These enigmatic threefold spirals in the Wadi Djerat were etched in rock with a simple stone wedge next to the imposing engraving of a rhinoceros on the northern Tassili Plateau, Algeria.

The Spiral, a universal motif and symbol of fertility. It also occurs in European, Siberian and South American petroglyphs, in the Sahara and Australia, from the Magdalenian Age to the Middle Ages. This is a detail of a basket, Basketmaker II, MVM.
MVM = Mesa Verde National Park Museum (Colorado)

Spirals made of yucca fibers, spirals in rock-two materials, a single world view: the endless circuitous movement of a star, the universe, of life. Spiral etched into sandstone. Diameter: about 10 inches. Signal Hill, Mountain Section of Saguaro National Monument (Arizona).

Hohokam pottery with geometric and naturalistic designs. - Deep bowl, red on ochre, painted with spirals. Height: 2.4 inches. HMP.
HMP = Heard Museum, Phoenix (Arizona)

The spiral and swastika are universal signs. They are found in the megalithic architecture on Malta, on African pottery, in Carnac, in the heart of the Sahara, and in the petroglyphs and pottery of the Southwest, such as that of the Anasazi pot. Black on white, 17.2 inches high, MNA.
MNA = Museum of Northern Arizona, Flagstaff (Arizona)

The spiral and swastika are universal signs. They are found in the megalithic architecture on Malta, on African pottery, in Carnac, in the heart of the Sahara, and in the petroglyphs and pottery of the Southwest. A shallow bowl in the shape of a turtle shell. Length: 6.16 inches. Casas Grandes (Mexico), AFM.
AFM = Amerind Foundation Museum, Dragoon (Arizona)

Fremont petroglyph, a schematic person with a spiraled chest. Fremont River Gorge, Capitol Reef National Park (Utah)

2 - Oued Djérat (Tassili-n'Ajjer) – Spirals with the same direction of winding. This type of engraving is common and generally seen as a symbol of fertility. Radius of the large spiral: 0.36 m. Radius of the small sphere: 0.085 m.

2 - Oued Djérat (Tassili-n'Ajjer) – (original photo) Spirals with the same direction of winding. This type of engraving is common and generally seen as a symbol of fertility. Radius of the large spiral: 0.36 m. Radius of the small sphere: 0.085 m.

7 - Oued Djérat (Tassili-n'Ajjer) – Triple spiral. In contrast to the spiral in photo 2, the elegance of this engraving stands out. The two figures at the bottom result from two lines that start at their center and move in opposite directions. The work was done on a horizontal slab.

Maximilien Bruggmann filming and photographing the spirals during his one-year stay with the Tuareg in the Tassili Mountains - 1962

336 - Oued Djérat (Tassili-n'Ajjer). - A large bubale (antelope) engraved, with the tips of its horns separated by 1 m. This "leading fossil" of the oldest rock art is beautifully rendered here and corresponds to what animal paleontology teaches us. It is overlaid with a very beautiful double spiral and other unremarkable graffiti.

337 - Oued Djérat (Tassili-n'Ajjer). - A typical landscape of this conservatory of ancient images of vanished peoples. On the horizontal slab, large oxen are engraved with deep strokes.

339 - Oued Djérat (Tassili-n'Ajjer). - A large engraved ox, whose brow has been redone twice. A newer spiral surmounts it as if to summon the arrival of water.

366 - Oued Djérat (Tassili-n'Ajjer, confluence of the Wadi Touloult) – When one realizes that the spirals, like the rhinoceros, were engraved using only stone flakes, one can only admire the two triple spirals and the rhinoceros at the bottom, on the left thigh of which a clumsy artist tried to replicate the same masterpiece. There are also more spirals at the top.

The T4 mission team in front of the engravings of the spirals in the Oued Djérat (Tassili-n'Ajjer). From the left: a Touareg, Edouard Bois de Chesne, commissioned by television to make a five-part film series about the Sahara, Mrs Eva Bruggmann, Pascal Pol, Sylvio Acatos, journalist, and Maximilien Bruggmann, head of Mission T4.

379 - Oued Djérat (Tassili-n'Ajjer). - Antelope or goat. The deeply engraved animal is highly stylized. The coat is represented by a series of engraved lines. Note the spirals, one with two turns and the other, more irregular, with only one.

585 - Tin-Terhert (Tassili-n'Ajjer). - Lightly engraved spirals, arranged in three successive coils.

618 - Oum Itouami (Tassili-n'Ajjer). - It has been said that the spiral is linked to a symbolism of water, and thus fertility. However, in this case, it seems that it was used primarily for aesthetic purposes. Width of the depiction: 0.77 m.

654 - Gonoa (Tibesti). - Two spirals in reverse order, with the higher spiral continuing the lower one. Mediocre engraving. Diameter of one spiral: 0.15 m.

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