Anonymous - Running Horned Woman of Tassili n’Ajjer

• Title: Running Horned Woman of Tassili n’Ajjer
• Artist: Anonymous (-)
• Date: c.5000 BCE
• Medium: Cave painting
• Location: Tassili n'Ajjer in current day Algeria

The “Running Horned Woman” can be found in a shelter in a secluded massif very difficult to access. The painting was first described by archaeologist Henri Lhote as a “­gracious silhouette of a woman running. (...) and as “the most beautiful, the most finished and the most original” painted figure of the area.

She is dressed with sophisticated drapes. She might be a goddess of abundance with her two horns and her long breasts, by standing taller than all the other human beings around, and between the horns what might look like a field of wheat growing from grains.

The painting exudes a sense of freedom and grandeur.