"But it doesn't LOOK like anything!"
And 5000 years later, we wonder!

©JAL, April 2008
Five thousand years later, I _do_ wonder! I am doing a research project, trying to gather together all the images of an ancient Egyptian god named Set (aka Seth, Sutekh, Suti). I look everywhere, in online museum collections, in research findings, and in photos of rock art in the Egyptian deserts.

Some of the rock etchings are really quite clear. That long squared off eared, snouted Set animal is really visible. But others are just TOO primitive, I can't tell what sort of creature it is supposed to be:


This is a photo Andie Byrnes took, only with increased contrast.

For instance nothing much is discernable about this critter, except it's some sort of four legged mammal with some head thing going on. Tall ears of the Set animal? Maybe? It's just TOO primitive...

But if you look at the rest of Andie's photos of Wadi Hammamat rock art, you'll see some are quite artistic. It is because it spans the history from prehistoric to ptolemic times that there is such variance.

   

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