The prehistoric rock paintings of Tassili n’Ajjer in the Sahara desert in Algeria, probably date from 9000 BC on. They were made during a period when the climate was wetter than now and the Sahara was closer to savannah than desert conditions, and therefore able to support greater human occupation as is evident from finds of stone tools and ancient rubbish heaps as well as the rock art itself.
The rock art can be classified into the following periods: the Bubalus period (from c.9000 BC), the Roundhead period (c.6000-4000 BC), the Bovidian period, the Horse period (from c.1200 BC) and the Camel period. Art from the earlier periods mainly shows wild fauna including elephants, giraffes, rhinoceroses and the bubalus antiqus, a now-extinct ancestor of modern cattle. From the Bovidian period on, herds of modern cattle feature heavily, along with depictions of people going about daily tasks. Horses were introduced to the Sahara in c.1200 BC and are shown in rock art until the climate became drier and camels replaced horses as the beast of burden.