In ancient rocks, a message that resonates still

STASSILI N’AJJER NATIONAL PARK, Algeria ome 10,000 years ago, Stone Age hunter-gatherers used the majestic rock formations of what is today a remote corner of the Sahara as their canvas. Their meticulously drawn and carved pictures and petroglyphs tell the story of how they lived, mourned, and worshipped, how they tended and hunted animals, and how their lives evolved across time. The so-called rock art in the Tassili n’Ajjer National Park mountain range in Algeria is a testament to human creativity and resilience.

In January 2023, when I traveled to this barren, sand-swept region that spans 27,000 square miles, I was immediately struck by its resemblance to what I imagine the surface of

Mars looks like, or the set of a “Star Wars” film — towering arched rocks and otherworldly sandstone structures rising from so much red sand, all of it created by nature herself.

The experience was awe-inspiring: the overwhelming silence, the vastness of the place that revealed itself with the sunrise, the wind that kicked up with the dawn. It is hard to grasp that this was once a fertile grassland where enormous mammals roamed. The stone carvings here depict those great beasts: elephants, rhinos, hippos, and giraffes.

Today, these ancient artworks are vulnerable to damage from human activity and environmental change. Geopolitical instability in neighboring Niger and Libya is a threat.

Through these photographs, I aim to share not only the wonderment provoked by the World Heritage Site’s more than 15,000 drawings and engravings — what UNESCO calls “one of the most important groupings of prehistoric cave art in the world” — but to show that hiding in plain sight, this outdoor museum is a portal to our shared history.

The artworks here remind us of the interconnectedness of humanity and the natural world. The drawings and carvings also show us how across the centuries, the people here maintained a harmonious relationship with an everchanging environment.

There is a lesson in their adaptability that resonates still.

MATJAZ KRIVIC Abdullah, a guide in Algeria’s Tassili n’Ajjer National Park, looks toward “The Cathedral,” a towering naturally occurring sandstone structure.

Clockwise from top left, paintings of spear-bearing hunters; giraffes carved into rock remind us that this barren land was once lush; Abdullah points out a celebrated engraving.