The rock art of the Acacus Mountains (SW Libya), between orginals and copies

Despite its enormous complexity and richness the rock art of the Sahara does not occupy the prominent position in international scholarship which it certainly deserves. One possible reason for this is linked to the often slapdash procedures typical of field work at the time when Saharan art rose to fame, the mid-20th century. This article, which summrizes a multi-faceted research project, analyses one specific aspect of the painted rock art of the Acacus (south-western Libya): the reproductions made and published by F. Mori from 1960 onwards. Having come to represent the official iconography for prehistoric Libyan art, these fine reproductions on closer inspection reveal errors and inaccuracies, to be considered as the result of academic strategies and of the historical and cultural climate of our not so distant past. Work to these reproductions undertaken between 2001 and 2004 has made it possible to use this important collection of copies in a new way, contributing to a new awareness within the Saharan scientific community, that has concentrated excessively on style and expended little effort on the integrated analysis of art works.