The Tassili Rock Paitings in Algeria is one of the most famous North African sites of rock paintings. Its imagery documents a verdant Sahara teeming with life that stands in stark contrast to the arid desert the region has since become. The Tassili Paintings and engravings, like those of other Rock-Art areas in the Sahara, are commonly divided into at least four chronological periods based on style and content. These are an archaic tradition depicting wild animals whose antiquity is unknown but certainly goes back well before 4500BC; a bovidae tradition, which corresponds to the arrival of cattle in North Africa between 4500 and 4000BC; an equine tradition which corresponds to the appearance of horses (zebras) in the North African archaeological records from about 2000BC onward; and a dromedary (camel) tradition, which emerges around the time of Christ when these animals first appear in North Africa. Engravings of animals such as the extinct giant buffalo are among the earliest works naturalism. In the last period, chariots, shields, and camels appear in the rock paintings. Although close to the Iberian Peninsula, it is currently believed that the Rock-Art of Algeria and Tassili developed independently of that in Europe.

Bovidae: Latin boves oxen: relating or belonging to the large family of cloven-hoofed ruminants characterized in the male, and usually also in the female, by the presence of un-branched hollow horns that are never shed and continue to grow throughout life.

Animals in the Bovidae family include cattle, sheep, antelopes: the impala and gazelle, the American bison, the musk-ox, the bighorn sheep, and the Rocky Mountain goat.

The Tassili National Park is one of the world’s finest open-air museums of pre-history. The Neolithic Civilization of the Sahara was closely linked to the prevailing geological and ecological conditions; once the desert began to advance the people lost their previous nomadic character or habits.

Geographical Location: The South-eastern part of the Algerian Sahara near the frontiers with Niger and Libya in the wilaya of Illizi, the da'ira of In-Amenas and the da'ira of Djanet. Tassili is situated between Illezi to the north and Djanet to the south. The park and massif are shaped roughly like a triangle, whose longest side stretches from Amguid to the frontier with Niger. The National Park stretches from Djanet to the Libyan border. The boundary runs from beyond the high ridge overlooking the Ergs of Admer and Tihodaine, then runs to the south and to the east along the frontiers with Niger and Libya. The east-west boundary runs from Tarat to Amguid via Illizi.

Date and History of Establishment: One portion of the site, the Meddah area, was declared a national park under Ministry of Culture Decree No. 72-168 in July 1972 and further areas were designated as historic monuments in December 1979. In 1986, the site was further covered or placed under Governmental nature conservation and national park legislation Decree No. 83-458. Tassili N'Ajjer was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1982. The park was extended from its 1972 area of 300,000ha with the international recognition of Tassili Plateau as a Biosphere Reserve under UNESCO's Man and the Biosphere Programme in 1986.

Cultural Heritage: The entire site is of international importance for a series of ancient cave paintings. The most noteworthy pre-historic remains include: rock paintings in the national park and the entire plateau, rock engravings of large fauna (hippopotamus, buffalo, elephant, rhinoceros and giraffe) and of man in the wadi Djerat canyon, rock engravings of Sahara fauna on the Plateau of Dider, stone monuments at Fadnoun, rich archaeological remains in the southern zone, numerous Neolithic remains such as sculpture, pottery, grinding implements and enclosure walls as well as material from the lower and middle Paleolithic periods. A chronological sequence in cave paintings exists. These include those of the period presenting stylized figures and scenes of hunting and the Came-line period with a-schematic style incorporating inscriptions in characters which are the same still used by the Tuaregs today. Radio-carbon dating has indicated the archaeological Neolithic remains date from the period 6,000 to 2,000BC. More recent data suggests the first Neolithic settlements date to 8,000-7,500BC.

Local Human Population: The total population of the plateau was approximately 1,000-3,000 in 1986. The area is very sparsely inhabited by sedentary and nomadic Tuaregs. The cultivated areas are centred near some rivers or in certain valleys Arabic wadis. The Da'ira people of In-Amenas and Djanet together occupy most of the plateau. Stock- raising and agriculture are confined to the centres while grazing is confined generally to the valleys. Tourism has become an important source of revenue for the local population.

Visitor and Visitor Facilities: The number of tourists has increased considerably and an international airport has been constructed at Djanet to cater for this growing industry. Crossing the massif today is generally only practicable for four-wheel drive vehicles, and requires permission from the park tourism office (OPNT), which controls and supervises tourists and is located in Djanet (Ministry of Information and Culture, 1995).

Massif: large mountain mass, or a group of mountains that form a mountain range.

Neolithic: latest period of the Stone Age between about 8000 and 5000BC, characterized by the development of settled agriculture and the use of polished stone tools and weapons

Paleolithic: early period of the Stone Age, when early human beings made chipped-stone tools, from about 750,000 to 15,000 years ago, or 13,000BC