Abstract
Ancient travellers on the Darb ‘Ain Amur, an evolving
desert track that has been connecting Kharga and
Dakhleh oases for millennia, felt a natural sense
of trepidation before embarking on their perilous
journeys. Thus, to assert their hope for control over
their voyage and to invoke divine aid for a successful
outcome, the travellers left behind carved pictorial
or textual marks of their fleeting presence. In this
way, ancient travellers participated in a time-defying
process of negotiating their individual identities and
experiences with the shared practices and values of the
desert-travellers’ community. In this essay, we focus
on the site of Wadi Asbrin, 3km south-west of the fort
at Qasr el-Lebekha, and examine the rich tapestry of
pictorial and textual graffiti found on the main outcrop,
Foot Rock. This outcrop has been recently targeted
by looters who have destroyed some of its inscribed
surfaces, emphasising the need for recording these fragile desert sites.