Catfish
In going through old notes etc. from what I realize now were from some years ago (where has the time gone?) I found another theory I had come up with but which seemed somewhat tenuous, despite the compelling visual image of the images I found.
I discovered that in ancient Egyptian iconography, in heiroglyphic character for a pharoah named King Narmer, the rebus included a catfish to say his name.
This figure was with a body with forward projecting barbels (tentacles) in the same configuration as this stylized figure of the enigma.
While obviously it seems beyond unlikely that such iconography would lend to the tribal symbolism of relatively modern tribal symbolism of the latter 19th c., I have found a degree of the presence of heiroglyphics being recognized as sources. This was found in references of cattle brands used in Kordofan which could be sourced relatively to heiroglyphics. It seems possible of course that the influence was broader.
We know that various birds, fish, snakes etc. are depicted symbolically on edged weapons in Sudan and into other regions, so I was thinking, perhaps the catfish might have carried the same impact on modern natives that it had on the ancients, regardless of linear chronology. We know that the crocodile did.
At about the time I was considering this, there was a suggestion that this enigmatic figure might have related to the comet, in view if the observance of that cosmology in Mahdist times. This too sounded compelling, but would seem to be more in accord with kaskara and outside the Tuareg connections.
So I thought I would add this 'catfish' aspect as far as possible symbolism for review and further consideration or disqualification. You must admit looking at the rebus with the catfish figure has a compelling similarity from the stylized point of view.
The serekh (rectangular cartouche) with the catfish image is topped with the Horus bird to indicate this rebus is a royal name.
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