Hidden hunters: hunting scenes as micro-landscapes in black desert rock art

Abstract

Pictorial and textual rock engravings can be found in large numbers across the Black Desert of Northern Arabia. Made by nomadic pastoralists in the late first millennium BCE and early first millennium CE, the Safaitic carvings provide unique insights into the pastoralists’ lives. The rock art depicts anthropomorphic,

zoomorphic, and abstract figures, and reflects themes important to the makers’ lives: pastoralism, hunting, and combat. This chapter discusses a rare but fascinating phenomenon among the hunting scenes in the rock art: carvings that utilise the natural shape of the rock to enhance the narrative of the hunt. Depicted across multiple panels, the hunting scenes each depict a hidden hunter or predator ready to ambush the prey. Each scene can thereby be seen as a hunting ‘micro-landscape’, imitating how a hunter would use the natural features of the landscape to their advantage. The evidence indicates these narratives were created with

an awareness of subsequent visitors to the carving location. The ‘hidden hunter’ scenes draw attention to the importance of studying the Safaitic hunting scenes for understanding the pastoralist societies and the importance of exploring the relationship between rock art and landscape, on multiple scales.