Between 27,000 and 25,500 BC, human beings created some of their earliest paintings on rock faces in Namibia, Southern Africa. They also made images of animals as well as human figures by cutting or punching shallow lines into the rock. These drawings are known as rock engravings. The images were made on the walls of caves where the people gathered for ceremonies and other communal activities. In the paintings and engravings, they pictured themselves dancing, hunting, taking part in ritual activities, or herding their animals

The Sahara began to dry up between 8000-7000 BC. Before this, the people who inhabited the area created very large engravings and paintings of their lives and environments on rock boulders and cave walls. Across the Sahara there were over 40,000 of these known images, many of them in the Tassili mountains and Fezzan. Some of them measure up to 7 m high and others are smaller, measuring only a few centimeters. The paintings were done with earth pigments like iron and zinc oxides, and kaolin, as well as charcoal and charred bones. Like the paintings in Southern Africa, some of the paintings in the Sahara are beautifully done with a wide variety of colors. Others are very simple, done in only white or black lines, or painted in silhouette.

In other parts of Southern Africa, we find paintings showing plants and some animals which no longer exist today. The early

Some common words found in the essay are:
Southern Africa, Valley Sahara, Art Africa, Valley Egypt, Pharaohs Egypt, Mediterranean European, North Africa, southern africa, Nubian Sahara, rock art, Nile Valley, southern africa paintings, human figures, animals exist, africa paintings, sahara dry, rock engravings, paintings engravings, nile valley,
Approximate Word count = 588
Approximate Pages = 2 (250 words per page double spaced)