<P> The origins of African art lie long before recorded history . African rock art in the Sahara in Niger preserves 6000 - year - old carvings . Along with sub-Saharan Africa , the western cultural arts , ancient Egyptian paintings and artifacts , and indigenous southern crafts also contributed greatly to African art . Often depicting the abundance of surrounding nature , the art was often abstract interpretations of animals , plant life , or natural designs and shapes . The Nubian Kingdom of Kush in modern Sudan was in close and often hostile contact with Egypt , and produced monumental sculpture mostly derivative of styles that did not lead to the north . In West Africa , the earliest known sculptures are from the Nok culture which thrived between 500 BC and 500 AD in modern Nigeria , with clay figures typically with elongated bodies and angular shapes . </P>
<P> The origins of African art lie long before recorded history . African rock art in the Sahara in Niger preserves 6000 - year - old carvings . Along with sub-Saharan Africa , the western cultural arts , ancient Egyptian paintings and artifacts , and indigenous southern crafts also contributed greatly to African art . Often depicting the abundance of surrounding nature , the art was often abstract interpretations of animals , plant life , or natural designs and shapes . The Nubian Kingdom of Kush in modern Sudan was in close and often hostile contact with Egypt , and produced monumental sculpture mostly derivative of styles that did not lead to the north . In West Africa , the earliest known sculptures are from the Nok culture which thrived between 500 BC and 500 AD in modern Nigeria , with clay figures typically with elongated bodies and angular shapes . </P>
the earliest known form of african art is
the earliest known form of african art is
African rock art
African rock art