Archaeologists discovered ancient Egyptian depictions of spiders painted on rocks, making them the only ones known to exist in Egypt and quite possibly the old world.
The spider artwork, carved into a wall, was found in a sandstone wadi (vally) in the Kharga Oasis, located in Egypt's western desert almost 100 miles west of Luxor, Live Science reported. The depictions are a "very unusual" find, Egyptologist Salima Ikram, co-director of the North Kharga Oasis project and a professor at the American University in Cairo, told Live Science.
Ikram said the date the rock art was created is questionable. But according to the artwork's surroundings, it could date back to 4000 B.C. or earlier, Live Science reported. That date makes the spider art older than the Egyptian Empire, before the nation was united.
Ikran also said they cannot definitively say the drawings are spiders. A piece of the artwork shows spider-like figures surrounded by a shape that looks like a web. There are also multiple drawings that look like teeth from a comb, which Ikram said could be insects that were trapped by the spiders, tubes spun by the spiders or plants, Live Science reported.
Researchers are also stumped by the fact that the ancient Egyptians were not known to draw spiders. The only hieroglyphs related to spiders are rare "religious texts dealing with the so-called 'Opening of the Mouth' ritual, a rite that was performed on the mummy or a statue to restore its senses for use in the Hereafter," Ikram said, according to Live Science.
One possibility is that spiders were more common in the Egyptian environment the drawings were created in. Some spider species in Egypt have a dangerous bite, compelling ancient Egyptians to cave the eerie spiders, Live Science reported.
No matter the reason, "these images are noteworthy if they indeed are spiders, as these would be unique depictions of such creatures in Old World rock art," wrote Ikram, according to Live Science.
Pictures of the spider art here.
