Tassili-n-Ajjer rock art is at least 9000 years old

Tassili-n-Ajjer is a mountain range in the Algerian section of the Sahara Desert. The range is noted for its prehistoric rock art and other ancient archaeological sites, dating from Neolithic times when the local climate was much moister, with savannah rather than desert. 

The art depicts herds of cattle, large wild animals including crocodiles, and human activities such as hunting and dancing. The art has strong stylistic links to the pre-Nguni Art of South Africa and the region, executed in caves by the San Peoples before the year 1200 BCE. 

The range's exceptional density of rock art paintings-pictograms and engravings-petroglyphs, and the presence of many prehistoric vestiges, are remarkable testimonies to Neolithic prehistory. As from 1933, the date of its discovery 15,000 petroglyphs have been identified to date. 

Using OSL techniques archeologists discovered that the famous rock art site of the Central Sahara can be dated to 9-10 millennia ago or older.

Academic ref. (PPV): Norbert Mercier, Jean-Loïc Le Quellec et al., OSL dating of quaternar y deposits associated with the parietal art of the Tassili-n-Ajjer plateau (Central Sahara), Quaternary Geochronolog y (2012), doi:10.1016/ j.quageo.2011.11.010