Capturing the Spoor: Towards Explaining Kudu in San Rock Art of the Limpopo-Shashi Confluence Area

Eastwood, Edward B.; Cnoops, Cathelijne

doi:10.2307/3889289

Cited by 13 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 46 publications

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“…Much of the research on southern African rock art over the past 40 years has been devoted to the exploration of the meanings and associations of animal imagery in rock art (e.g. Lewis-Williams 1974Pager 1975;Vinnicombe 1975Vinnicombe , 1976Ouzman 1995Ouzman , 1996aSolomon 1997;Eastwood 2006;Eastwood & Cnoops 1999;Hollmann 2002Hollmann , 2003Hollmann , 2005aMguni 2004;Mallen 2005). These and other researchers have drawn on ethnographic studies of Khoe-San groups that reveal the significances of anthropomorphs and zoomorphs in their cosmologies.…”

Section: Anthropomorphs and Zoomorphsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…I thought, looking at those vigorous women, that the Eland Dance was indeed a 'happy thing' and that it also made a vivid affirmation of femaleness. (Marshall 1999: 199 check page number) Lewis-Williams (1981: [43][44] notes that the !Kung women with whom he spoke regarded the Eland Dance as the 'most important element of the observances. A woman will refer to the rites as a whole in these terms, saying that she did or did not "receive the Eland Bull dance"'.…”

Section: The Eland Songs and The Eland Dancementioning

confidence: 99%

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The cutting edge: Khoe-San rock-markings at the Gestoptefontein-Driekuil engraving complex, North West Province, South Africa

Hollmann¹

2011

Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa

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This thesis addresses two key issues in current rock art research, the first theoretical, the second exemplary. Researchers often write of rock art regions without according the concept sufficient theoretical consideration. Instead, this thesis argues that rock art regions are more usefully defined by the presence and absence of ethnographically informed motifs than by aesthetics.The argument is supported by reference to two understudied rock art regions: the Texas Trans-Pecos, United States of America, and Mpumalanga Province, South Africa. The parallels between the two regions are enlightening: both are cultural 'crossroads' with complex histories of migrations, group interactions, and colonial settlements. Both provide archaeological evidence of hunter-gatherer, herder, and farming peoples. Moreover, both regions are adjacent to other, better-known rock art corpuses that have been explicated using ethnographic analogy and other anthropological approaches.Using these heuristic tools, some of the motivations and meanings behind the production and consumption of rock art in the Trans-Pecos and Mpumalanga are explained. The most effective method for understanding the significance of the motifs Á many of which are also found in the neighbouring regions Á is to focus on ritualism, embodiment, and shamanistic belief in supernatural potency and a tiered cosmos. In Mpumalanga, analysis concentrated on images in 49 hunter-gatherer San (Bushman) rock art sites in and around Kruger National Park. In Texas, it focused on interactions between indigenous hunter-gatherer groups and colonisers from Europe, from Mesoamerica, and from the Plains to the north, using a total of 44 rock art sites as manifestations of indigenous ideologies.Because rock art sites are implicated in cultural identity formation, the lack of theoretically informed presentation perpetuates misleading stereotypes of rock art and the indigenous people who made it. This thesis shows, to the contrary, that the presentation of rock art can and does change people's attitudes towards the past.

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Section: Anthropomorphs and Zoomorphsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Eland Songs and The Eland Dancementioning

confidence: 99%

The cutting edge: Khoe-San rock-markings at the Gestoptefontein-Driekuil engraving complex, North West Province, South Africa

Hollmann¹

2011

Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa

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“…Instead, these were primarily informed by observations of natural phenomena and ecological systems (Whitley 1994;Whitley et al 1999) within which the San live and lived. Aside from the primary studies of eland symbolism in southern Africa, ideas of natural modelling and how animal behaviour (often depicted as subtle attenuation of features and emphasis of certain postures) informs the San symbolic system have recently been used in rock-art research Eastwood & Cnoops 1999;Hollmann 2002;Mguni 2002).…”

Section: Interpretation Of Formlingsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Iconography of Termites' Nests and Termites: Symbolic Nuances of Formlings in Southern African San Rock Art

Mguni

2006

CAJ

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Formlings, now better understood to depict termitaria (termites' nests) and termites, are a pervasive category of San (Bushman) rock art north of the River Limpopo. This article investigates the associations of termites' nests in San thought, belief, and ritual, in an attempt to explain formling symbolism and why termites' nests, and not other subjects, were chosen for depiction. Unequivocal ethnographic testimonies of San spiritual world-view are compounded with iconographic analysis to show nuances of San understanding and perception of the spirit world. In turn, this ethnographic hermeneutic reveals a significant but previously unexplored facet of spirit-world imagery which evokes notions of creative and transformative power. This newly highlighted vignette of San cosmology unlocks aspects of San imagery, such as the interface between the natural and the metaphysical, that have hitherto been less understood.

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“…Shamans were also thought to be able to control the rain. Kudu are frequently painted in northern South Africa, and are thought to have been important in rain-control ceremonies among both hunter-gatherers and early farmers [ 34 , 35 ]. Brunton and colleagues [ 36 ] describe a wide variety of species believed to be rich in supernatural potency and which were used by farmers in the early second millennium AD in rain control rituals.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Selection preferences for animal species used in bone-tool-manufacturing strategies in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

2021

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Animal symbolism is a prominent feature of many human societies globally. In some cases, these symbolic attributes manifest in the technological domain, influencing the decision to use the bones of certain animals and not others for tool manufacture. In southern Africa, animals feature prominently in the cosmogenic narratives of both hunter-gatherer and Bantu-speaking farmer groups. Whenever these two culturally distinct groups came into contact with each other there would be an assimilation of cosmogenic concepts of power and the adoption of certain symbolically important animals. In this paper, we report on which animals were selected to make bone tools during the first millennium AD contact period in KwaZulu-Natal Province, South Africa, and explore the extent to which this selection may have been influenced by the symbolic associations of specific animals. Our results show selective targeting of specific animals for tool manufacture at some sites, with a narrowing of the range of selected species during the first millennium AD contact period. Certain antelope tribes, such as Aepycerotini, Cephalophini and Antilopini, appear to have been deliberately avoided, thus arguing against opportunistic selection. Nor does the range of selected animals appear to show any obvious mechanical considerations, as has been noted in similar studies. We highlight the potential of ZooMS for understanding the dynamics of animal symbolism in the past.

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Capturing the Spoor: Towards Explaining Kudu in San Rock Art of the Limpopo-Shashi Confluence Area

Cited by 13 publications

References 46 publications

The cutting edge: Khoe-San rock-markings at the Gestoptefontein-Driekuil engraving complex, North West Province, South Africa

The cutting edge: Khoe-San rock-markings at the Gestoptefontein-Driekuil engraving complex, North West Province, South Africa

Iconography of Termites' Nests and Termites: Symbolic Nuances of Formlings in Southern African San Rock Art

Selection preferences for animal species used in bone-tool-manufacturing strategies in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

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