Abstract
This paper presents a comprehensive review of historical and current rock art research on the island of Soqotra, Yemen and places these sites within a spatial framework from which it analyses themes concerning water and the visibility and invisibility of these sites within the broader landscape. The analysis of these sites shows how water was of fundamental importance to the indigenous inhabitants over the longue durée. It also highlights how rock art has not only been able to reinforce the ethnographic and historical accounts of the indigenous inhabitants, but also strengthen our temporal knowledge of the social and cultural lives of the inhabitants of Soqotra.
Highlights
In 1996, the rock art researcher Michael Jung undertook a literary review of all the rock art sites on Soqotra (Jung 1996)
While recognising that rock art on the island had probably been neglected during the numerous archaeological expeditions to the island, Jung suggested that the paucity of rock art sites on Soqotra was to be attributed to the fact that rock art had little importance for the inhabitants (Jung 1996, p. 79)
With recent fieldwork undertaken by the author, this situation is changing and is the richness of Soqotra’s rock art tradition being recognised, but new rock art sites are being discovered and others for which few records existed are being comprehensively recorded (Strauch 2012; Jansen van Rensburg and De Geest 2015; Jansen van Rensburg 2016a, 2018; Jansen van Rensburg et al 2018)
Summary
In 1996, the rock art researcher Michael Jung undertook a literary review of all the rock art sites on Soqotra (Jung 1996). With recent fieldwork undertaken by the author, this situation is changing and is the richness of Soqotra’s rock art tradition being recognised, but new rock art sites are being discovered and others for which few records existed are being comprehensively recorded (Strauch 2012; Jansen van Rensburg and De Geest 2015; Jansen van Rensburg 2016a, 2018; Jansen van Rensburg et al 2018). To analyse the spatial relationship of the sites from natural and cultural perspective.
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