A Preliminary Survey of Rock Art and Early Powers in the Lower Nile Valley during the Late 4th Millennium bc

Abstract This paper is investigating the use of rock art by local/regional powers in the Lower Nile Valley in the late 4th millennium bc . It situates the rock art record in its historical and archaeological settings and proposes methodological options (which are, in some cases, still theoretical) to elucidate it further in its social context. Two research questions are addressed: the first one discusses the existence of rock art commissioned by authorities and the criteria that could help identify them. The second deals with the ways in which rock art may express political power. The iconographic and technical aspects of rock art are discussed. This preliminary survey suggests that rock art specialists appeared at the end of the Predynastic period and that rock art may have been a strategic element in the competition between the polities that were rising in the Lower Nile Valley at that time.