9,000-Year-Old Rock Art of Swimmers Discovered in Sahara Desert

Cave paintings intrigue experts as they give a glimpse of the past world. These paintings or drawings showcase how much an area and people's lives have changed over time. In Egypt's Western Desert, a series of paintings—one of which features two swimmers—have given researchers further evidence on how different the area was in the past, Live Science reported. 

In 1926, European cartographer László Almásy, while mapping the area of southwestern Egypt stretching into southeastern Libya stumbled upon two shallow caves, in the southern part of the Gilf Kebir, containing hundreds of rock paintings of animals and humans, the British Museum reported. One set of drawings that stood out to researchers, featured a pair of humans with their arms and legs splayed, looking like they were swimming in a water body. 

The cave in which the particular painting was discovered has been named 'Cave of Swimmers'. Since, the painting's discovery in 1926, the cave has become world-renowned and was also used as a key location in the feature film The English Patient (1996).

The paintings also showcase the huge transformation that happened to the desert, Live Science reported. The painting implies that the area was lush and green, with people having access to water bodies thousands of years ago. 

The 'swimmers' are not the only humans in the series of paintings found in both the caves, the British Museum reported. Other humans in the series of paintings are either heavily adorned or featured being engaged in activities. 

Rock arts are tough to date but still, experts through various tests have hypothesized that the paintings were created 9,000 to 6,000 years ago, the British Museum reported. However, many in the scientific community believe the painting could be even older.