The Rock Art of Africa

The Rock Art of Africa Rock art is one of the most evocative pieces of heritage left for us by our ancient ancestors. By looking into its symbolism, we can look into the minds of people who lived thousands of years ago. Rock art can take us back to a time when the world was very different, to the time when Egypt was home to the greatest civilisation on earth. At that time, people were painting rock art in the centre of the Sahara, but even then the rock surfaces were far from bare. The Saharan painters of Pharaonic times were painting over rock art that was already some 6000 years old. And while Pygmy dancers entertained the great Pharaohs, their womenfolk painted the shelters of central Africa with a geometric art that is considered to be one of the most sophisticated of all the world’s arts. These great traditions, and hundreds of others, remain on the rocks of Africa to be discovered by anyone willing to take the time. Browsing this archive will introduce you to some of our greatest painted and engraved treasures, but words and pictures are a poor substitute for the real thing. The Continent Where Humanity and Art Began The Rock Art of Bantu-Language Speakers Warangi Rock Art, Tanzania Chewa Rock Art, Malawi and Zambia Kalanga Rock Art, Zimbabwe Northern Sotho Rock Art, South Africa Nguni Rock Art, South Africa The Hunter-Gatherer Rock Art of Africa The Batwa Rock Art of Central Africa The Hadza/Sandawe Rock Art of Eastern Africa The San Rock Art of Southern Africa The Pastoralist and Farmer Arts of Africa The Rock Art of Nilotic Speakers, East Africa Dogon Rock Art, Mali Khoekhoen Rock Art, South Africa Saharan Rock Art Many Peoples, Many Rock Arts, One Future Rock Art Tourism and the Alleviation of Poverty The Continent Where Humanity and Art Began More than a century ago, Charles Darwin stood almost alone when he argued that Africa was the most likely place for the origin of humanity. Since then, paleoanthropologists have, every year, uncovered more and more evidence to support Darwin’s proposition. A wealth of hominid fossil material has been found and in many different parts of Africa. In recognition of Africa’s superior claim as the birthplace of humanity, Sterkfontein in South Africa has been placed on the UNESCO world heritage list and is known popularly as the ‘Cradle of Humankind’. Anatomically modern humans, people like us, have been living in Africa for at least the last 150 000 years. Europe, by contrast, has had anatomically modern human occupants for just the last quarter of this time period. These early Europeans, like the first inhabitants of Asia, Australasia, and the Americas were all descended from the same African ancestry. Everyone living on earth today shares this ancestry. Africa gave the world humanity; it also gave the world technology. The very first ‘fossils’ of technology, stone tools, were found in Africa and are nearly 2 million years old. But where did art begin? This is a difficult question to answer. The oldest figurative art is in Chauvet Cave in France. It dates to some 33 000 years ago. The oldest figurative art in Africa comes from Apollo 11, a site near the Namibian-South African border. Pieces of painted stone were found buried in ground deposits dating 27 000 years ago. Although this is newer art than the French find, many predicted, on the basis that modern humans evolved in Africa, that, eventually, evidence of the oldest art would be found in Africa. This prediction came true in January 2002 when a key new discovery on the southern Cape coast was made public. Chris Henshilwood announced the find of a piece of ochre decorated with a delicate geometric pattern. He dated the piece conservatively at 77 000 years old; in fact, it could be as old as 100 000 years. Certainly, the piece was made before any modern human walked in Europe. And so it appears that Africa is not only the cradle of humankind and technology, but also where art and culture began. Back to top The Rock Art of Bantu-Language Speakers Warangi Rock Art, Tanzania Warangi rock art has been found in about 50 rock shelters on the edge of the Masai escarpment in the Kondoa District of central Tanzania. The art is always painted with white or off-white, usually thickly applied, pigment. The dominant image in the art is a spread-eagled form that has a central vertical body and arms/legs spreading out from this horizontally and at right angles. These arms/legs often have fingers/toes. The form is more that of a stylised human than an animal. Next to this dominant image one finds a few recognisable animal forms, notably elephant and giraffe, as well as some geometric motifs. The art is ascribed to the Warangi because of its pattern of distribution and because of oral traditions. Many of the shelters where this art occurs were used in boys’ initiation ceremonies right up until Tanzanian independence, at which time such ceremonies were strongly discouraged. Although it appears that the art is no longer made, its symbolism may still be known to some elders and can still be understood within the symbolic value system surrounding coming-of-age within Warangi society. Chewa Rock Art, Malawi and Zambia The ancestors of the Chewa and Nyanja peoples of central Africa were some of the most prolific of Africa’s Bantu-speaking farmer rock artists. To date, more than 400 Chewa rock art sites have been found, spread across central Malawi, eastern Zambia, and neighbouring areas of Mozambique. Nearly 70 percent of the known sites fall within the Dedza-Chongoni hills of Malawi, apparently a core area for Chewa art. Chewa rock art divides into two separate traditions: the art of nyau and the art of chinamwali. As is typical of rock art made by Bantu-speaking peoples, the primary colour used is white and this is applied thickly by daubing. In the rare instances where the art is especially well preserved, black finger-painted decoration may be seen executed over the primary white design. The white pigment is a form of powdered clay, which can be dug out of most riverbeds in this area. The same pigment is used in traditional house decoration today. The black pigment is powdered charcoal. Both pigments seem to have been mixed using only water as neither is tightly bonded to the rock surfaces. Rock engravings (also known as petroglyphs) are unknown in these traditions. The art of nyau is a tradition belonging to Chewa men. Nyau rock art, found at only a few dozen sites, is comparatively rare and fresh-looking when compared with chinamwali rock art. It depicts a range of masked men and, in particular, larger animal basketwork figures. These are readily recognisable as the elaborate masked characters that still perform in the ceremonies of the nyau closed association. Although the subject matter of the art is known, it is no longer remembered why the art was made. Research has shown that the nyau art tradition belonged to the specific historical context of the 19th and early 20th centuries, a time when nyau was forced to become an underground movement because of its suppression by Ngoni invaders, missions, and the colonial government. According to this explanation, the art served as a mnemonic device, helping teach young initiates about the construction and meaning of large nyau structures that could not be made during this troubled time. The art disappeared from use when suppression of nyau ended and initiates could once again learn by making and using the real structures. Chinamwali art is much more common and, judging by the many layers of superpositions—more than a dozen at some sites—it is much older tradition than nyau art. It seems likely that this tradition of art has been passed down from the time of the earliest ancestors of the Chewa in this region, more than 1000 years ago, thus making it the traditional Chewa rock art. This art has been linked to Chewa women and to the girl’s coming-of-age ceremony: chinamwali. The painted symbolism is thought to revolve around concepts relating to water and fertility. It contains many instructive messages that teach and remind those attending chinamwali how to conduct themselves. Designs similar to those in the rock art are modelled in clay and used in chinamwali and similar ceremonies in a number of places within central Africa. These designs each have a name, a dance, and an instructive song and the image helps the young girl to remember the many and complex teachings of the ceremony. The subject matter of these designs and their form suggest close parallels with Chewa rock art. It seems likely that the rock art images were also linked to song and dance. Today, chinamwali rock art is no longer made, but some of the shelters decorated with this art are still used for chinamwali ceremonies. There are indications that the secret meanings of many of the designs are still known, but there has been no published confirmation of this to date. Kalanga Rock Art, Zimbabwe Kalanga rock art is a painted art tradition that is found in and around the Matobo (formerly Matopo) hills of Zimbabwe. Only a few dozen sites have been discovered to date. The paintings are executed by finger and in white pigment. Dominant images include the giraffe, elephant, and zebra. Particular to this art tradition is an image showing a pair of men standing on either side of a large circular object that is interpreted as a drum.

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