Dr. Fritz Hardtke is a research fellow at Macquarie University, Australia. He has a distinguished focus on the iconography of predynastic Egypt, particularly as expressed through rock art. His expertise lies in understanding the cultural and symbolic significance of rock art in arid landscapes, both in Egypt and Australia. He has a passion for how human societies adapt to and express themselves within harsh environments. Fritz has made rock art his specialty, recognising it as a crucial artifact and medium in deserts around the world—from Australia to North and South Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, South America and India.
Fritz’s archaeological journey began in 1998 with fieldwork at Helwan, Egypt through Macquarie University. Since then, he has expanded his research to Egypt's Western Desert, focusing on both excavation and rock art recording in Dakhleh Oasis. His work at the Predynastic Site of Hierakonpolis, where he has led the ongoing rock art survey since 2009, has contributed significantly to the understanding of early Egyptian iconography. In 2019, Fritz became the director of the Belgian-Australian mission to El Hosh, another major Upper Egyptian rock art site, further establishing his role as a leading figure in the study of Egypt’s predynastic rock art.
The history of research of rock art in Egypt and the legacy data is a further driving passion. To this end he has devoted considerable energy in researching the archives of Hans Alexander Winkler and the 8th DIAFE of Leo Frobenius. These archives are invaluable in guiding current fieldwork but also provide a snapshot of a rock art landscape from up to 100 years ago, which today has been much disturbed and continues to be under threat. He continues to investigate how the archival data may be integrated with current fieldwork data to get a complete as possible picture of the landscape. To this end he also uses 3D capture and Virtual Reality techniques.
Fritz’s archaeological career reflects his deep interest in how cultures not only survive but thrive in arid environments, leaving behind rich material cultures that tell stories of adaptation, survival, and artistic expression across millennia.
Selected publications
HARDTKE, F. 2009. Off to a Rocky Start: The Rock Art Survey of HK. Nekhen News, 21:26-27.
HARDTKE, F. 2010. The Hierakonpolis Rock Art Survey – Year of the Hippo, Days of the Donkey. Nekhen News, 22: 12-14.
HARDTKE, F. 2011. Rock Art Survey [in:] Friedman, R. F. (ed.), Report on the 2009 Season at Hierakonpolis. Annales du service des antiquités de l'Égypte 85, pp. 149-150.
HARDTKE, F. 2012. Wadi El Pheel – the Wadi of the Elephant. Nekhen News, 24: 18-19.
HARDTKE, F., 2012. Rock art Around Settlements: the Boats & Fauna at Hierakonpolis, Egypt [in:] HUYGE, D., VAN NOTEN, F. & SWINNE, D. (eds.) The Signs of Which Times? Chronological and Palaeoenvironmental Issues in the Rock Art of Northern Africa. Brussels: 327–348.
HARDTKE, F. 2013. The Place of Rock Art in Egyptian Predynastic Iconography - Some Examples from the Fauna. Rock Art Research, vol. 30 no. 1: 103-114.
HARDTKE, F. 2013. It’s Oryx Season – Rock Art 2013. Nekhen News, 25: 18-19.
HARDTKE, F. 2015. Rock Art from Behind Closed Doors and Much More. Nekhen News, 27: 16-17.
HARDTKE, F. 2015. Fifth Dynasty Findings of the Rock Art Survey. Nekhen News, 27: 18.
HARDTKE, F. 2016. Occupation and Settlement at Hierakonpolis – a Rock Art Perspective [in:] ADAMS, M.D. (ed.) Egypt at its Origins 4. Proceedings of the Fourth International Conference “Origin of the State, Predynastic and Early Dynastic Egypt”, New York, 26th – 30th July 2011. Peeters, Leuven/Paris/Bristol: 247-270.
HARDTKE, F. 2016. RAR Review: Religion on the rocks: Hohokam rock art, ritual practice, and social transformation, by AARON M. WRIGHT. 2014. Rock Art Research vol. 33 no. 2: 240-242.
HARDTKE, F. 2016. Pioneers of Egyptian Rock Art Research: The Tragic Life of Hans Alexander Winkler. Nekhen News, 28: 27-28.
HARDTKE, F. 2017. The Boats of Hierakonpolis Revisited [in:] MIDANT-REYNES B., TRISTANT Y., RYAN E.M., (eds.) Egypt at its Origins 5. Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference “Origin of the State, Predynastic and Early Dynastic Egypt”, Cairo, 13-18 April 2014. Peeters, Leuven/Paris/Bristol: 831-862.
HARDTKE, F. 2017. Rock Art Interpretive Approaches – Devising Frameworks to Maximally Utilise Independent Lines of Evidence [in:] EISENBERG-DEGEN, D. GOLDFUS, H. and NASH, G. (eds.) Journal of Arid Environments, vol. 143: 22-27.
HARDTKE, F. 2017. RAR Review: Talking stone: rock art of the Cosos, by PAUL GOLDSMITH. Rock Art Research, vol. 36 no. 1: 120-122.
HARDTKE, F. 2019. Scenes of Hunting: The Rock Art of Three Hump Hill. Nekhen News, 31: 9.
HARDTKE, F. 2020. The Case of the Boats with Bulls: From HK to El-Hosh. Nekhen News, 32: 30`.
HARDTKE, F. 2020. The Long Reach of the Nile Valley – the Egyptianisation of Siwa and the Western Outer Oases [in:] WARFE, A., GILL, J., HAMILTON, C.,
PETTMAN, A. and STEWART, D. (eds.) Dust Demons and Pots: Studies in Honour of Colin A. Hope, Peeters, Leuven: 241-256.
EVANS, L. HARDTKE, F., CORBIN, E. and CLAES, W. 2020. Camouflaged Chameleons: A new discovery at the site of El Hosh, Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences, vol 12, Iss 9: 1-9.
HARDTKE, F., CLAES, W., DARNELL, J. C., HAMEEUW, H., HENDRICKX, S. and VANHULLE, D. 2022. “Early royal iconography: A rock art panel from el-Hosh (Upper Egypt)” Archeo-Nil 32: 25-50.
HARDTKE, F. 2023. The Belgian-Australian Archaeological Mission to El Hosh, Annual Memoir of the Australian Centre for Egyptology 1: 42-43.
EVANS, L., HARDTKE, F. and CLAES, W. 2024. The Goat-Fish of El-Hosh: An Unusual Petroglyph Identified, Journal of Egyptian Archaeology, Vol. 110 Iss 1-2: 213-221.
HARDTKE, F. 2024. Processing the Raw Data from El Hosh into Virtual World Representation, Australian Centre for Egyptology Annual Memoir 2: 26-30.
HARDTKE, F. and FRIEDMAN, R. [In Press] The Hierakonpolis Petroglyphs: Chronology, Attribution and Interpretation, [in:] Current Research in the Rock Art of the Eastern Sahara. In Memory of Dirk Huyge (1957-2018). Proceedings of the 20th International Rock Art Congress IFRAO, Session 2B, Valcamonica, 29th August - 2nd September 2018).
HARDTKE, F., CLAES, W., BINDER, S. & KUBA, R. [In Press]. Legacy Data and rock Art. A Case Study and history of research from the site of el-Hosh, Egypt [in:] The rock art of northern Africa. Third International Conference. Brussels, 12, 13 & 14 September 2023.
BREMONT, A. & HARDTKE, F. [In Press]. Sex and the wadi. A note on the exceptional Protodynastic eroticon at Vulture Rock (Elkab) and sexual imagery in the Egyptian rock art [in:] The rock art of northern Africa. Third International Conference. Brussels, 12, 13 & 14 September 2023.
