I recently came across this book from my mother’s extensive book collection. The objects it depicted struck me with a peculiar immediacy, leaving me to wonder why. Beyond the obvious aesthetic appeal of such archaic shapes, I sensed they might touch upon an ancient memory—a deep, instinctive recognition of their existential usefulness.
The book seeks to highlight a previously overlooked dimension at the intersection of diverse fields such as anthropology, archaeology, art history, technology, and sociology: the material culture of early Saharan inhabitants.
The image material presented illustrates a large number of “typical” objects and also objects whose significance is unclear. Many are variations of bifaces, scraping, grinding and cutting tools. Roller-like devices, mortars and pestles can also be found. But also animal sculptures and jewelry. The book provides captions for the more than 400 objects, describing the production methods and materials used.
All photographs taken from:
SAHARA, Objects Prehistoriques
C. E. Klenkler, Dodo Publications Geneve, 1986
French/German, edition of 1000