| Magharet el Kantara | |
| Map Type: | Egypt |
| Map Size: | 240 |
| Coordinates: | 22.9822°N 25.9864°W |
| Location: | Gilf Kebir |
| Region: | New Valley Governorate, Egypt |
| Relief: | 1 |
| Epochs: | Neolithic |
Magharet el Kantara or Shaw's Cave (Arabic: مغارة القنطرة, arched cave) is a rock art shelter of the Gilf Kebir National Park in the New Valley Governorate, Egypt. Located on the south-western slopes of Gilf Kebir, it was discovered in 1935 by the explorers Bill Kennedy Shaw and Rupert Harding Newman.[1]
The cave is high and wide. About half a meter above the ground there are rock paintings of a herd of differently drawn cattle and a farmstead representing a rare example of cattle paintings in the Gilf Kebir that otherwise are abundant in the nearby Jebel Ouenat.[2] These Neolithic rock paintings testify the favorable climatic conditions of life during the African humid period much different from the present one.[3]