Mapping the Rock Art of Northern Kenya: Dating thousands of years ago, it’s an insight into a world that once was through art chiselled on rock by our human ancestors

Above: African Rock Art with giraffe illuminated against the night sky, north Kenya. Copyright: Paolo Torchio

Published: The East African Nation Media 28 September to 4 October 2019, abrdiged version

“It’s the night sky, the same night sky seen thousands of years ago by another person,” explains Paolo Torchio. “It’s what l wanted to capture.”

The image is taken in Turkana in Kenya’s northern desert lands, the bedrock of human evolution from several million years ago. The rock illuminated by a galaxy of stars shines on a giraffe chiselled on it by our human ancestors. It’s dated between 10,000 and two thousand years ago.

“The sky is the same thousands of years later,” comments Torchio, “but the landscape is not.”

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