Magharet el Kantara or Shaw's Cave (, ''arched cave'') is a rock art shelter of the Gilf Kebir National Park in the New Valley Governorate,

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

. Located on the south-western slopes of

Gilf Kebir Gilf Kebir () (var. Gilf al-Kebir, Jilf al Kabir, Gilf Kebir Plateau) is a plateau in the New Valley Governorate of the remote southwest corner of Egypt, and southeast Libya. Its name translates as "the Great Barrier". This sandstone plateau, ...

, it was discovered in 1935 by explorers Bill Shaw and Rupert Newman.

Description

The cave is high and wide. About half a meter above the ground there are rock paintings of a herd of differently drawn cattle and a farmstead representing a rare example of cattle paintings in the Gilf Kebir that otherwise are abundant in the nearby Jebel Ouenat. These Neolithic rock paintings testify the favorable climatic conditions of life during the African humid period much different from the present one.Yves Gauthier and Giancarlo Negro, Magharat el-kantara (Shaw’s Cave) revisite : art rupstre du sud Gilf Kebir (Egypte de sud-ouest). In: Sahara : preistoria e storia del Sahara, ISSN 1120-5679, V. 9 (1997), pp. 124–133. File:MagharetElKantara2.jpg, Rock painted farmstead File:MagharetElKantara3.jpg, Rock painted cattle File:MagharetElKantara4.jpg, Rock painted shepherds with cattle

References

{{Saharan rock art Saharan rock art New Valley Governorate Caves of Egypt Archaeological sites in Egypt 1935 archaeological discoveries Archaeological discoveries in Egypt