I suggest you to contact Anne Haour. Here you will find a short CV and, in case, her email address:

http://www.uea.ac.uk/art/People/Sainsbury+Research+Unit/People/Academic/Anne+Haour

as far as I know in Indonesia is pretty much rock paintings. In the cave-leang leang Sulawesi, generally hand stamped. Also in Sumpang Bita animals. Further east are found in Southeast Sulawesi Muna more diverse as humans and boats, and in Papua also stamp the hand. Recent findings in Sumatra (Harimau cave) and Kalimantan

Thank you all, but I'm not that beginning, I know Anna Haour and Indonesia is quite far from Africa...

Maybe future answers will be usefull ?

I'm not sure whether this will be of help

http://www.saharanresearch.org/www.douglaspostpark.org/Bienvenue_a_SARA.html

Thanks for this link, I know of the most prominent researchers involved in and am happy to see that they have such an association.

What do you mean by "medieval"? As far as I know it is not a term typically applied to Africa or African rock sites. What do you mean by "near-Saharan" Africa? Can you be more specific in terms of time and geography?

Dear Katharine and Alicia,

Thanks first for your interest in the question.

By "medieval" i'm referring to that imprecise notion that made European Historians able to create a field like medieval studies.

More precisely, I'm targetting the first known policies attested by Arabic historical sources or Oral Tradition with an emphasis on criticism on those to establish their reliability.

In "near-saharan", I envisionned a geographical zone peripheral to the proper Sahara, that could be transcribed as Sahel (northern or southern pre-desert), Sudan (Savannas south of the sahara), Maghreb (rocky inlandsis north-west of Africa) or even accept the data of Oasian Egypt as part of its scope.

Indeed, I must acknowledge that my way of treating the Saharan, north African and Sudanese data are not typical, and that's my point.

While these geographical entities conveys a certain amount of likenesses, I'm convinced that on another scale (i.e. the rock rt Prospect), it has to be considered as a possible group to be further determined.

To answer the last question, I intended to be able to disscuss with you of published research issued in local or specialized journals that could be difficult to get.

But I'm also interested in any unpublished information that could critically add to my present research.

To summarize it here in a few words :

I'm looking at how progressive Islamization of the African continent can be seen in Rock Art data. Most of it comes from the Sahara, but a lot comes also from Maghreb and the present-day Sudanese belt of the Sahara.

Thankfully yours,

Jacob Durieux

So, by medieval you mean 5th to 15th centuries? Do you know about the Bradshaw Foundation and the University of Witwatersrand? Both have extensive and, I believe, diverse rock art resources. I have used the web pages for southern Africa but If your topic is not listed on their web pages, they may be able to direct you to specific specialists if you contact them directly.

http://www.bradshawfoundation.com/coulson/

http://www.wits.ac.za/academic/science/geography/research/5616/rock_art_research_institute.html

Your topic sounds very interesting. I assume you have been in touch with Tuareg specialists? Since they are nomadic peoples, they may have a wide ranging knowledge of the landscape and rock art.

Katharine Fernstrom

Indeed, I have been studying Tuareg traditions about Rock expression (for example, in the texts of Aghali-Zakara and Casajus), and the wide timescale is correct (but I'm focusing after the mid-7th C. CE, and continue to integrate data from the most recent past if it fits my goal, provide a general view of Rock Adornement practices under Islamic "rule").

I do know the Bradshaw Foundation, and am not too confortable with their ways and means (in connection with the Dabous giraffes for example).

As for the Wits university, some of the research led their is plainly agreeable, but their ressources are focused on South African Art (something comprehensible) and stays aout of my precise topic.

Jacob, How about diaries and accounts of explorers in the Tuareg area? If that doesn't work then I suggest you plan a field project to search for the rock art yourself. Are you certain it is there? In western Africa, Islamic encournters and influence have been encoded in more portable art.

Alicia, if I were you I would retrieve those references and systematically organize them electronically or in hard copy. You may need them yourself. I have gotten myself into that predicament and it is no fun.

Hard drives are not immortal.

Katharine,

your suggestion about the travellers sources has been one of my first axis of research as I was looking for genuine expression of the traditions about rock art, but it reveals a poor source with not much information. Nevertheless, that few is very important because it's the only direct information we have.

The local tradition has indeed suffered a lot of the interest in rock art by the mid XXth c. researchers such as Lhote because their theories, uttered in local conditions, transformed the previous tradition, and if you ask a Tuareg now of the origins and meaning of rock art, you will have a quick introduction on Lhote's theory rather than an original or traditional story.

Of course, for the suggestion on Field Research, I must admit that it is a sad joke that we just cannot access any part of the Sahara in security for the moment.

The CNRS forbids to its researchers to get there, and I think they are wise doing so (one million euro ransom per head is a plague for French government and they already paid some...)

About your Swahili note, indeed the lack of proper rocks has limited the rock art expression.

I am not a Saharan expert so I amnot aware of security issues. If there are limits to proper rocks, why are you looking for rock art? Why are not looking at different media that are accessible for expression?