Tassili n'Ajjer's Painted Plateau

Tassili n'Ajjer holds 15,000 prehistoric engravings across its vast sandstone plateau.

The mountain range sits in the Sahara desert of southeastern Algeria.

Tassili n'Ajjer covers an area of more than 72,000 square kilometers.

Desert varnish stains sandstone from near-black to dull red. Nature's paint job.

Erosion carved nearly 300 natural rock arches into the southeastern landscape.

River systems dug up to 400 meters deep into northern sandstone.

Volcanism covered the southwestern Adrar region with craters and lava flows.

Endangered Saharan cypress trees grow in the higher-elevation eastern half.

One painted human figure in Tassili n'Ajjer stands over 5 meters tall.

Ancient artists etched large wild animals like antelopes and crocodiles.

Neolithic pastoralists camped here between 5500 and 1500 BCE.

UNESCO added Tassili n'Ajjer to the World Heritage list in 1982.

Wadis within the mountain range function as corridors linking highlands and lowlands.

The name Tassili n'Ajjer translates literally to plateau of rivers.