One-of-a-kind Egyptian spider rock art dates back to 4,000 B.C.

While this ancient piece of spider rock art that archaeologists found in the Kharga Oasis in Egypt probably won’t give anyone radioactive super-powers, it’s still quite amazing.

After all, it appears to be the only known depiction of arachnids in ancient rock art from the Old World.

 

 

In an exchange with LiveScience, Egyptologist Salima Ikram called the prehistoric work of art a “very unusual” discovery. The two-piece rock panel was found on the west wall of a shallow sandstone valley in the Egyptian oasis.

 

Ikram, a professor at the American University in Cairo and co-director of the North Kharga Oasis Project, noted that the rock art was possibly drawn in 4,000 B.C. or earlier, before the unification of Egypt.

 

The panel appears to depict a number of arachnids, and also features a star, which may be a symbolic illustration of a spider’s web. It also has a few “comb-like” drawings that Ikram said might have represented plants, the spiders’ silken tubes, or even ensnared insects.

 

Additionally, a fragment that appears to have been broken off the rock panel shows flat-looking creatures seemingly drawn in a different style. This gives the impression that the artist could have been attempting to draw the long-legged arachnids called harvestmen.

 

A web of mystery

 

The apparent depiction of spiders on the rock panel raises quite a few questions, especially since ancient Egyptians weren’t known to be particularly interested in spiders. To Ikram’s recollection, the only other examples of spider hieroglyphics are found in "religious texts dealing with the so-called 'Opening of the Mouth' ritual, a rite that was performed on the mummy or a statue to restore its senses for use in the Hereafter."

 

Ikram also mentioned the Agriope lobata spider, a type of spider that lives in the desert and can be found “shaded and surviving, in the middle of their orb web under the burning sun at Noon.” An arachnologist, Hisham El-Hennawy, brought up the sand-dwelling spider in a conversation with Ikram.

 

According to Ikram, ancient Egyptians may have associated the Agriope lobata’s ability to survive the scorching heat with divinity, thus deeming the creature “worthy of reverence or totemic allegiance.”

 

Ikram wrote the artist could have found the spider interesting and striking enough to draw on the rock because of its reputation as a venomous predator.

Another explanation could be the possible abundance of the eight-legged critters in the desert sands, which Ikram and her team’s ongoing environmental research might be able to uncover proof of.

 

Then again, it’s also conceivable that the artist was just randomly doodling out of boredom.

 

Ikram was quick to stress, however, that the creatures depicted in the artwork have only been tentatively identified as spiders, and that the artwork’s actual date of creation has yet to be verified.

The researcher said the drawings are “noteworthy if they are indeed spiders, as these would be unique depictions of such creatures in Old World rock art.”

 

Ikram’s findings were published in the July 2013 issue of the journal Sahara. — JDS, GMA News