Janette Deacon and Aron Mazel uKhahlamba Drakensberg and Mapungubwe

Contrasts in South Africa’s World Heritage Rock Art Sites

ABSTRACT South Africa has a wealth of rock art sites with considerable variety in style and content. Similarities and differences between two of the regional traditions are exemplified in the uKhahlamba Drakensberg mixed natural and cultural World Heritage Site in the south-eastern part of the country, and in the Mapungubwe Cultural Landscape World Heritage Site in the far north. They demonstrate how a similar belief system can be expressed in different ways in rock paintings made by geographically separate communities at the southern end of the African continent.

Introduction South Africa is one of the few countries in the bolism and identify metaphors in the rock art world where reliable ethnographic evidence with the help of both the 19th and 20th century is available to assist with the interpretation of records. Some of the more obscure references hunter-gatherer rock paintings and engrav- in the 19th century documents were brought ings. Accounts of the beliefs and customs of alive through anthropological research in the /Xam San (Bushmen), written down in neighbouring Botswana and Namibia in the the vernacular and translated into English 20th century (Thomas 1959; Lee & DeVore 1976; by Wilhelm Bleek and his sister-in-law Lucy Biesele 1993; Guenther 1999; Marshall 1999). Lloyd in the 1870s (Bleek & Lloyd 1911), as They confirm the existence of a belief system well as shorter accounts by Orpen (1874), Stow with elements common to many San language (1905), How (1962), Jolly (1986) and others, groups in southern Africa. have provided valuable insights that assist in our understanding of the meaning and Research over the past 40 years has broad- motivation of the art. ened the scope of rock art interpretation con- siderably. Once it was realized that the art is Although Wilhelm Bleek recognized a link essentially religious in nature, rather than between the San beliefs and rock art, this was simply a record of daily life, it opened the not clearly articulated until the second half door to exploration of the implications. Lewis- of the 20th century when researchers such as Williams (1981, 2003) , in particular, developed Patricia Vinnicombe (1976) and David Lewis- a new paradigm for rock art research in which Williams (1981) began to understand the sym- he made two important points that have since

5 grasslands with steep-sided valleys encode (Mazel 2009). The terminal date for these in over 200 million years of geological history. the southern UDP is not known and requires The resulting diversity of habitats within the additional research. 242,813 ha park supports an unusually high number of endemic and globally threatened species which justify inscription as a site of Recording and analysis natural significance. The geology has favoured Although the copying of UDP paintings the formation of sandstone rock shelters and commenced in the 1860s, the first sustained overhangs at the base of high cliffs and on recording of the rock paintings occurred in the underside of some of the large boulders 1910 when Trooper Whyte was instructed in which have become detached from these cliffs response to growing concern about the dam- (Fig. 1). Ezemvelo KwaZulu-Natal Wildlife has age which was being done to the paintings management responsibility for the UDP World through human actions and natural phenom- Heritage site. ena, to locate all the rock paintings within part of the southern UDP. Whyte produced the first quantitative record of the paintings Significance in the UDP, counting 1041 images in 37 sites. The World Heritage Committee approved two This recording was, however, not sustained cultural criteria when the site was inscribed in and hardly any work was undertaken until December 2000. These inscriptions are largely the 1950s when Alex Willcox, who published based on the abundance, diversity, preserva- the first book devoted solely to UDP rock art tion, and quality of the Later Stone Age San in 1956 and Patricia Vinnicombe, who was (Bushmen) hunter-gatherer rock art along raised in the Drakensberg foothills, took up with the fact that it provides insights into their the challenge of recording and writing about Fig. 1. Eland Cave in the northern UDP ways of life and beliefs systems. Archaeologi- the paintings. They were joined in the 1960s cal excavations reveal that while the San have by Woodhouse (1965), Lewis-Williams (1966) been applied to other rock art traditions in be compared to the patterns commonly ‘seen’ inhabited the UDP since about 8000 years ago, and Pager (1971). southern Africa and beyond. The first is that by people in altered states of consciousness their occupation remained insubstantial until rock art can be interpreted with integrity and and, if there is a match, they might be linked around 3000 years ago (Mazel 1990; Wright & Between 1978 and 1981, Val Ward and Aron authenticity if it draws on the metaphors and to ritual and religious practice. Mazel 2007). In the northern UDP there was Mazel undertook a project commissioned by symbolism in the cognitive system and beliefs a more intensive occupation from 3000 until the Department of Forestry, which managed of the artists. The second is that the wiring At the next level of analysis, variability 1600 years ago as evidenced in the greater most of the UDP at the time, with the primary of the human brain is similar in all anatomi- within major traditions can be explained by number of rock shelters occupied, and the objective to ‘obtain accurate and detailed cally modern people and therefore reacts in a environmental and cultural factors. Rock paint- increased quantities and variety of food and information on the rock art … that occurs similar way to certain stimuli (Lewis-Williams ings in the two World Heritage sites described cultural remains recovered from excavations in many rock shelters in the’ UDP. This pro- & Dowson 1988). As a result, there will be in this paper reflect basic similarities in the (Mazel 1990; Wright & Mazel 2007). ject involved the compilation of all known similarities in the form of rock paintings and beliefs of the artists, but choices in the subject data about the location and content of UDP engravings in different parts of the world if matter selected for painting are evident as a The paintings were most likely done from rock art sites (Ward) followed by an exten- the stimuli are part of the cognitive system. result of a different range of animals in the at least 2500-3000 years ago until the late sive fieldwork programme (Mazel). At the This does not mean that they had the same two environmental settings, and differences in 19th century AD. This is known from the AMS completion of the project about 520 rock art meaning in all cultures, nor does it imply that the choices people made about which rock art C14 dating of a few rock paintings (Mazel & sites were known. New discoveries since then there was a single point of origin that spread themes would contribute to their well-being. Watchman 1997, 2003), the sequencing of have increased the number of known sites by direct contact between communities. paintings at several sites (Russell 2000; Swart to over 600 with between 35 000 and 40 000 2004), information from an excavated site (Ma- recorded individual images. Although all the At a high level of analysis, the animals im- uKhahlamba-Drakensberg Park (UDP) zel 1992), and the presence of subject matter large, major painted sites have probably been portant to the artists and the postures of the The UDP World Heritage Site is located on the with known chronological contexts (Manhire discovered, new sites continue to be found as human figures can be identified in rock art and eastern slopes of the uKhahlamba-Drakens- et al. 1986; Vinnicombe 1976). It has recently areas are searched more intensively. compared with the significance they had in berg mountain range in the KwaZulu Province been proposed that the shaded polychrome the belief system. In the case of geometric or of South Africa adjoining the mountain king- technique emerged in the UDP around 2000 The number of paintings in individual rock non-representational art traditions, the mean- dom of Lesotho. Inscribed as a mixed natural years ago and, with few exceptions, lasted shelters varies considerably, from only one ing of symbols is not always clear if there is no and cultural World Heritage Site, the layers until 1600 years ago in the northern UDP when painting in 25 or more rock shelters, to over direct ethnographic information, but they can of rock which form the dramatic high altitude the San left the area for a thousand years 1000 paintings in four rock shelters, including

6 7 Eland Cave, in which Pager (1971) recorded fingers, toes, hairs and facial features, some- where this can be determined men outnum- 1639 paintings. There are, however, on aver- times in lines less than 1.5 mm wide, and they ber women by 10% to 2% with 88% indistin- age about 60 paintings per site. One area that are occasionally elaborately decorated (Figs 2 guishable (Wright & Mazel 2007). Humans are does not correspond with this trend is Didima and 3). Depictions of the animals are gener- shown singly and in groups, with most of the Gorge, in the northern UDP, which was com- ally well observed and are equally detailed; groups consisting of six or lesser individuals. prehensively recorded by Pager (1971) in the for example, many of the eland have eyes, Although not common, there are groups of 1960s. Pager recorded 3909 paintings in 17 mouths and dewlap clearly shown (Fig. 4), people numbering over 20 people, such as the sites in Didima, with an average of 230 paint- while there are depictions of bees with clearly marching men at Ikanti which comprises over ings per site. Didima contains two of the four shaped torsos and wings (Fig. 5). Antelope, 70 individuals. Human figures are portrayed UDP rock shelters housing over 1000 paintings. in particular eland and rhebuck, are painted in everyday postures, such as standing, walk- Significantly, Didima Gorge which comprises in the shaded polychrome technique with ing, sitting, running, and dancing, as well as less than 0,5% of the UDP in area, contains one colour shading into another to give tonal in positions which reflect the sensations felt about 10% of its known paintings, which lends depth (Fig. 4). Items of material culture are by shamans, such as the arms back position support to Pager’s (1971: 2) comment that similarly detailed; for example, bows are often they adopt when asking God to put potency ‘There is, to our knowledge, no other stretch shown with the stave in red and the strings into their bodies. of only 5.5 km containing as many paintings represented by a thin white line, while arrows Fig. 3. Battle Cave: a decorated running male figure carry- ing much equipment. Scale in centimetres anywhere in South Africa.’ are frequently painted in red, orange and An extensive range of animals was depicted white sections which represent the different by the San although antelope represent over parts of composite arrows (i.e. main and link the majority of the paintings are humans 70% of the painted animals (Wright & Mazel Quality and diversity shafts and arrowhead) (Fig. 3). (56%), followed by animals (28%), objects 2007). Eland comprise just over half of the Not only are the UDP paintings well preserved, such as sticks and bows (13%), and ritual fig- antelope painted, and rhebuck roughly a third. but they are also of exceptional quality with A diverse subject matter is reflected in the ures (2%) shown individually and in scenes Hartebeest is the only other type of antelope images of humans, animals and items of ma- paintings. The recording of 19,000 paintings of dancing, conflict and other activities. It is represented in any quantities while other ante- terial culture often depicted in extraordinary along the length of the UDP by Mazel (1981, generally impossible to distinguish which sex lope, such as bushbuck, oribi, and wildebeest, detail. Human figures occasionally display 1984; Wright & Mazel 2007) has revealed that the paintings of humans belong to although were seldom painted. Fish, baboons and fe-

Fig. 2. Cascades 2: row of elaborately decorated figures. Scale in centimetres Fig. 4. Eland Cave: a panel of shaded polychrome eland. Scale in centimetres

8 9 Fig. 5. Poachers Cave: a swarm of bees Fig. 6. Mpongweni North: horses and cattle. Scale in centimetres. Fig. 7. Gxalingenwa Shelter 1: rainmaking scene. (Below) lines are the most commonly painted of the tion of the southern UDP essentially came to other animals; however, paintings of birds, end. It is unlikely that they were made before elephants, snakes, pigs, jackals, rhinoceroses, the 1830s because it was around this time that dassies, moths, and a lizard are also known. European colonial presence in the region was established and that horses were introduced While the UDP can be viewed overall as a in significant numbers into the eastern part single rock art area, there are noteworthy dif- of South Africa. The paintings of cattle in the ferences between the paintings of the north northern UDP could have been done at any and the south (Mazel 1982; Wright & Mazel time after the Iron Age farmers first entered 2007). This includes the depiction of bees and KwaZulu-Natal around 1600 years ago, but the ladders only in the north, and paintings of absence of horses and colonial scenes in the horses and colonial imagery such as wagons paintings (other than a scene showing men only in the south. Paintings of cattle are known with guns) in this region suggests that the from the north and the south, but they are cattle depictions predate the 1830s (Manhire far more common in the south and are often et al. 1986, Wright and Mazel 2007). associated with paintings of horses (Fig. 6). Depictions of what are believed to be rain- It has been recently proposed that many making are found only in the south. of the 19th century paintings were done by people known as the amaThola, which were The paintings of colonial imagery, horses mixed groups of San, black farmers, and Khoe- and many, if not most or all, of the cattle in khoen who had entered the southern UDP to the south were probably made between the escape from the chaotic situation which had 1830s and the 1870s, when the San inhabita- enveloped the nearby frontier regions at the

10 11 time (Challis 2008). The amaThola survived primarily by raiding cattle and horses from black and white farmers and by trading them to other black farmers. It has been suggested that the amaThola believed that horses and baboons had special powers, and that the making of paintings of these animals afforded them protection during raiding expeditions (Challis 2008).

Paintings of rain-making scenes are usu- ally recognized by the occurrence of large hippopotamus-like animals that are occasion- Fig. 8. Collingham Shelter: painted slab recovered from ally, partially, or completely surrounded by 1800-year old deposits. Scale in centimetres lines associated with rain (Fig. 7). San sha- mans were known to have made rain for the black farmers during the 19th and early 20th their source of their potency, derived from centuries in exchange for horses and guns their `possession’ of animals (Fig. 9). Eland and assistance in cattle-raiding. The paintings and rhebuck are most commonly portrayed Fig. 10. Landscape of the MCL at the confluence of the Limpopo and Shashe rivers. of these scenes in the south in all likelihood therianthropes, but other animals, such as reflect this relationship and were made after elephants and baboons, have also been used. the San had abandoned the northern UDP, mans rarely cover eland. According to Lewis- ancestry who lived to the south of the UDP where these paintings are absent (Wright & Superimpositioning represents a significant Williams and Dowson (2000), this aspect of and whose father had been a shaman, sheds Mazel 2007). feature of the UDP paintings (Fig. 4). Studies the art may relate to the fact that the trance further light on this issue. According to her, have shown that eland paintings generally visions experienced by shamans are often people could harness the special powers and overlie other eland and humans, but that hu- ‘multi-layered’, although it is appreciated potency of the paintings in two ways: (i) lift- Context and interpretation that the significance of superimpositioning ing their arms and facing the images when According to Lewis-Williams (2003), the UDP Fig. 9. Lower Mushroom Shelter: still remains uncertain. dancing in rock shelters and (ii) by placing paintings mostly, if not entirely, represent the therianthropic figure Scale in centimetres. their hands on paintings of eland. It is possible visions and experiences of shamans in trance, In several UDP rock shelters the paintings that intensively painted sites housing ritually with the eland having been singled out for appear to go into or come out of cracks in the important images became very powerful places special attention as a source of power. The surfaces of rock shelters. It has been suggested for the San hunter-gatherers who had lived recovery of a painted slab from Collingham that the rock face on which paintings were in the UDP for thousands of years. Shelter with a central dancing figure indi- placed were believed to be a ‘veil’ between cates that trance dances were performed at the spirit world and the painter and that the least 1800 years ago (Fig. 8, Mazel 1992). It is UDP painters regarded the spirit world as lying Mapungubwe Cultural Landscape believed that people who enter into altered behind the surface and accessible through gaps (MCL) states of consciousness pass through three in the rock (Lewis-Williams & Dowson 1990). Situated on the southern bank of the Limpopo stages (Lewis-Williams & Dowson 2000), all of River, which forms the border between South which are represented in the UDP paintings. We are unsure about how the UDP paint- Africa and Botswana to the north-west and The first stage is manifest in patterns of light, ings were viewed by the San after they were Zimbabwe to the north-east, with the Shashe or ‘entoptics’, such as dots, wavy lines, and made. Given the symbolism and potency associ- River between them (Fig. 10), the Mapun- grids, which appear to be characterized by ated with the production of the paint and the gubwe Cultural Landscape was inscribed on paintings of red lines fringed with white dots making of the paintings, it is possible that they the World Heritage List in 2003. At the time, and zigzag shapes. The second stage is charac- became storehouses of supernatural potency the boundaries coincided with the Vhembe- terised by people attempting to make sense of and that most, and maybe even all of them, Dongola National Park that changed its name entoptic phenomena by arranging them into continued to be used for ritual reasons (Wright to the Mapungubwe National Park and World recognized items, such as honeycombs because & Mazel 2007). The practice of superimposi- Heritage Site soon afterwards. The land cur- bees were believed to be symbols of potency. tioning supports the understanding that the rently owned by the national park, or that The third stage shows the conflation of animal paintings continued to be of significance after South African National Parks manages in terms and human forms (i.e. therianthropes), which they had been created. Insights obtained in of a contract with the land owner, is about depicts the fusion in trance of shamans with the 1980s from an old woman of partial San 20,000 ha but is likely to increase as additional

12 13 properties are acquired. Although the land ricultural Iron Age economy that developed encompasses the major Iron Age sites known as the result of wealth accrued to its leaders in the MCL, the rock art traditions are much from trade with the Indian Ocean network. more widespread. This took place some 500 years before the Por- tuguese began trading along the east African The geological formations that have led coast. The trade goods going out were mainly to the development of rock shelters suitable gold, ivory, copper and hides, while in-coming for habitation and paintings in the MCL are goods included glass beads, cotton cloth and related in time to the Karoo cave sandstones Chinese ceramics. in the UDP dating to about 200 million years ago, but have not been uplifted to the same Although rock art was not one of the main extent and are relatively low-lying on the reasons for listing the MCL as a World Heritage edge of the Limpopo River valley. The valley Site, its significance lies in the contribution it lies north of the tropic of Capricorn and the makes towards an understanding of the history indigenous vegetation is consequently very of settlement in the landscape, and there are different from that in the high alpine envi- details of technique and content in the MCL ronment of the UDP. Hot summers and mild rock art that are rare or absent elsewhere in winters have encouraged riparian forest along southern Africa. The number of paintings per the river and semi-arid mopane scrub, giant site ranges from fewer than 10 to more than baobabs and woodland on the higher lying 450. In a sample of 26 sites in the core of the soils derived from the Karoo sandstones. Sum- MCL, there is an average of 24 paintings per mer thunderstorms and relatively dry winters site (Eastwood & Eastwood 1999). make the Limpopo valley suitable for com- mercial agriculture today only where water Recording and analysis can be drawn from the river for irrigation. Fig. 11. A herder finger-painting probably representing a woman’s apron. The presence of rock art in the MCL was Mapungubwe National Park has a wide known from at least the early 20th century variety of game animals, particularly elephant, (Roberts 1916), and it was several decades and Middle Stone Age artefacts have been well (Fig. 11). The images of this geometric giraffe, kudu, gemsbok and eland, although before detailed recording was done by Murray found at open sites (Kuman et al. 2005), and tradition both overlie and underlie fine-line this by no means replicates the diversity pre- Schoonraad (1960), Alex Willcox (1963), Harald Later Stone Age deposits dating back some paintings, suggesting that hunter-gatherers sent there in pre-colonial times. Similarities Pager (1975) and others. Current knowledge is 13,000 years have been excavated in rock shel- and herders lived in a symbiotic relationship in the cultural and natural history north and based almost entirely on the work by Ed and ters (Van Doornum 2005, 2007, 2008; Hall & alongside each other for several hundred years south of the Limpopo River have encouraged Cathelijne Eastwood who began a recording Smith 2000). (Eastwood & Smith 2005). Fine-line paintings the development of the MCL into a Greater project with a team of volunteers in 1991 and of fat-tailed sheep, but not cattle, have been Mapungubwe Trans-Frontier Conservation by the end of the millennium had recorded No direct dates have been obtained yet for recorded in the region, although not within Area (GMTFCA) with a vision to extend the over 100 sites on properties that now form rock paintings or engravings, but it is generally the World Heritage Site. boundary of the World Heritage Site into part of the MCL, as well as a similar number accepted that the fine-line paintings mainly Botswana and Zimbabwe. At present, fences in neighbouring regions. There are still several of people and animals were done by Later The archaeological record has many ex- across the border have been partially removed farms within the MCL that have not yet been Stone Age San hunter-gatherers. Archaeologi- amples of Iron Age settlements, including and elephant in particular move freely be- searched, and at least 50 more sites are known cal excavations confirm their presence in the the Mapungubwe kingdom, from AD 900 on- tween Botswana and the MCL. in neighbouring Botswana and Zimbabwe on MCL intermittently between about 13,000 wards. These Iron Age people later added to properties expected to be included in a trans- and 1000 years ago. Their artists probably the corpus of rock art in the region until the frontier extension of the MCL. In addition, practised over several thousand years before early 20th century, but there are no examples Significance there are many more rock art sites with a wider AD 1000, by which time they seem to have of this genre on properties that today form The summary statement of significance in range of subject matter in the Makgabeng and stopped painting in the MCL. part of the World Heritage Site (Eastwood & the nomination dossier for the MCL (DEAT Soutpansberg ranges to the south of the MCL Eastwood 2006:38 ff.). 2002) describes it as the centre of the first (Eastwood & Eastwood 2006). About 2000 years ago, Khoekhoe herders powerful indigenous kingdom in southern came into the landscape with domesticated Unlike the UDP, where San artists contin- Africa between 900 and 1300 AD. A dynamic Archaeological, ethnographic and histori- sheep. The herder painting tradition is char- ued painting until the mid-19th century and interaction between society and landscape cal information together shows that hunter- acterized by paint applied with a finger to contributed images of Iron Age people and laid the foundation for a new type of social gatherer peoples have lived intermittently in make abstract designs such as circles, dots their cattle and, later, British soldiers, guns organisation in the region based on an ag- the MCL for more than 500,000 years. Earlier and grids, with representations of aprons as and horses, the hunter-gatherer art of the

14 15 MCL does not include these subjects. This on the properties Balerno, Mona, Armenia suggests that the San were no longer living and Little Muck that are part of the core area permanently in this part of the Limpopo Valley of the MCL (Eastwood & Cnoops 1999), and after AD 1000 or, if they did, they had become another summarizing a larger sample of about absorbed into the economy of the herders 140 sites with almost 2000 paintings situated and/or Iron Age agriculturists. in the wider Limpopo-Shashi confluence area that includes sites within the MCL as well as Finally, members of the South African De- on neighbouring properties in South Africa fence Force, stationed on the border during and across the Limpopo River in Botswana the late 20th century, contributed images of and Zimbabwe (Eastwood & Blundell 1999). war on rock surfaces both with paint and engravings, and in one case damaged a San The first important contrast is that rock painting in the process (Eastwood & Eastwood engravings occur alongside rock paintings 2006:34). at some of the rock shelters. This is a very Fig. 13. Balerno: engraved antelope spoor outside the Fig. 14. Machete: cupules arrayed for a morabaraba game. rare occurrence in South Africa, but is better shelter. developed in Namibia at the Twyfelfontein Quality and diversity World Heritage Site. At Balerno in the MCL, an The hunter-gatherer painting tradition con- engraving of a giraffe has also been painted and 15). Because these latter are placed on a practical function. Some were nevertheless trasts with that in the UDP in several respects. and antelope spoor have been engraved on both vertical and horizontal surfaces, and made for a ‘board’ game known as mora- The figures quoted below are drawn from two a rock surface outside the shelter (Figs 12 and sometimes as much as 4 m above ground level, baraba or mafuvha in which small stones are reports, one summarizing the information 13). Most of the engravings, however, are in Eastwood and Blundell (1999) suggest that placed in the hollows and competitors attempt from a sample of 26 sites with 636 paintings the form of cupules and cut marks (Figs 14 they may have served a symbolic rather than to capture their opponent’s stones. Eastwood

Fig. 12. Balerno: painted engraving of a giraffe. Fig. 15. Armenia: cut marks on the floor of a shelter.

16 17 Fig. 16. Thudwa: men in dancing postures.

and Eastwood (2006:51) note that the Venda of 26 sites where aprons (also called Y-shapes) Fig. 17. Rhodes Drift: A family group with a pregnant woman, men and impala. people link the game to rain and fertility. make up a further 9% and animals of various species comprise 41.5%. In the larger sample Fig. 18. Armenia: a man, two elephant, an antbear and two rhinoceros. Second, the colours and application tech- of 140 sites, humans comprise 53%. In general, The back of the elephant on the right in the bottom row has been emphasized with a thick red line. niques used in the paintings in the UDP and the human figures tend to occur in rows or MCL are different. There is more use of yel- processions, often with a range of age groups low ochre in the MCL and in addition to red represented, and in dancing postures (Fig. 16) ochre, black and white pigments, green paint or family groups (Fig. 17). There is a lower has been used at several sites, particularly in incidence of therianthropes in the MCL com- Zimbabwe, probably made from copper oxide. pared to the UDP, although more occur in the Bi- and polychrome paintings generally lack larger regional sample and particularly in the the shaded polychrome treatment so typical Makgabeng plateau to the south (Eastwood & of the UDP. Eastwood 2006:123-125). However, the ways in which animal and human characteristics are combined is more subtle. Dancing women, for Context and interpretation example, are shown with ‘reverse articulation’ A third contrast is that although the gender of their legs suggestive of antelope hind legs of people in the paintings cannot always be and illustrate the metaphor commonly used established with certainty, the MCL has a much by San in neighbouring Botswana of women higher incidence of women than the UDP. In as ‘meat’ and ‘prey’ (Biesele 1993; Eastwood the sample of 26 sites 36% of all human figures & Eastwood 2006:137) . are clearly female and in the larger sample of over 140 sites, women comprise 31%. The ratio Fourth, the most commonly painted ani- of animals to humans is slightly different to the mals in the MCL are not eland and rhebuck, UDP with 49.5% humans in the small sample but kudu, giraffe, impala and elephant, and

18 19 dossier emphasizes the concentration, quality request if arrangements are made in advance. and diversity of the rock art made by the San An interpretation centre is nearing completion. over more than four millennia.

The MCL nomination was based on criteria Acknowledgements (ii), (iii), (iv) and (v) as an organically evolved We thank the Editor of Adoranten, Gerhard associative cultural landscape that retains Milstreu, for inviting us to submit this arti- both tangible and intangible traces of the cle. JD is particularly grateful to Cathelijne first powerful indigenous kingdom in southern Eastwood and the late Ed Eastwood for their Africa. As one of several tangible traces con- generosity in making unpublished reports on tributing to the outstanding universal value the rock art of the MCL available. of the cultural landscape, the significance of concentration, quality and quantity of rock Dr Janette Deacon art are outweighed by ideological issues and Honorary Research Associate metaphors of power that were played out Rock Art Research Institute by the San before and after herders and Iron University of the Witwatersrand Age farmers settled in the MCL in the first Johannesburg millennium AD. South Africa [email protected] Despite the differences in technique, em- phasis and content of rock paintings identified Dr Aron Mazel in these two World Heritage sites, there is a International Centre for Cultural and Herit- strong underlying similarity that reflects the age Studies pervading hunter-gatherer belief system in Newcastle University southern Africa. The belief that certain animals Newcastle can help shamans access power from the spirit United Kingdom world is evident in the high incidence of eland [email protected] in the UDP and kudu and giraffe in the MCL. Fig. 19. Little Muck: Y-shapes probably representing male loin cloths. Human figures with animal characteristics illustrate transformation experienced by sha- there appears to be higher species diversity part of these rites were symbolically significant mans, or are metaphors for the bond between (Eastwood & Blundell 1999:21) than in the in rain-making and medicine dances as well. people and animals during rites of passage. References UDP. Details such as the eyes and mouth of The metaphor that MCL rock art uses for this The prominence given to women, aprons Biesele, M. 1993. Women like meat: the folk- animals like the eland in the UDP are mostly association is an apron for women and a loin and loin cloths in the MCL, and to elaborate lore and foraging ideology of the Kalahari absent in the MCL where potency is expressed cloth for men. Loin cloths are typically painted therianthropes in the UDP, are evidence of Ju/’hoan. Johannesburg: Wits University Press. instead in the form of red dorsal lines painted in a Y-shape and front and back aprons worn the richness and infinite variety of the artistic on the backs of animals (Fig. 18). by women are more often painted in a U-shape expression of an ancient and exceptionally Bleek, W.H.I. & Lloyd, L.C. 1911. Specimens or rectangle. The same metaphor was carried long-lasting belief system. of Bushman Folklore. London: George Allen. Lastly, the MCL corpus of paintings includes forward by the Khoekhoe herders who also a range of images variously referred to as Y- appear to have used the area for girls’ rites Management plans for rock art at both Challis, W. 2008. The impact of the horse on shapes, spread-eagled motifs, aprons and loin of passage. sites address the need to educate the public the Amatola ‘Bushmen’: New identity in the cloths (Fig. 19), that have not been reported through site visits supervised by trained guides Maloti-Drakensberg mountains of Southern in the UDP, or indeed in any other region, in at a small number of suitable rock shelters, Africa. DPhil. University of Oxford. the same quantity and diversity. Variations on a theme and interpretation centres where more de- World Heritage status has acknowledged the tailed information is available. Giant’s Castle, DEAT. 2002. Nomination dossier for Mapun- Drawing all these characteristics together, significance of the San rock art tradition and Didima and Kamberg are the most frequently gubwe Cultural Landscape. Pretoria: Depart- Eastwood and Eastwood (2006) have made a its variations. Outstanding universal value of visited sites in the UDP with a combined total ment of Environmental Affairs and Tourism. convincing case for a regional rock painting the rock art at the UDP is based on criteria (i), of about 20,000 visitors in 2009. There are tradition that not only depicts hunter-gatherer a masterpiece of human creative genius, and excellent interpretation centres at Kamberg Eastwood, E.B. & Blundell, G. 1999. Re-dis- beliefs and rituals associated with the rites of (iii) bearing a unique or at least exceptional and Didima. In the Mapungubwe National covering the rock art of the Limpopo-Shashi transition primarily for girls, but also illustrates testimony to a cultural tradition which is living Park rock art visits in the MCL are not yet of- Confluence Area, Southern Africa. Southern how the paraphernalia and animals that were or which has disappeared. The nomination fered on a regular basis, but are available on African Field Archaeology 8(1): 17-27.

20 21 Eastwood, E.B. & Cnoops, C.J.H. 1999. The rock Lewis-Williams, J.D. 2003. Images of mystery: South Africa. Natal Museum Journal of Hu- Thomas, E.M. 1959. The harmless people. Cape art of Balerno, Mona, Armenia and Little Muck. rock art of the Drakensberg. Cape Town: Dou- manities 4: 1-52. Town: David Philip. Unpublished report to the De Beers Fund. ble Storey. Mazel, A.D. 2009. Unsettled times: shaded Van Doornum, B.L. 2005. Changing places, Eastwood, E.B. & Eastwood, C. 2006. Capturing Lewis-Williams, J.D. & Dowson, T.A. 1988. polychrome paintings and hunter-gatherer spaces and identity in the Shashe-Limpopo the spoor: An exploration of Southern African The signs of all times: entoptic phenomena in history in the southeastern mountains of region of Limpopo Province, South Africa. rock art. Cape Town: David Philip. Upper Palaeolithic art. Current Anthropology southern Africa. Southern African Humani- Unpublished Ph.D thesis, University of the 29:201-245. ties 21: 85–115. Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. Eastwood, E.B. & Smith, B.W. 2005. Finger- prints of the Khoekhoen: geometric and hand- Lewis-Williams, J.D. & Dowson, T.A. 1990. Mazel, A.D. and Watchman, A.L. 1997. Ac- Van Doornum, B.L. 2007. Tshisiku Shelter and printed rock art in the central Limpopo basin, Through the veil: San rock paintings and the celerator radiocarbon dating of Natal Drak- the Shashe-Limpopo confluence area hunter- southern Africa. South African Archaeological rock face. South African Archaeological Bul- ensberg paintings: results and implications. gatherer sequence. Southern African Humani- Bulletin 9: 63-76. letin 45: 5-16. Antiquity 71 (272): 445-449. ties 19, 17-67.

Guenther, M.G. 1999. Tricksters and trancers: Lewis-Williams, J.D. & Dowson, T.A. 1992. Rock Mazel, A.D. and Watchman, A.L. 2003. The dat- Van Doornum, B. 2008. Sheltered from change: Bushman religion and society. Bloomington: paintings of the Natal Drakensberg. Pieterma- ing of rock paintings in the Natal Drakensberg hunter-gatherer occupation of Balerno Main Indiana University Press. ritzburg: University of Natal Press. and the Biggarsberg, KwaZulu-Natal, South Shelter, Shashe-Limpopo confluence area, Africa. Southern African Humanities15: 59-73. South Africa. Southern African Humanities Hall, S. & Smith, B. 2000. Empowering places: Lewis-Williams, J.D. & Dowson, T.A. 2000. 20, 249-284. rock shelters and ritual control in farmer-for- Lewis-Williams, J.D. & Dowson, T.A. 2000. Im- Orpen, J.M. 1874. A glimpse into the mythol- ager interactions in the Northern Province. ages of power: understanding San rock art. ogy of the Maluti Bushmen. Cape Monthly Vinnicombe, P. 1976. People of the eland: rock South African Archaeological Society Goodwin Cape Town: Struik. Magazine 9(49):1-13. paintings of the Drakensberg Bushmen as a Series 8: 30-46. reflection of their life and thought. Pieterma- Manhire, A., Parkington, J., Mazel, A.D. & Pager, H. 1971. Ndedema: a documentation ritzburg: Natal University Press. How, M.W. 1962. The Mountain Bushmen of Maggs, T. 1986. Cattle, sheep and horses: a of the paintings of the Ndedema Gorge. Graz: Basutoland. Pretoria: Van Schaik. review of domestic animals in the rock art of Akademische Druck. Willcox, A. R. 1956 Rock paintings of the Drak- southern Africa. South African Archaeological ensberg, Natal and Griqualand East. London: Jolly, P. 1986. A first generation descendant of Society Goodwin Series 5: 22–30. Pager, H. 1975. Rock paintings depicting fish Max Parrish. the Transkei San. South African Archaeological traps in the Limpopo valley. South African Bulletin 41:6-9. Marshall, L.J. 1999. Nyae Nyae !Kung beliefs Journal of Science 71:119-121. Willcox, A.R. 1963. Painted petroglyphs at and rites. Cambridge, Mass.: Peabody Museum. Balerno in the Limpopo valley, Transvaal. South Kuman, K., R.J. Gibbon, H. Kempson, G. Lang- Roberts, N. 1916. Rock paintings of the north- African Journal of Science 59:108-110. ejans, J.C. Le Baron, L. Pollarolo and M. Sutton. Mazel, A.D. 1981. Up and down the Little Berg: ern Transvaal. South African Journal of Science 2005. Stone Age signatures in northernmost archaeological resource management in the 13:569-573. Woodhouse, H.C. 1965. Prehistoric rock paint- South Africa: early archaeology of the Mapun- Natal Drakensberg. MA thesis. University of ing of South Africa. South African Panorama gubwe National Park and vicinity. In F. D’Errico Cape Town. Russell, T. 2000. The application of the Harris 10 (1): 10-13. and L. Backwell (eds): From Tools to Symbols, Matrix to San rock art at Main Caves North, From Early Hominids to Modern Humans. Jo- Mazel, A.D. 1982. Distribution of painting KwaZulu-Natal. South African Archaeological Wright, J. & Mazel, A. 2007. Tracks in a moun- hannesburg: Witwatersrand University Press, themes in the Natal Drakensberg. Annals of Bulletin 55: 60–70. tain range: exploring the history of the uKhlahl- pp 163-182. the Natal Museum 25(1): 67-82. amba-Drakensberg. Johannesburg: Wits Uni- Schoonraad, M. 1960. Preliminary survey of versity Press. Lee, R.B. & DeVore, I. (eds) 1976. Kalahari Mazel, A.D. 1984. Archaeological survey of the rock art of the Limpopo River valley. South hunter-gatherers. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard the Natal Drakensberg, Natal, South Africa. African Archaeological Bulletin 15:10-13. University Press. Journal of Field Archaeology 11: 345-356. Stow, G.W. 1905. The native races of South Lewis-Williams, J.D. 1966. The Bushman and Mazel, A.D. 1990. Mhlwazini Cave: the excava- Africa. London: Swan. his Art: In Kearsney College Archaeological tion of late Holocene deposits in the northern Society. The Bushman and his Art. [Botha’s Natal Drakensberg, Natal, South Africa. Natal Swart, J. 2004. Rock Art sequences in the KZN Hill]: the College: 10-51 Museum Journal of Humanities 2: 95-133. Drakensberg Park, South Africa. Southern Lewis-Williams, J.D. 1981. Believing and see- African Humanities 16: 13–35. ing: symbolic meanings in southern San rock Mazel, A.D. 1992. Collingham Shelter: the paintings. London: Academic Press. excavation of late Holocene deposits, Natal,

22 23