Acacus

A region of the central Sahara (now southwestern Libya) known for rock shelters with occupation deposits and rock paintings. Pottery was made from about 7000 BC, the earliest of the so-called Aquatic Civilization typified by wavy-line decoration. The skull of a shorthorn ox and traces of sheep/goat supply evidence for animal domestication as early as c 4000 BC. Rock paintings of oxen predate c 2700 BC.

Region of the central Sahara, in what is now southwestern Libya, noted for the presence of rock shelters with occupation deposits and rock paintings. Pottery was made in this region from about 7000 be: the earliest vessels include examples with the wavy-line decoration typical of the so-called ‘aquatic civilization’. From Uan Muhuggiag comes one of the earliest pieces of dated evidence for animal domestication in the central Sahara, in the form of the skull of a shorthorn ox recovered from a level of o4000 be which also yielded traces of sheep/goat. At the same site rock paintings of oxen may be shown to predate c2700 be.