2023 ABOURMA ROCK ART from the “Prehistoric Art” Series; 3 Ounce Antiqued Silver Coin; 200 Francs Djibouti

Description

Metal                    Silver

Purity                   0.999 (99.9%)

Weight                 3 Troy Oz (93,3 g)

Diameter              65 mm

Attributes             Antique Finish, Ultra High Relief, Colorized

Mintage                499

Packaging             Presentation Case and CoA

The ‘Abourma Rock Art’ coin is the first issue in the (revived) “Prehistoric Art” Series. From the 3 kilometer stretch of thousands of rock carvings it shows the largest stone ‘The Zoo’. This coin is struck using the enhanced Smartminting©️ technology which results in stunning ultra high relief on the rock.

The reverse of the coin depicts ‘The Zoo’, one of the rocks of the Abourma Rock Art site with surrounding rocks in relief as well. It’s a one-to-one representation of Prehistoric Art at the site. At the bottom the writing “ABOURMA ROCK ART SITE” and at the right “2023.”

The obverse has a special coat of arms for Djibouti. There are images of prehistoric people carving rock art and painting cave paintings. Surrounded by a ring of various prehistoric art of various places around the world. At the bottom is written “PREHISTORIC ART.” At the top quarter is the coat of arms of Djibouti embedded with: “REPUBLICQUE DE DJIBOUTI,” “200 FRANCS,” “.999 AG” and “93.3 g.”

Background information

The Abourma Rock Art site is a huge, 3-kilometer stretch, of rocks with hundreds of carvings in the north of Djibouti on the Makarrassou massif. These rock carvings tell a story about the society at that time. Some images represent messages of the social class, the interaction with nature and hunting. There are many wild animals present like elephants, giraffes, hippos, rhinos and more but also domestic animals. This means that the climate at that time wasn’t as inhabitable as today.

The site was rediscovered in 2008 by a French archaeologist. He was working north in Djibouti at various small rock art sites when, at a restaurant in Randa for lunch, the waiter asked what he was doing. He showed pictures of the rock art and the waiter said: “We have so many of these as well nearby”. The next day he walked 5 hours to get to the places and was surprised to find all this rock art. After his return, he studied the site for many months. In 2014 a road was constructed cutting the walk to just 2 hours. It still takes a total of 6 hours to get to the site from Djibouti city today. It’s listed to become a UNESCO World Heritage Site.