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WADI ATWANI
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The Wadi Atwani is north of the Wadi Hammamat. Therefore it is not one of the main East-West wadis, nor part of the diagonal route from the Nile via the Wadi Qash and Gebel Shalul all the way eventually to Berenike. Yet it has some spectacular rock art sites.
The site with the elephants and the "line-dancers" is a very pleasant spot to have lunch. But some of the sites are hard to access because the wadi floor is strewn with boulders. The Toyota four wheel drives with excellent Pan Arab drivers took us further than I expected. But to reach the first of the main sites thereafter (Winkler's Site 14) it is necessary to walk. However, by sticking to the shady side of the wadi it is not at all wearing.
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Winkler's Site 13: both elephants and a series of figures in skirts (?) holding hands standing in a line. A shady overhang near to the wadi entrance facing north. The site also includes boats, ibex, giraffes, ostriches hunters and a twin-plumed figure.
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Winkler's Site 14 is at least a 45 minute walk from where you have to leave the four-wheel drives. There are two parts to the site. First, 20 metres up on a smooth, vertical cliff face are hands, crocodile/lizards and net-like shapes. Winkler (1938) and davis (1988) ascribe this rock art to a vey early period because of height, patination and subject matter. Handprints are rare in the Eastern desert rock art, but not in that of the Western Desert. This was probably accessed by a rock column, now collapsed.
On a rock at the base of the cliff are two large square boats and a twin-plumed figure.
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Rounding a corner in the wadi a cave is visible. I expected there to be rock art inside the cave, but there is nothing. Neither are there any archaeological remains at all. But to the right of the cave there are several boat petroglyphs including one magnificent example.
There is a ponting figure and a bovid on the stern. Its long horns are extended by what may be streamers. Opposite this site high up on an isolated boulder with a flat surface are two boats with an arms raised figure.
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On the north side of the wadi main face 15 metres high in three sections over a width of 30 metres and on two boulders at each end is Winkler's Site 17, a more than one hour hike further than Site 15 and one that I have not yet seen. It contains handprints and croc/lizards like Site 14. But there are also many animals, cupoules and several boats. There is also what has been claimed to be a map of the wadi system.
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