—or is derived from—the goddess Isis, to whom, in Egypt, was attributed the discovery of agriculture.

Function: ceremonial or ritualistic purpose.

Context: It's made on rock walls and displays varied human and animal activities.