Abizar Stele
Abizar Stele
This piece is the main and famous stele of Abizar, a true type of Berber work in which there is no influence from Roman examples and which derives directly from the sculptures and rock drawings of Tell and the Sahara. It was discovered in 1859 in a locality called Abizar, in Greater Kabylia, a few kilometers as the crow flies southeast of Tigzirt. 1.25 m high and 1.10 m wide towards the top, it is in the form of a sandstone slab, with fairly irregular contours, particularly on the right. The dating of this stele and of the entire Abizar group has generally been reported to the time of the Numidian and Moorish kingdoms, but modern studies based on analysis and iconographic and stylistic comparison give a low dating (5th-7th century AD).
This piece is the main and famous stele of Abizar, a true type of Berber work in which there is no influence from Roman examples and which derives directly from the sculptures and rock drawings of Tell and the Sahara. It was discovered in 1859 in a locality called Abizar, in Greater Kabylia, a few kilometers as the crow flies southeast of Tigzirt. 1.25 m high and 1.10 m wide towards the top, it is in the form of a sandstone slab, with fairly irregular contours, particularly on the right. The dating of this stele and of the entire Abizar group has generally been reported to the time of the Numidian and Moorish kingdoms, but modern studies based on analysis and iconographic and stylistic comparison give a low dating (5th-7th century AD).