Digital photographs of the Tifinagh inscriptions found in the Acacus mountains, created by the Italian-Libyan Archaeological Mission in the Acacus and Messak from October to December 2009.
111 'sites' with Tifinagh inscriptions were identified by the team, and high-quality digital photographs were taken of the inscriptions and their supports. The inscriptions are thought to date from 400 BC up to the modern age, with three periods being coarsely distinguishable: earliest inscriptions includes both the Garamantian civilization (400 BC–400 AD) and later centuries aswell, before the diffusion of Islamic religion (up to 900 AD). Others date back to a poorly known ‘Islamic age’ that cannot be defined yet in its chronological terms, approximately ranging from 900-1800 AD.
Tifinagh inscriptions are engraved onto and/or painted on rock shelters, rock walls, boulders, and their supports are either sandstone boulders, sabs, or cliff surfaces. As with the chronology, it has not yet been possible to completely identify the language(s) which form the inscriptions, although the Tifinagh script is used to express Libyco-Berber languages.
