Kel Essuf Period

Kel Essuf rock art is Central Saharan rock art that was produced prior to 9800 BP. The Kel Essuf Period is preceded by the Bubaline Period and followed by the Round Head Period. 
==Classifications==
Rock art is categorized into different groups (e.g., Bubaline, Kel Essuf, Round Heads, Pastoral Period|Pastoral, Caballine, Cameline), based on a variety of factors (e.g., art method, organisms, Motif (visual arts)|motifs, superimposed).
In 5000 BP, buffalo (Pelorovis|Bubalus antiquus) in Africa underwent mass extinction; consequently, the engraved stone portrayals of these macroscopic, untamed buffalos in unenclosed rock art zones resulted in them being identified as Bubaline. In contrast, located in enclosed rock art zones, there are engraved Kel Essuf ("spirit of dead" in the Tuareg language) art, which portray short-armed, little human artforms with legs and penile appendages. 
Human and untamed animal (e.g., mouflon, antelope) artforms are usually portrayed, with a variety of details (e.g., African dance |dancing, ceremonies, Traditional African masks |masks, spiritual animal forms), in painted Round Head art. Painted Round Head art and engraved Kel Essuf art usually share the same region and occasionally the same rockshelters in contrast to engraved Bubaline art, which rarely appear in rock art zones where painted Round Head art is portrayed predominantly.
==Chronology==
While the Kel Essuf art and Bubaline art have not been found layered above one another, in addition to the Kel Essuf art being found within a dark hued patina, it has been found layered beneath Round Head art. Due to the layering and the artistic commonalities between the Kel Essuf art and Round Head art of the Central Sahara, the petroglyph |engraved Kel Essuf art is regarded to be the artistic precursor to the painted Round Head art.
==Origins of the Kel Essuf Rock Art==
Mori (1967) first hypothesized that Round Head art evolved from Kel Essuf art in the Acacus region; this hypothesized evolution of one rock art type into another receives support due to Round Head art having been superimposed upon Kel Essuf art in the Tadrart of Algeria. The superimposed state of Round Head art upon Kel Essuf art is viewed as showing that Kel Essuf art chronologically precedes Round Head art and is also perceived as a pattern of development, from simpler detailed Kel Essuf engravings to more complexly detailed (e.g., fingers) Round Head paintings. Mori (1967) has found continued support by Hallier & Hallier (1999) and Streidter et al. (2002–2003). 
The striking likenesses between the Kel Essuf and Round Head artforms, along with likeness in shape, include the following notable traits: forms shaped like a “half-moon” connected to the shoulder(s), engraved forms shaped like a “half-moon” near “figures”, forms bearing bows and sticks, and horns atop the heads of the Kel Essuf forms that are like the Round Head forms in configuration (e.g., shape, position). Due to the absence of these likenesses in Pastoral artforms, these likenesses may be concluded as cultural particularities unique to the hunter-gatherers who created the Kel Essuf and Round Head artforms.
A cultural particularity unique to the Kel Essuf art, in contrast to the Round Head art, are penile forms; these penile forms, or third appendages, may be indicative of maleness, and may be absent from the Round Head art due to taboo. Aside this absence, both the Kel Essuf and Round Head art are largely composed of male artforms.
Comparative analysis of the rock art from Tassili n’Ajjer and Djado resulted in the conclusion that the Round Head art of Djado was the precursor to the Round Head art of Tassili n’Ajjer. With the enneris of the mountainous area of Djado as its origin, the creators of the Round Head art of Djado migrated, from Djado to Tassili, and, as continuation of the Djado artistic tradition, produced the Round Head art of Tassili n’Ajjer.
The "pecked Djado-Roundheads", or Kel Essuf art, in the Djado mountains of northern Niger are viewed as having great likeness to the Round Head art in the region (e.g., Tadrart, Tassili) of Algeria and to some art in the region (e.g., Acacus) of Libya; hence, this is viewed as showing that the hunting societies who created these rock art were of the same cultural unit and cultural ideology, though having cultural varieties unique to each area.
While the Round Head art is found in less abundance in the mountainous regions (e.g., Tadrart, Acacus) of Algeria and Libya, it is found in greatest abundance in the plateau area of Tassili. The precursors for Round Head art may have originated in the mountainous northern area (e.g., Adrar Bous, Air) of Niger. These areas are viewed as archaeologically similar (e.g., pottery). Untamed flora and animals were used in Epipaleolithic and Mesolithic hunter-gatherer cultures between 10,000 BP and 8000 BP as well as 8800 BP and 7400 BP. Based on the dates acquired for the ceramics in the northern Sahara (8th millennium BP), Tibesti (8949 BP), Libya (8950 BP), and Tin Hanakaten (9420 BP), the core area for the most ancient ceramics of the Sahara may have likely been in the shared region (e.g., Tassili, Aïr Mountains|Air, Adrar Bous) of Niger and Algeria. The Round Head artists may have originated in this core area, and may have had a cultural practice of association, via long distance, among other Round Head artists. The emergence and expansion of ceramics in the Sahara may be linked with the origin of both the Round Head and Kel Essuf art, which occupy rockshelters in the same regions (e.g., Djado, Tadrart Acacus|Acacus, Tadrart Rouge|Tadrart) as well as have common resemblances (e.g., traits, shapes) with one another.
==Kel Essuf Rock Art and Hunter-Gatherers==
Painted Round Head art and engraved Kel Essuf art usually share the same region and occasionally the same rockshelters. The Round Head art of Tassili and the surrounding mountainous areas bear considerable similarity with traditional Sub-Saharan Africa#Culture|Sub-Saharan African cultures. Amid an early period of the Holocene, semi-settled Epipaleolithic and Mesolithic hunters, who created a refined material culture (e.g., stone tools, decorated pottery) as early as 10,000 BP, also created the engraved Kel Essuf and painted Round Head rock art styles located in the region (e.g., some in the Acacus, some in the Tadrart) of Libya, in the region (e.g., some in the Tadrart Rouge|Tadrart, most abundant in Tassili n'Ajjer) of Algeria, in the region (e.g., Djado) of Nigeria, and the region (e.g., Djado) of Niger.