Les représentations et les zoonymes du dromadaire (Camelus dromedarius Linnaeus, 1758) dans l’art rupestre et l’épigraphie le long de la route caravanière nabatéenne entre Hégra et Taymāʾ (Arabie Saoudite)

During a scientific expedition including archaeologists, epigraphists and one zootechnician on the ancient caravan trail of the Nabataean period joining the site of Hégra to the oasis of Taymāʾ in Saudi Arabia, a systematic survey of the rock carvings was carried out in more than fifty sites, some never before described. In these engravings, the representation of the dromedary (Camelus dromedarius Linnaeus, 1758) has been widely preponderant. This contribution aims to achieve a zootechnical analysis of these representations, remarkable by the diversity of postures and the richness of what they tell us about the place of the dromedary in the ancient societies of the region, including Nabataean civilization. Notably, representations of gender, physiological state, management of animals, their use (packing, riding, wrestling), their individual condition (body condition, beauty criteria, coat colour) and their posture are discussed, particularly in “face-to-face” representations. In addition, the different names (zoonyms) of the dromedary present in the various inscriptions accompanying the engravings and written in different alphabetic scripts known as “North-Arabians” were listed. This is the crossed view between one zootechnician and epigraphists of today in front of representations elaborated by camel herders before they were artists.