Mesak Settafet

[2] The outcropping is abundant in prehistoric rock art and stone tools, particularly at the Wadi Mathendous site.

The outcropping's exposed stones are covered in a dark varnish or patina containing minerals not currently present in the sandstone.

The microns-thick patina of iron and manganese oxides were likely laid down on the rock when the area was much wetter, up to 5000 years ago.

A 2015 survey of randomly selected areas in the region estimated the tool density to be as high as 75 per square metre (7.0/sq ft) in places.

[2] The researchers for the Libyan Department of Antiquities used this figure to call the escarpment the earliest evidence of an anthropogenic environment.