Ancient Rock Art Damaged in Chad

News March 21, 2017

(David Stanley, via Wikimedia Commons)
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Chad rock art
(David Stanley, via Wikimedia Commons)

N’DJAMENA, CHAD—BBC News reports that ancient paintings in caves and rock shelters on the Ennedi Plateau have been defaced with graffiti. Mahamat Saleh Haroun, Chad’s minister of culture, said the 8,000-year-old paintings had been covered with names written in French and Arabic. Located in what is now the Sahara Desert, the artwork of the Ennedi Plateau was named to UNESCO’s list of World Heritage Sites last year. Abdelkerim Adoum Bahar, head of the UNESCO in Chad, thinks the damage can be repaired. For more, go to “Stone Towns of the Swahili Coast.”

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