Overview

• Published in July 2025 in Antiquity, the study dates the panel to the Protodynastic–Early Dynastic transition around 4500–3085 BC.
• Iconographic markers such as a false-beard motif and high artistic quality indicate the engraving was commissioned by an early political authority.
• The panel depicts an ornate boat pulled by five figures, steered by a rudder-oar bearer, and carrying a seated elite on a palanquin-like structure.
• Boats were ubiquitous symbols in Predynastic and Protodynastic Egypt, serving as ideological vessels for emerging rulers.
• Accelerating mining and quarrying in the Aswan region imperil rock-art sites and drive urgent documentation and rescue efforts.