Petroglyphs to the Past

Wadi Rum, Jordan

Written by the pre islamic people of the arabian desert and sinai areas, some of these Petroglyphs are up to 2400 years old. These “photographs of ancient times” even depict wildlife that are either extinct or do not live in the area, as over time the local climate has since changed to a more arid one. This area being famous for Lawrence of Arabia and the filming of “red planet” I can’t help but think the deep history of this place is often overlooked. This is where people have lived and thrived for thousands of years, whole lifetimes written out like a story book for us to see so many years later. I feel almost like I can touch the rock and go back and time and ask these people, “What are your hopes and dreams?”.

The largest petroglyph of the camel on the bottom left shows a hobbled camel, the practice of tying the front two legs together so the animal can’t run far. This allows them to slowly graze without ever needing fences and is still done by the people who live here today.

Photographic Details: Using a polariser I was able to darken down the blue sky into a much deeper blue. The clouds seem to erupt from the cliffside pronouncing the deep history of these images. I didn’t keep the aperture too sharp as I wanted some of the wall to blur into the distance, farther away objects fade from view just like the passage of time obscures our view of the past.

Camera Settings: Canon 5D Mark II 1/80s f/7.1 ISO100 16mm