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Sharing Symbols: A Correspondence in the Ritual Dress of Black Farmers and the Southeastern San Author(s): Pieter Jolly Source: Goodwin Series, Vol. 9, Further Approaches to Southern African Rock Art (Dec., 2005), pp. 86-100 Published by: South African Archaeological Society Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3858037 Accessed: 04-01-2016 09:12 UTC
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This content downloaded from 137.158.114.125 on Mon, 04 Jan 2016 09:12:10 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 86 South African Archaeological Society Goodwin Series 9: 86-100,2005
SHARING SYMBOLS: A CORRESPONDENCE IN THE RITUAL
DRESS OF BLACK FARMERS AND THE SOUTHEASTERN SAN
PIETER JOLLY Department of Archaeology, University ofCape Town, Rondebosch, Cape Town, 7701 South Africa. E-mail: [email protected]
"The Bushmen dance and drink beer with Cetwa's people." Black farmers' rites and religious beliefs can be detected in Statement of Archives Chaka, Cape (1849). the overt content and underlying symbolism of some of the executed San artists within the contact ABSTRACT paintings by period (Thackeray 1986; Prins 1990, 1994, 2001; Dowson 1994; Jolly A the dress some in rock feature of of people depicted paintings of 1992, 1994, 1995, 1996b, 1998). Developing this thesis, I focus the southeastern San is a bandolier - or what are strips strings of here on a particular item of dress, almost certainly a form of leather, sinew or beads which criss-cross the chest the probably of ritual accoutrement, which is depicted in a number of rock shown them. A similar item dress is worn in a wide people wearing of paintings from areas occupied by southeastern San and by societies mediums and initiands range of African by diviners/spirit by Nguni and Sotho groups. This has a bandolier-like form, and, their rites. In this article, reasons this during puberty possible for from examination of the imagery, almost all the examples in the in dress southeastern San and Black are correspondence of farmers art appear to depict strings of beads, or leather or sinew strips, and discussed within the context culture explored of inter-group which criss-cross the chest and back of the person with whom it exchange. It is concluded that this item of dress was brought with Black is associated. as moved southwards west and central and farmers they from Africa, I will show, first, that the bandolier is a feature of the ritual was subsequently introduced to some southeastern San groups with dress worn in two specific contexts by Black farmers in regions whom they had established close and symbiotic relationships. Some of of Africa as widely separated as South Africa and Senegal. The the other elements in San rock paintings that are present in areas symbolic significance of, and possible reasons for, this corre? occupied by Black farmers and San, but which are absent from areas spondence in the dress of some San groups and Black farmers where these did not come into contact with each also groups other, may will then be discussed within the wider context of studies of re? have been introduced into southeastern San culture and art as a result gional variation in the art and cultural exchange between ofthe influence of Blackfarmers on San cultures. This process is likely hunter-gatherers and other groups in Africa. It is concluded to have contributed to in the overt content and the regional diversity that this item of dress, and other elements in San art of areas symbolism ofSan rockpaintings. occupied by both San people and Black farmers, came to be depicted, or emphasized, in the art as a result of the influence of INTRODUCTION Black farmers' cultures on those of the San1. San hunter-gatherers and Black farmers first probably To argue for the cultures of Black farmers' having influ? came into contact with each other in South Africa present-day enced those of the San is, of course, not to exclude the likeli? with the arrival of Early Iron Age farmers in the Waterberg hood that Khoesan cultures influenced those of Black about the mid-second AD & Fuls and century (Vogel 1999), farmers. There is evidence that both processes occurred. It is Black farmers were in KwaZulu-Natal at least the present by very likely, for example, that the Khoesan had an influence on fifth AD & Moon was century (Whitelaw 1996). Impetus given some aspects of Cape Nguni divination. The Xhosa word for to these of armer interaction the processes hunter-gatherer-f by diviner, igqira, is derived either from the San word for medi- arrival of southern Sotho farmers on the southern Highveld, cine-person (Botha & Thackeray 1987) or, perhaps more likely, the Free State 1976, roughly present (Maggs 1980), probably from the word for medicine-person in the languages of the around 1640 AD & Fuls Between the time of first (Vogel 1999). Khoekhoen (Maingard 1934; Harinck 1969), entire clans of contact and the end of the San rock tradition in South painting which had merged entirely with Xhosa groups by at least the Africa and 1700 Lesotho, approximately years later, many 18th century. San are considered effective curers by many southern San came to establish of groups relationships varying Kalahari Bantu-speakers (Lee 1984; Shostak 1990) and it is kinds and intensities with Black immigrant farmers, ranging therefore possible that Bantu-speaker diviners adopted some from bitter at one end of the to close and conflict, spectrum, of the elements associated with the religious beliefs and rites of harmonious contact at the other Schofield (Schapera 1930; San curers. Hammond-Tooke (1998), for example, has argued Walton Vinnicombe 1949; 1956; Wright 1971; 1976; Campbell convincingly that there was a limited and selective San influ? Mazel Hall Loubser & Laurens 1987; 1989; 1990; 1994; Wadley ence on Cape Nguni divination rites in the form of the incorpo- Van der 1996; Jolly 1994,1996a; Ryst 1998; Thorp 2000). ration of the element of trance experience into the principal In those cases where southeastern San and Black farmers in dance performed by Cape diviner initiands during their South Africa and Lesotho established symbiotic relationships, thwasa training period. This is likely to have occurred as a re? and we know that ritual relationships, as well as ties of trade, sult of their exposure to San healing (trance) dances, and may patronage, marriage and friendship were established between have been a female reaction to Nguni patriarchy (Hammond- many of these farmer groups and San during the long period in Tooke 1998). The use of two sticks by diviners when dancing which they interacted, conditions would have existed for may also be a custom that was adopted from San culture. cultural exchange between the groups. The fact that cultural While we can therefore expect Khoesan culture to have had traits are known to have been adopted and/or adapted by a an influence on some Nguni rites and beliefs, I concentrate here number of San groups from Black agriculturists with whom almost entirely on the influence of Bantu-speakers cultures on they were in close and harmonious contact has led some those of the San. I have done so for two reasons. Firstly, cultural researchers to suggest that elements indicating the influence of flow from San to Bantu-speaking farmers would have had little This content downloaded from 137.158.114.125 on Mon, 04 Jan 2016 09:12:10 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions South African Archaeological Society Goodwin Series 9: 86-100,2005 87 or no impact on the overt content and the underlying symbol? ism of San art. It would show up in ethnographic studies of Bantu-speakers. In contrast, at least some of the beliefs and rites adopted and/or adapted by the San from Black farmers should - manifest in San art the subject of this article. Secondly, it seems to me that the full extent to which San have been influ? enced by the cultures of their agriculturist neighbours has not always been recognized. Spielmann and Eder (1994:307-8), for example, make the point that, worldwide, it is far more common for hunter-gatherers to adopt the customs of neigh? bouring agriculturists and pastoraUsts than for the reverse process to occur. The examples of changes in San cultures that I list and discuss in sections of the remainder of this paper make it clear that Black farmers' cultures have had a major influence on the cultures of many San groups. This, in turn, has implications for San rock art studies.
BANDOLIERS IN SAN ETHNOGRAPHY AND ART Bandoliers are very seldom worn by San or Khoekhoen people, and do not appear to have been worn by any of those San or Khoekhoen living outside areas where Black farmers settled. Although not exhaustive, my extensive search of travel? lers' accounts and ethnographies failed to reveal any evidence that San or Khoekhoen outside of areas settled Black farmers by FIG. 1. Rock painting of a clapping woman with bandolier.Several other bandoliers. This contrasts with the traditionally wore markedly figures at this site are depictedwearing bandoliers.Lesotho. many examples found in the cultures of Bantu-speakers in South Africa, Swaziland and Lesotho, as well as elsewhere in 218,230,231) and Lewis-Williams and Dowson (1999: figs 38a, Africa. For example, ten of the plates in Duggan-Cronins' (1928, 72, 81). I am aware of fourteen sites that contain paintings of 1929, 1938, 1939, 1949, 1954) volumes on the 'Bantu tribes' of people with bandoliers, and the number of people depicted South Africa show twenty-two people wearing bandoliers. with bandoliers at each site ranges from one to at least nine. As None of the people in the photographs in Duggan-Cronin & far as the distribution of sites is concerned, the bandolier is not Bleek's (1942) volume on the 'Bushman tribes' of southern depicted in San rock paintings in certain areas, such as the Africa are wearing bandoliers. southwestern Cape, which remained largely or entirely We do know, however, that at least some San groups unoccupied by Black farmers and where we know that the wear/wore this item of dress, since there is a small number of close relationships required for cultural exchange between photographs in the ethnography which show bandoliers, or bandolier-like dress, worn by northern San people (Bjerr 1960: opp. 128,129; Lee 1984:114; Lewis-Williams & Bannister 1991: 25, 74; and perhaps Shostak 1990: opp. 345). It is important to note, however, that all these groups had had some contact with Black farmers, who are known to have occupied the northern areas many years before these people were photographed. A photograph of a San woman with bandolier-like beaded dress illustrated in Lee (1984:114), for example, was taken during a performance of the women's Drum Dance. This trance dance, which had supplanted the men's Giraffe Dance as the major IKung ritual by the 1980s, was adopted by the Dobe !Kung in about 1915 from the Mbukushu, a Bantu-speaking farming group living in the Okovango swamps (Lee 1984:113-115). With regard to the Khoekhoen, many of whose rites and beliefs are related to those of the San, the Nama have never worn bandoliers as part of their traditional clothing (Lita Webley, pers comm., 2001). Some Khoekhoen girls of the North? ern Cape wear bandoliers during initiation rites (David Morris, pers. comm., 2001), but a number of these Khoekhoe and Tswana groups are known to have established harmonious relationships, including intermarriage, and in some cases these relationships date back to at least the 18th century (David Morris, pers. comm., 2001). This would have created conditions for Khoekhoe groups to have adopted this trait from the Tswana, one of the many Bantu-speaker groups known to wear bandoliers in certain ritual contexts (discussed below). Figures 1 to 4 illustrate some of the people depicted in San FIG. 2. Rockpainting of a therianthropewith bandolier.Eastern Cape. See paintings who wear bandoliers. Published examples include Lewis-Williams& Dowson (1999:fig. 38a)for otherfigures at this site who are those illustrated in Pager (1975: 24-25), Vinnicombe (1976: figs depictedwith bandoliers. This content downloaded from 137.158.114.125 on Mon, 04 Jan 2016 09:12:10 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions South African Archaeological Societv Goodwin Series 9: 86-100, 2005
certainly Black farmers. For example, where, as in the site of Makhenckeng illustrated by Vinnicombe (1976: fig. 218), they are shown with tassels on the arms and knees and holding knobkieries, typical Nguni dress and weaponry, it is likely that they are Black farmers or San heavily influenced by the cultures of Black farmers. It is also possible that both San and Black farmers with bandoliers are depicted together, in the same panel. Most bandoliered figures in the paintings, however, appear to be San, not being depicted with dress and/or weaponry that is predominantly associated with Nguni or Sotho cultures. Both males and females are represented wear? ing bandoliers. Often the bandoliered figures appear to be associated with ritual performance or have non-realistic or non-secular' features associated with them and/or other people and animals in the same panel. Some of the figures depicted wearing this form of dress have therianthropic features. In a number of cases, they form part of a dance scene, and elements suggestive or indicative of trance dancing, such as clapping, nasal bleed? ing, a bending-forward or collapsed posture or alites may be associated with them or other figures in the same panel. Although rare in the art, they generally appear to have been invested with considerable symbolic significance.
BANDOLIERS WORN BY BLACK FARMERS FIG. 3. Rockpainting of a woman with bandolier.Lesotho. Bandoliers are worn in a number of contexts by Black farm? Blacks and San could not have existed. However, it is depicted ers in Africa, primarily in contexts associated with ritual perfor? in a number of rock paintings in the southeastern mountains mance, but also, in a few cases, in contexts that are not overtly (the Maloti and Drakensberg) and adjacent areas, a region ritual. Nineteenth century portraits of some Zulu chiefs show occupied not only by the San but also by Nguni and Sotho them wearing this item of dress (Gardiner 1836: frontispiece farmers, and where we know that some San groups and Black and opp. 50; Angas 1974: plate 13). Gardiner (1836: opp. 126) farmers formed particularly close relationships. For reasons also illustrates the dancing dress worn on certain occasions by which will be presented below, I believe that this distribution the wives of the Zulu chief, Dingaan, as well as the dress of a pattern is both informative and significant. Zulu woman of rank, and in both cases these women are wear? Judging from their dress, ornament and equipment, some ing bandoliers. These may be examples of the secular use of of the people depicted in the art with bandoliers are almost bandoliers, although it is quite possible that bandoliers in these contexts had some ritual significance associated with the high rank of those people within society, or the dances performed by those wearing them. The great majority of the examples of bandoUers I have been able to find in a search of the ethnography of Black farmers in Africa indicate that this item of dress was usually symbolically charged and associated with high ritual status or potency. It appears to have been worn, in particular, in - two specific ritual contexts by novice and qualified diviners/ spirit mediums and by girls and boys during initiation rites associated with puberty. With regard to the former context, a 19th century portrait of a female Zulu diviner, or 'prophetess', shows that diviners wore bandoliers at this time (Isaacs 1937 (1825): opp. 139). This custom has continued until the present day, and the bandolier is perhaps the most characteristic item of dress of present-day novice and qualified diviners/spirit mediums in South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland (see, for example: Dutton 1923: opp. p. 68 (Sotho); Duggan-Cronin 1938: plate CIX (Zulu), 1939 (Xhosa), 1949: plate LXXVI (Mpondomise), 1954: plate CLXIV (Bhaca); Lee 1969: plate 8 (Zulu); Berglund 1976: 155,170-71, 189 (Zulu); Broster 1981 (Thembu); Hammond-Tooke 1993:127, 172, 189 (Bhaca, Zulu, Ndebele); Van Wyk 1996: 8 (Sotho), Magubane 2001:18, 58-67,100-102 (Ntwane)). Novice and qualified diviners/spirit mediums in African societies further to the north also wear this item of dress. Published photographs, illustrations and/or accounts of this practice include: a Herero diviner/spirit medium from south- FIG. 4. Rockpainting ofa figure with afantastic headwho is wearinga bando? western Angola (Medeiros 1981: plates 22 & 23) and a ritual lier. Eastern Cape. functionary from southeast or central Angola, dressed in a skirt
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FIG. 5. Youngmale neophytein Zulu ancestralspirit cult with goatskin and beadbandoliers. After Lee (1969: plate 8). and wearing a bandolier of cloth (Estermann 1983: plates after 337); Shona spirit mediums from Zimbabwe (Gelfand 1956: XVII, XVIII and 4; 1959:100-101,131, 136; plates fig. plate opp. FIG. 7. Rwandandancer with bandolier,skirt and anklerattles. After a photo? 1967: Bourdillon 1987: a Rwandan fig. 11; plate opp. 265); graph in McNeil (1998). See photographsof similarly-dresseddancers in and dancer who is dressed, in a similar manner to many Nguni Zagourski(2001). Sotho diviners, in a skirt and with dancing rattles attached to his ankles (McNeil 1998); a diviner, also from the Congo (Weeks century, show both sexes wearing bandoliers (Lye 1975: 272; 1914: opp. 216); and spirit mediums from Togo (Smuts n.d.: 29). see also Comaroff 1985: 89). Hammond-Tooke remarks that Zagourski's (2001) photographs of people from the Congo bandoliers made of grass are worn by Kgaga Sotho-Tswana show many dancers, some possibly diviners, wearing bando? novices in the bogwera rites performed in the course of their ini? liers. Baule 'trance diviners' from the Ivory Coast wear bando? tiation (1981: 66, plate 11), and ritual dress of this kind is still liers (Vogel 1997:192,221), and wooden 'spirit spouse7 figures, worn by Lovedu novices during these rites (Hammond-Tooke representing trance diviners from this area, have bandoliers 1993: 130). Female Venda initiands wear bandoliers (Vogel 1997: 30). Figures 5 to 8 illustrate bandoliers worn by (Hammond-Tooke 1993:143), as do female BaNtwane initiands some of the diviners/spirit mediums ref erred to above. Figure 9 shows a bandoliered 'spirit spouse' figure, representing a Baule trance diviner, from the Ivory Coast (Lawrence Fick, pers. comm., 2003). Ethnographers and artists have also described or illus? trated the wearing of this item of dress within the context of African puberty rites. Charles Davidson Bell's sketches of Sotho-Tswana initiands, made in the first half of the 19th
FIG. 8. Youngfemale spirit mediumfrom Togowith bandolier.After a photo? FIG. 6. Shona diviner with bandolier.After Gelfand(1967:figl.l). graph in Smuts (n.d.: 29). This content downloaded from 137.158.114.125 on Mon, 04 Jan 2016 09:12:10 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 90 South African Archaeological Society Goodwin Series 9: 86-100,2005
FIG. 10. FemaleTswana initiand at pubertywith bandolierof grass or reeds. FIG. 9. Bandolieredwooden 'spiritspouse'figure representinga Baule trance After a drawingmade in about1835 by CharlesDavidson Belland reproduced divinerfrom the Ivory Coast. in Lye (1975: 272).
(Magubane 2001: 15). Further published photographs of San rock paintings. The custom could have arisen independ? Bantu-speaker initiands with bandoliers can be found in ently in southeastern San and Black farmer societies. It could Duggan-Cronin [1928: plate XIV (Venda), 1929: plate XXVI have been adopted by Black farmers from the San. Or it could (Tlhaping)], Lye & Murray [1980:125 (Sotho-Tswana)] and Van have been adopted by San from Black farmers. For the foUow- Wyk [1996:36 (Sotho)]. I have personally seen female initiands ing reasons, I beUeve that the last-mentioned possibiUty best in Lesotho who were wearing beaded bandoliers as part of explains this correspondence: - their ritual dress. A) BandoUers are found over a very large area in Africa Bandoliers characterize not only the dress of initiands at one that stretches from South Africa to West Africa and that puberty in South Africa and Lesotho, but are also worn by this coincides, to a very large extent, with that occupied by Bantu- class of people in areas further to the north in Africa. Published photographs, illustrations and/or accounts of initiands from these areas who wear bandoliers include: female Herero initiands from southwestern Angola (Medeiros 1981: plates 16 & 17); male and female initiands from southeastern or central Angola (Estermann 1983: plates opp. 402 and 434); male Maasai and Bukusu initiands from Kenya (Beckwith & Fisher 1999 (I): 144; Cape Times 2000); female Ndembu initiands (Turner 1968: frontispiece; plate 12b, opp. 227) and a female Chisungu (Kaonde) initiand (Melland 1923: opp 280), both from Zambia; and female initiands from the Ngebende of northern Congo and the Bassari of southern Senegal (Beckwith & Fisher 1999 (I): 78-9, 121 ff.). Figures 10 to 13 illustrate some of the initiands referred to above. It is thus clear that the bandolier forms part of the ritual dress of novice and qualified diviners/spirit mediums as well as initiands at puberty in a wide range of Bantu-speaking African societies. Possible reasons why bandoliers not only appear in ritual contexts throughout much of Africa but were also worn by some San people and depicted in their art are given below.
EVIDENCE FOR THE ADOPTION OF BANDOLIERS BY SAN FROM THEIR NGUNI AND/OR SOTHO NEIGHBOURS There are a number of possible explanations for this corre? FIG. 11. Male Bukusuyouthfrom westernKenya with bandolierpreparing to spondence in the dress of Black farmers and people depicted in be circumcised.After a photographreproduced in The Cape Times(2000).
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FIG. 12. FemaleNgebende initiandfrom the northernCongo with bandolier. After a photographin Beckwith& Fisher (1999 (I): 78). speakers. Some of the areas in which bandoliers are worn, such FIG. 14. FemaleDorobo in Kipsigis initiation dress,including bandolier.After as the Coast, and are well outside those Ivory Togo Senegal, a photographin Kratz (1994: plate 18). occupied by the San, and almost certainly beyond their cultural influence. developed particularly close relationships. In areas where B) There are relatively few cases in the San's art of people Black farmers did not settle they are absent. We can expect wearing bandoliers, or of San people's having been recorded them also to be absent or very scarce in areas where Black wearing bandoliers, yet the custom of wearing bandoliers is farmers settled close to San, but formed less harmonious, or less widespread and common among Black farmer groups intensely harmonious, relationships with San than were estab? throughout much of Africa. This suggests that the custom lished between southeastern San and some Nguni and Sotho originated amongst Black farmers and was passed on by them groups. to San specific groups, probably those with whom they C) Bandoliers are depicted in paintings in areas occupied by both San and Black farmers, but not in the western Cape, - which was unoccupied by Black farmers or which was occu? pied only at a late date when the fine-line painting tradition had ended. The distribution pattern of bandoliers in the art (present in areas occupied by Black farming communities, many of whom were known to have established close relations with the San, and absent in an area where Black farmers were absent and cultural transmission from Black farmers to San could not have occurred) is congruent with the hypothesis that San adopted this item of dress from Black farmers. D) A number of scenes in the art which include paintings of people wearing bandoliers contain elements strongly associated with Black farmer cultures. The southern Lesotho site of Woodlot, for example, is dominated by paintings of 'trance cattle7 and cattle therianthropes (see Dowson & Lewis- Williams 1994, cover page, for an illustration of one of the latter paintings from this site), and paintings at the site of Makhenckeng 2 in southeastern Lesotho, copied by Vinnicombe (1976: figs 48, 83, 218), contain elements associated much more with Black farmers than with San such as knobkieries and knee tassles. Almost all the figures depicted in an animated dance scene at this site, quite possibly San and Black farmers dancing together, are wearing bandoliers (see Vinnicombe7 s fig. 218). E) Other hunter-gatherers are known to have adopted this form of ritual accoutrement from neighbouring groups. A photograph of a female Okiek hunter-gatherer initiand from - FIG. 13. FemaleBassari initiandfrom southern Senegal with bandolier.After a Kenya in ritual dress, reproduced in Kratz (1994: plate 18 see photographin Beckwith& Fisher (1999 (I): 120). Fig. 14 here), shows that she is wearing a bandolier. According to
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Approximatearea occupied by speakersof Bantu languages m Africa
Approximatelocation of Mtiands and diviners/spiritmediums known to wear bandoliers
Approximatelocation of San rock paintings depicting bandoliers
FIG. 15. Map of Africashowing the general distributionof the Niger-Congo/Bantulanguage family, the approximatelocation of groups referredto in this article whose initiands and/or diviners/spiritmediums wear bandoliers,and the general area in which paintings depicting bandoliersare located.The distributionof Bantu languages shown here is basedon JosephGreenberg s classification,illustrated in Hall (1987: 20).
Kratz, this costume had been borrowed by its Okiek Dorobo that this custom forms part of a broader system of ritual prac? wearer from the Kipsigis, a neighbouring pastoralist group tice with common elements, shared by Black farmers, primarily who have had a strong influence on Okiek initiation rites as Bantu-speakers, throughout much of Africa. It was almost well as other aspects of Okiek culture (discussed below). Not certainly brought with the ancestors of the southern Nguni only was the costume worn by this initiand almost identical to and/or Sotho people as they moved southwards from central that of the Kipsigis, but she was fitted out in it by a Kipsigis Africa and was subsequently adopted by some southeastern person (Kratz 1994: plate T7). The Okiek Dorobo female San groups with whom these people established particularly initiand's costume is a particularly good example of the manner good relationships. Figure 15 illustrates the following: the in which certain pastoralists and farmers have been known to distribution in Africa of groups that I have been able to identify influence the ceremonial dress and rites of certain hunter- to date that are known to wear bandoliers in ritual contexts gatherers with whom they are in close contact. associated with initiands or diviners/spirit mediums; the None of these points of evidence listed above is sufficient, correlation between this pattern of distribution and the general on its own, to prove conclusively that southeastern San area in Africa occupied by Bantu-speakers; and the approxi? adopted bandoliers from Bantu-speakers, but all are congruent mate area where paintings of people wearing bandoliers are with this hypothesis, and, as strands' combined to make up a located. larger cable' of evidence, they strongly suggest that the wear? ing of bandoliers, as represented in San paintings, is a custom THE SYMBOLIC SIGNIFICANCE OF BANDOLIERS FOR initially associated with the societies of Black farmers (see NGUNI DIVINERS Chippindale & Tacon (1998) for the use of cabling' to date The fact that bandoliers are almost invariably worn in Aboriginal art). Taken together with the other evidence that has specific ritual contexts (initiation rites) and as a marker of ritual been presented above, they give good support to the argument status (by diviners/spirit mediums) indicates that they are
This content downloaded from 137.158.114.125 on Mon, 04 Jan 2016 09:12:10 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions South African Archaeological Society Goodwin Series 9: 86-100,2005 93 usuaUy symbolically-loaded. It is known, for example, that stimulated by Buddhism" while Eliade states that "the Tungus bandoliers have strong symbolic significance for Nguni cultural complexes are saturated with elements borrowed from diviners. Amongst Zulu diviners the bandolier is termed Buddhism and Lamaism" (Eliade 1964: 498). This fusion of iminqwamba, and most Zulu diviners consider them indispens- religious traditions resulted from cultural exchange between able in the divination process (Berglund 1976:176), presumably northern Asian peoples, who possessed a shamanic religious because they are invested with the powers of the ancestors (see complex, and peoples further to the south who introduced below). One strand or string is worn while the diviner is being them to Buddhist and Lamaist practice and thought (Eliade initiated and a second string, crossing the first, is added when 1964: 495 ff). the diviner graduates at a special ceremony held in his or her According to Eliade (1964), ecstatic experience, the central honour (Berglund 1976:155,170). In practice, however, some feature of most shamanic religions3, while an ancient, and initiands wear strings across the chest from both shoulders primal, religious phenomenon, was nevertheless capable of before they have graduated as diviners. being understood or interpreted differently in different BandoUers are usually made of skins of animals sacrificed cultures. "(W)hat changed and was modified with the different to the ancestors during the period when a diviner is being initi? forms of culture and religion was the interpretation and evalu? ated and at the conclusion of this process (Berglund 1976:170, ation of the ecstatic experience" (Eliade 1964: 504). In other 176), and they symbolize the presence of the ancestors (Lee words, ecstatic/trance experiences, as well as other altered state 1969: plate 8; Hammond-Tooke 1989:110). According to an infor- experiences, such as dreams and visions, are, to a large extent, mant cited by Janzen (1992:38-9), the different strings of beads culturally-mediated [see, for example, Furst (1972: 183)]. A strung across the chest of a Swazi novice spirit medium (Janzen corollary to the above is that when a group's shamanic cultural 1992: fig. 4) represented different categories of spirits, including complex changes, and here we are concerned with changes the lineal ancestors. Bandoliers in the dress of Nguni diviners, due to the influence of neighbouring peoples' cultures, its are therefore integrally bound up with ancestor worship, or shamans7 experiences while in altered states, and the interpre? veneration, and its associated rites. tation of these experiences, will be mediated in whole or part by the new, introduced beliefs which they have adopted and/or CULTURE CONTACT AND THE EXCHANGE OF syncretized as they were incorporated into the existing com? ELEMENTS OF RITUAL PRACTICE AND RELIGIOUS plex of beliefs and rites. BELIEF BETWEEN GROUPS Examples of change in other hunter-gatherer ideological As has been mentioned, it is certain that the cultures of San systems following contact with other cultures can, in many and Bantu-speakers would have had a mutual influence upon cases, provide useful anologies for possible changes in San each other during the long period in which these groups were hunter-gatherer ideologies in the contact period, in the same in contact. If, as seems very likely, San adopted this item of rit? way that structural similarities in shamanic rites, beliefs and ual dress from Black farmers, it would be just one of the many experiences worldwide can be used to help us understand changes that have been brought about in hunter-gatherer rites some of the shamanic practices of the San, and throw light on and beliefs as a result of the cultural influence of their Bantu- the religious symbolism of their art. The work of Kratz (1981, on Dorobo speaker neighbours (although, as I have stated above, cultural 1986,1993,1994) and Klumpp & Kratz (1993) Okiek transmission in the contact situation would not have been uni- (hunter-gatherer) cultural change brought about by contact directional). In this respect it is important to emphasize that with pastoralists provides good examples of the adoption by farmer change due to the adoption and/or adaptation of elements of hunter-gatherers of the rites and beliefs of their neigh- a other groups' cultures is a feature of all religious systems, bours, although these writers stress that this rarely represents including those of the many San groups who produced rock simple, chameleon-like change of ethnic identity. Kratz (1994: to customs paintings. 318) points to the Okiek's "bricoleur openness" the Van der Leeuw (1964:609 ff), for example, points out that all and rites of other groups. She found that Okiek culture had modified as a result of cultural religions are in a state of constant change and that the merging been extensively pastoralist and beliefs Okiek have been of different religious systems to form new composite or influence. Some rites adopted by from syncretized forms is a feature of the history of religions. He introduced directly neighbouring pastoralist groups. Others have come from contact with other Okiek who points to the "syncretism of the Hellenistic age, which attracted groups 1994: to itself the religions of the whole inhabited world and have been culturally influenced by pastoralists (Kratz interwove and united them either into magical modes of 297). activity, or mysteries of philosophical speculation" (1964: 610). A number of Okiek groups have formed such close ties Even major religions of the world such as Christianity and with their pastoralist neighbours that they can barely be distin? Islam represent a syncretism or amalgamarion of different guished from them in any cultural sense. Although nominally religious forms. "(T)hus in Christianity we find, together with Okiek, the cultures of these groups are more like those of their the inheritance of Israel, that of Greece and even a small bequest associated pastoralist groups than those of their Okiek kin from Persia.... In Islam, similarly, Christianity, Judaism and living in different areas (Klumpp and Kratz 1993: 198-99). primitive [sic] religion met and fused together into a unique Other Okiek, while influenced by the cultures of their form" (1964: 610). pastoralist neighbours, have modified, or 'Okiekized7, these in ensure that achieve a Despite their great antiquity, and the sense that they repre? rites and beliefs ways that they degree and beliefs. Maasai and sent an archetypal, and hence particularly 'pure', form of reli? of fit with existing Okiek rites Kipsigis into the Okiek cultural con? gion, shamanic religions, including those of the San, have also customs and beliefs, introduced a Okiek accent7. An or experienced changes as a result of culture contact. Significantly, text, thus acquire strong adopted symbol even the classic form of shamanism of the Tungus group, from rite may retain some of the meanings associated with it in is modified to a or whose language the word 'shaman' derives (EUade 1964:495), pastoralist culture, but its symbolism greater extent to accord with of Okiek represents a fusion or hybridization of an original, archaic form lesser aspects existing religious of shamanism with Buddhist and Lamaist religion. beliefs and rites. Shirokogoroff [cited by Eliade (1964:498)] terms it "shamanism As in other areas where elements of culture have been This content downloaded from 137.158.114.125 on Mon, 04 Jan 2016 09:12:10 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 94 South African Archaeological Society Goodwin Series 9: 86-100,2005
adopted by one group from another, but are considered by the ing more and more Bantu customs, and mixing more with the host group to be indigenous (Ellis 1954: 678; Nutini 1976: Black races in every generation. In the west, where the Bantu 314-315; Hanson 1989; Guss 1994: 150), changes in Okiek population is much greater, this process has advanced more culture due to pastoraUst influence are often not overtly recog? than in the less populous east. Still, here one sees the influence nized by Okiek as having been introduced, but are claimed to at every turn.... That polygamy, fetish worship, and Bantu be Okiek in origin. Okiek thus 'image tradition' representing modes of dancing should also creep in is natural." introduced customs as ancient, or simply avoiding talking With regard to the last-mentioned influence, the introduc? about the origin of these customs. In this way "past becomes tion of new dances learned from Bantu-speakers, Lee's (1984) present, in part through a projection of present practice into observation that by the 1980s the most prominent Dobe IKung the past" and "silence canonizes changes as enduring tradition" dance, the Giraffe Dance, was exceeded in popularity by the (Kratz 1994: 320, 321). women's Drum Dance, of Mbukushu origin, has already been In the case of the San, their shamanic complex has not just mentioned. The latter dance had become the major IKung changed in response to inter- and intra-cultural influences, but, ritual by the 1980s, and, as in the healing dances, it involves as Guenther (1979, 1996, 1999) points out, it is peculiarly trance (Lee 1984: 113-115). Other dances, such as the Trees susceptible to influences from other groups. This characteristic, Dance, which is similar to the mine-workers' dances, have also Guenther suggests, stems from the fundamentally anti- been introduced. Lee (1984: 116-118) draws attention, too, to structural nature of San society and religion. In this, paradoxi- general changes in IKung conceptions of disease and healing cal, sense, anti-structure is structural to San social organization, brought about by contact with Bantu-speakers. Significantly, cultural practices and belief systems, and the lack of emphasis these include the adoption of the core Bantu-speaker belief that placed on structure within San ideological and ritual systems illness may be caused by failure to propitiate the ancestors/spirits has opened these systems to change stemming from contact of the dead. with other religions, such as those of Bantu-speakers. Bantu-speaker divination practices, involving divining Guenther (1999) remarks that San "forage for ideas" and dice or bones, were also adopted by a number of San groups. A have adopted, and/or adapted many elements of belief and photograph (in Gordon 1997: B 271, after p. 48) of a "Namutoni ritual practice from neighbouring San and non-San groups. bushman Witch Doctor engaged in throwing bones (dice)" This has been caused, or facilitated, by "their mobility and provides evidence of Bantu-speaker divination practices openess as a society and people and their flexible and having been adopted by the San. Vinnicombe (1976: 300) cites nondogmatic ethos and religious ideology" (Guenther 1999: John Marshall's observation that Kalahari San divine with discs 86). Interaction and exchange with their neighbours "has made of eland hide, and remarks that "this practice is thought brought not only material goods to the Bushmen but also be? to be adapted from their Tswana neighbours who throw liefs and ideas, as well as ritual practices" (Guenther 1999: 88). bones". Bleek (1928a: 28-29, my bracketed additions), too, Elements that have been 'foraged' by some San groups from remarks: "These dice, or divining sticks, are frequently found the reUgion of Bantu-speakers include: the concept of ancestors among the Northern and Central Bushmen, occasionally and their worship, totemistic ideas and practices, male circum- amongst those dwelling on the southern borders of the cision, certain concepts of disease and means of treatment, and Kalahari. The Colonial [Cape] Bushmen and those of divination practices (Guenther 1999: 9). Griqualand West do not know them.... I think they are decidely Other ethnographers have remarked on this process of adopted from the Bechuana [Tswana], or other Bantu tribes, as acculturation. Schapera (1930: 34, 36-38, 71, 85,122, 126,177) the frequency of their use coincides with the amount to which provides examples of changes brought about in San cultures, any tribe has been exposed to Bantu influence." particularly those of the northern and northeastern groups, as Schapera (1930: 201) cites other accounts of the use of a result of the adoption and/or adaptation of elements of divining dice/bones by San and concurs with Bleek's view that Bantu-speakers' and other groups' cultures. By the time of they were adopted from Bantu-speakers, amongst whom the his writing, most IKung of Angola had been considerably practice is much more widespread. He supports Bleek's influenced by the mode of life and customs of the Bantu- suggestion that their frequency of appearance in San cultures is speakers amongst whom they lived. The Hei-//om had been directly related to the extent to which particular San groups greatly influenced by the customs of the Nama, Bergdama and had been exposed to the cultural influence of Bantu-speakers. Ovambo; some San groups of southwest Angola appear to This is relevant to the line of reasoning that that I take here in - have been similarly influenced; the religious beliefs and rites of my analysis of the distribution pattern of bandolier paintings Kalahari San groups to the northeast and extreme east had that they are found in a region, the southeastern mountains been affected to a degree by the inter-dwelling Tswana; and the and adjacent areas, where we know particularly intensive Hiechware San of the eastern Kalahari had adopted male and interaction occurred between some San and Black farmers, and female circumcision rites and other elements of religion, are absent in another area, the western Cape, where we know including totemic beliefs from the Tswana. Schapera (1930:191) that the San could not have been exposed to the cultural influ? remarks that "[a]U these direct symptoms of borrowing from ence of Black farmers. other peoples show clearly that the religious conceptions of the In some cases, new rites and beliefs have been adopted by Northern Bushmen.... can by no means be regarded as San in unmodified forms, even when they are incongruent - untainted by foreign influences". with existing beliefs Guenther remarks that San are highly Bleek (1928a: 27) states in connection with the western tolerant of ambiguities and logical incongruities in their Nharo San that she suspected that their whole male initiation religious systems, a trait which clearly has facilitated the addi? ceremony was "borrowed from their Bantu neighbours, gener? tion of foreign ideas and rites to what he terms their 'religious ations ago, and grafted onto their own beliefs, at any rate brew' (1999: 227). Moreover, like Kratz and other authors coloured by their habits of thought"4. The San of central Angola referred to above, Guenther (1999: 117) points out that, once visited by Bleek (1928b), like the western Nharo, had also been adopted, a foreign element of belief may be considered always greatly influenced by the cultures of surrounding Bantu- to have formed part of the corpus of religious beliefs and prac? speakers. Bleek (1928b: 125) wrote: "(They) are steadily adopt- tices of the group adopting and/or adapting it. It is incorpo- This content downloaded from 137.158.114.125 on Mon, 04 Jan 2016 09:12:10 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions South African Archaeological Society Goodwin Series 9: 86-100, 2005 95
fication rites after the killing of elands (Orpen 1874: 7), and it may well have been this original, underlying correspondence in meaning which encouraged Qing's San to place this Nguni rite at the very heart of their charter myth. A report, cited by Van der Ryst (1998: 47), of 19th century 'Vaalpens magicians' practising what seems to have been a mixture of San and agropastoralist rituals indicates that syn- cretic processes of this kind occurred. As Van der Ryst remarks (1998: 53, my bracketed additions), "interaction [between Waterberg hunter-gatherers and Black farmers], apart from influencing the subsistence systems and social customs [of the hunter-gatherers], brought about important changes in religious symbols and concepts, some of which were incorpo- rated into their rituals, rock art and folklore". While the shamanic basis of San religion and art in all likelihood remained in place, changes in San culture would have trans? lated into changes in the overt content and underlying symbol? ism of some of the San contact period art as, in tandem with existing beliefs and rites, new elements adopted and adapted from Nguni and Sotho religion came to mediate some of the ecstatic and dream experiences of some southeastern San shaman painters.
THE SYMBOLIC SIGNIFICANCE OF BANDOLIERS FOR THE SAN FIG. 16. FemaleThembu diviner initiand mixing ubulawuwith a churn stick. It seems clear that bandoliers were San After a photographin Broster(1981: plate 27). adopted by exposed to the rites and beliefs of Black farmers, but what was their rated within the existing tradition, and effectively becomes significance for the former people? It is possible, of course, for part of that tradition, making its foreign origin particularly San, or people from any other group, to adopt the everyday difficult to detect. It also sometimes happens that one or more dress and ornament of another culture without being greatly elements of an adopted tradition are recognized as being influenced by the religious ideas and/or rites of that culture. foreign in origin, but the new tradition is nevertheless And for some San, perhaps including some of those living in seamlessly incorporated into traditional custom and belief. This the Kalahari who have adopted this form of dress, the bando? process is well-illustrated in the creation myth recounted by the lier may have had little or no religious significance. However, 19th century San informant, Qing (Orpen 1874), who lived the contexts of many of the paintings of people wearing bando? with, and was culturally influenced by, the Phuthi (Black farm? liers (such as an association with what are clearly trance ers whose culture contained elements derived from both elements) suggests that bandoliers were often associated with Nguni and Sotho groups). shamanic ritual performance. Qing, whose testimony concerning San religious beliefs The fact that ancestral spirits are symbolized by the bando? and rites has been extensively used to interpret their art, liers worn by Bantu-speaking diviners is important, moreover, described how, in the beginning, the first eland was killed by as it indicates that this form of dress is bound up with ancestral the sons of Cagn, the trickster creator being of San mythology. veneration, the central feature of the religious systems of Black Cagn subsequently ordered one of his sons to make a new farmers in Africa. Most features of the ritual dress and equip? eland from the dead animal's blood. He told him "to take the ment of Zulu diviners, for example, are heavily invested with dead eland's blood and put it in a pot and churn it with a little the symbolism of the ancestral spirits (Berglund 1976: 173 ff), native churn-stick, which he made to spin in the blood by rub- and we need to ask whether this symbolism was transferred to bing the upright stick between the palms of his hands..." the bandoliers worn by San people, who did not have any (Orpen 1874: 4). After this had been done, the blood was taken system of organized ancestor worship or any form of reli? from the pot and sprinkled on the ground, where it turned into gious practice in which the spirits of the dead were regularly elands. propitiated (Schapera 1930: 395; Barnard 1992: 252). The procedure described by Qing refers to the ritual Since adoption of ritual costume is likely to have a greater surrounding the preparation of ubulawu, or herbal medicines, significance than the simple copying of ordinary clothing - by Nguni and Sotho diviners and the word 'native', in this styles, it seems likely that, in general, the wearing of bandoliers context, indicates that Qing was aware that this was a rite by the San was a symbolically important act stemming from adopted by the San from Black farmers. It was commonly used culture contact and transmission. When, for example, we see a in the past to refer to Black people. The practice of making Black person who is a f unctionary in a Zionist Christian Church ubulawu involves twirling a stick immersed in a pot containing wearing a Bishop'scassock, it indicates that he has adopted a herbal extract between one's hands until a frothy white head some of the basic tenets of Christianity and syncretized them forms (see Fig. 16 and Broster 1981: figs 18,19,37). The mixture with aspects of indigenous African religions (Sundkler 1961)5. has hallucinogenic properties and plays a central role in several New religious symbols and rites incorporated into existing rites of Nguni diviners, including their initiation ceremonies, systems usually bear with them, to a greater or lesser degree, where it is used "to induce or clarify dreams and to "open one's aspects of their original meanings. These are incorporated, in mind to the ancestors" (Buhrmann 1984: 41). The making of whole or part, into the new, syncretic forms to which they ubulawu also functions as a purification rite. There are two contribute. In this respect "bricolages always perpetuate as - other references in Qing7s narrative to the performance of puri- they change" they represent texts which "both press new
This content downloaded from 137.158.114.125 on Mon, 04 Jan 2016 09:12:10 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 96 South African Archaeological Society Goodwin Series 9: 86-100,2005 associations and reproduce conventional meanings" Jolly (2002) for a fuller discussion of the spiritual powers associ? (Comaroff 1985:198,253). ated with liminality]. In many societies it is considered what We can be reasonably sure, therefore, that the wearing of Van Gennep (1960:82) terms "a sacred environment", a well of bandoliers indicates a degree of influence of Nguni and/or potency on which all those who mediate between the world of Sotho rites and beliefs on many of the San who wore this item the living and that of the spirits are capable of drawing. The of dress. Some of those San who adopted and/or adapted bandolier, I suggest, marks this potent, sacred state of elements of Nguni and/or Sotho rites or ritual dress, indicated liminality. in this case by the wearing of bandoliers, would probably have introduced elements of a structurally different religion based DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION - on ancestor veneration into their religious system and into There are both similarities and differences in the paintings the remaining visible expression of that system, their rock art. of the many San groups who occupied southern Africa. This As mentioned above, this process of cultural influence may reflects, in part, the many common elements within, as well as well, in some cases, have involved the adoption of Black the variability among, the cultures of the many different San farmers' beliefs and rites largely unchanged from their original groups who live, or lived, in southern Africa. Some researchers, content and form, particularly after intensive and prolonged while recognizing that differences exist in San cultures, have harmonious contact. In addition to the simple juxtaposition of argued that this has not affected the essential uniformity of San adopted and indigenous elements within San religious systems, cultural systems through time and space (Lewis-Williams 1981, however, we can also expect blending and syncretization of 1984; Barnard 1988,1992). Others, while not denying that there new and old elements as selected, adopted ideas and rites were are some elements common to all, or almost all, San cultures, reworked, reinterpreted and meshed with existing San rites have drawn greater attention to diversity in the cultures of San and beliefs to create new religious forms. This would have groups (Mazel 1989; Solomon 1992; Kent 1992,1996; Yates et al involved a process in which, to adopt Shirokogoroff's term, the 1994; Guenther 1999). Guenther (1999), for example, argues not San's existing shamanistic religious complex was 'stimulated', only that variation within and between San cultures is marked, or transformed, by Black farmers7 rites and beliefs, rather than but that diversity is a defining characteristic of San cultures as a being entirely replaced by these rites and beliefs. whole - one that stems from core, anti-structural elements of Aside from signifying a set of religious beliefs drawn in the San's way of life and thought. whole or part from the religion of Black farmers, moreover, While particular aspects of San religious symbolic systems adoption of bandolier ritual dress by the San may also have undoubtedly were widely shared, some probably over long served more practical ends. For those San who provided ritual periods of time, and while identification of these continuities services to Black farmers, and there are a number of accounts through time and space is essential for understanding the which indicate that, in the 19th century at least, some San acted symbolism of much of the art, I have focused here on disconti- - as rainmakers for Black farmers (see Jolly 1992: 89 for a list of nuities, or changes, in the San painting tradition specifically references to this practice), the adoption of the bandolier may changes in the symbolism of the art which stemmed from have acted as a marker of a particularly close relationship with cultural contact between San and Black farmers. Differences in Nguni and/or Sotho diviners, and could have been used by the ways in, and degrees to, which the various San groups were some San shamans in order to gain acceptance and prestige influenced by the religions of Black farmers are likely to have within the ranks of these people (Simon Hall, pers. comm., contributed to diversity in the religious symbolism of their 2002). It is possible, too, that adoption by San people of distinc? painting traditions. tive regalia of this kind, in common with Black diviners, The adoption of the bandoUer by the southeastern San, and reflected the development of greater stratification within San its absence amongst San in areas not occupied by Black farm? society in the contact period. San shamans probably gained ers, is only one example of the way that diversity in religious increased prestige and material wealth through the provision beliefs and rites can arise due to variations in forms of cultural in? - of ritual services to Black farmers (Campbell 1987), particularly teraction between groups a process which has been noticed by through the assumption of an intercessionary role in their a number of researchers. Kratz (1986:220,1994:64), Joiris (1996: rituals (Hall 2000: 46), and this increase in social status, as well 246) and Guenther (1999), for example, have pointed out that as its visible markers such as elaborated ritual dress, is likely to variation in the ways in which hunter-gatherer groups have be reflected in the art of the later period (Dowson 1994). interacted and exchanged cultural elements with the same or The question remains, however, as to why bandoliers different, neighbouring ethnic groups has been a cause of were/are common to the ritual dress of these three African cultural diversity among these hunter-gatherer groups. Since - groups in particular Black diviners/spirit mediums, Black the rock art of the San was one form of expression of their initiands at puberty and some San people depicted in the art. It culture, identification of differences in forms of interaction would seem that the bandolier is a symbol of the spiritual between the San and other groups, and the variations in San - powers associated with liminality the common link between cultures brought about by different forms of contact with these three categories of people. San, like other hunter- different groups, should help us to understand at least some of gatherers, were assigned a liminal position within Black farmer the broad inter-regional diversity in the subject matter and cosmology, between nature and culture (Kenny 1981; Prins & symbolism in the art (Jolly 1996b, 1998; Parkington 1996: 289). Lewis 1992), while their shamans, like African diviners/spirit me? Narrowing the focus, we can also expect Black farmers' influ? diums, acted as mediators between the worlds of the living and ence on San culture to have varied within particular regions. In the dead, moving between these realms in altered states. the same way that the economies and cultures of some Kalahari Initiands, too, occupy a liminal state. They are considered San groups were less affected by Black farmers than were temporarily outside society, between childhood and the full others (Solway & Lee 1990; Kent 1992), so San groups in the social status of adulthood. region bounded by the southeastern mountains and adjacent The liminal state is considered a realm of chaos imbued areas are likely to have been influenced in different ways and with cosmic, spiritual forces, and situated in a symbolic space degrees by the economies and cultures of Black farmers beyond the constraints of society [see Green (1997, 2001) and (Mitchell 1992), producing differences in the contact period art This content downloaded from 137.158.114.125 on Mon, 04 Jan 2016 09:12:10 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions South African Archaeological Society Goodwin Series 9: 86-100,2005 97 within this area. While some southeastern San groups and their rather than San, specialist raindoctors (Hammond-Tooke artists could well have remained relatively uninfluenced by 1998), it is nevertheless possible that certain San religious be? Nguni and Sotho cultures, the cultures of other San artists in liefs associated with rainmaking may have been incorporated this region whose groups forged close and symbiotic relation? into the rain rites of Black farmers (Ouzman 1995; Van der Ryst ships with Black farmers would have been more strongly 1998). On the other hand, the great importance attached to influenced by their agriculturist neighbours, with the conse? timeous seasonal rainfall by farmers (whose crops failed in quent expression of this influence in some of their art. its absence and whose domestic animals were particularly With regard to the broader regional differences, it may be vulnerable to drought), and the minor, or negligible, impor? significant that there is a range of elements present in the art of tance of rainmaking rites in some San cultures (Marshall 1976: the southeastern mountains of South Africa and Lesotho and 174; Guenther 1999:194) suggest that some later southeastern adjacent areas (which were occupied by both San and Black San rain rites, like those of Nharo San presently living on farmers) but absent from, or very rare in, the art of the south? the farms of Europeans (Guenther 1999: 194), may well have western Cape (where Black farmers did not settle). These developed more in response to farmers' needs for rain than to include: cattle, mythical snakes, fish, baboons, rain-bulls (and the needs of the San themselves. rain rites involving these creatures), winged beings/alites and If this was the case, we can expect the southeastern San to 'spindly white' or 'emaciated7 figures in the fine-line style. Body have incorporated elements into these rites that were drawn postures and decoration include: hands in an outstretched, from the religions of Black farmers, and to have expressed this upraised position and running figures with legs parallel to the influence in their paintings of rain-animals and the rites associ? ground. Items of dress and equipment include: fly-whisks, ated with these creatures6. Ouzman's observation (1995: 59) plumed and knobbed headdresses, and knobbed sticks that southern African "foragers and farmers did not constitute (knobkieries). distinct 'packages', but were people attempting to come to It is unlikely that all of these differences are related to the terms with others' systems of signification" is relevant in varying cultural influence of Black farmers on the San. Some this respect. As Dowson (1994: 334) points out, moreover, it is differences in the art of different regions probably represent probable that Black farmers were amongst the intended viewers indigenous regional variations in San cultures unrelated to of paintings of rain rites and that they would have understood contact. For example, the different preservation qualities of at least part of their significance. By incorporating elements of pigments over time may be a factor in some cases. Since the the rain rites of Black farmers into their own rites, the San fine-line tradition in the art of the southwestern Cape ended would have enabled the farmers to relate more directly to rain earlier than it did in areas further to the east, the relative rites performed and painted for their benefit. infrequency of white paintings in the former area could be Paintings of cattle are an obvious indicator of contact with attributed to a greater or lesser extent to the fugitive nature of both Black and European farmers. Changes in the subsistence the white pigments in San art (Janette Deacon, pers. comm., strategies of some San groups following contact, such as the 2001). And the presence in southeastern San art of certain adoption of cattle and a herding lifestyle similar in many elements, such as knobkieries, probably would have been due respects to their Black farmer neighbours, are likely to have had to the San7s sometimes depicting Black farmers, with their a direct effect on San ideology, including their religious ideol? - weaponry and characteristic items of dress, in their paintings ogy. Cattle have great religious importance for those who herd rather than themselves with weaponry or attire adopted from them, and there is ample evidence that certain San groups, like the agriculturists. certain hunter-gatherer groups living in other regions, such as In other cases, however, as has been argued here with the Chamus of East Africa (Spencer 1998), changed their mode particular reference to bandoliers, regional differences in the of production and herded cattle on a full-time basis. The art would reflect the incorporation of elements of Black farm? Khoekhoen are the most obvious example, the Riet River ers' beliefs and rites, in whole or part, into San symbolic pastoralist San groups (Humphreys 1988) another. And there systems, and it is worth considering which elements in the are many historical accounts, dating from the period before the - southeastern art might reflect Nguni and/or Sotho cultural end of the painting tradition, of San who owned cattle some influence. It has been suggested that certain themes in south? possessing herds of up to five or six hundred head [Campbell eastern San art, such as rain-bulls (Schmidt 1979) and mythical 1822: 287-8; Kirby (Smith) 1939:194]. snakes (Jolly 1996b, 1998), together with some of the religious Campbell's map of his travels, for example, shows an area concepts associated with these, could have come to form to the east of the Alexander', or Modder (Orpen 1964: 119) particularly important elements in the artistic tradition of the River, in the present-day Free State, which is labelled 'Bushman southeastern San as a result of the cultural influence of Black tribes possessing cattle'. San near the Modder River were farmers. While snakes and rain-animals may have had reli? reported in the 1820s to have had a well-established tradition of gious significance for the San before the arrival of Black farm? inheriting cattle from their fathers (Loubser & Laurens 1994: ers, if they did it is probable that this significance increased 99), and thus must have been herding cattle for quite a number greatly after contact, and that concepts and rites associated of years before this time. Campbell's (1822) text and map of his with these creatures by the San were modified and elaborated second journey indicate that the territory of these "Bushman upon, or culturally 'stimulated', as Shirokogoroff describes the tribes possessing cattle" included much of the area between influence of Buddhism on Siberian shamanism, to accommo- present-day Ladybrand and Smithfield, as well as areas adja? - date concepts and rites associated with these creatures in cent to the Caledon River all areas where paintings of cattle Nguni and Sotho society. occur, in contrast to the areas further north (Loubser & Laurens Certainly, cultural exchange between San and Black farm? 1994). ers is likely to have been particularly marked in the sphere of In the case of the Khoekhoen, and probably also the many rainmaking, a ritual service, as mentioned above, which is other San groups who subsequently acquired cattle, rites and known to have been provided by some San groups to some beliefs centred on livestock developed after the adoption of the Nguni farmers. Although we need to bear in mind that herder way of life. It is therefore quite possible that some of the rainmaking for the Nguni was usually performed by their own, cattle paintings in areas known to have been occupied by San This content downloaded from 137.158.114.125 on Mon, 04 Jan 2016 09:12:10 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 98 South African Archaeological Society Goodwin Series 9: 86-100,2005 with cattle were executed by San who depended more on and Lita Webley. However, the views expressed here, as well as herding than hunting and gathering for their subsistence, and any possible errors, remain my own. that the rites and beliefs of some of the painters of cattle were REFERENCES influenced by herder/agriculturist religious beliefs concerning G.F.19741849. 77m? Illustrated. Town: A.A. Balkema. livestock. These and other questions of cultural origin relating Angas, Kaffirs Cape Barnard, A. 1992. 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