More Petroglyphs from the Limpopo Valley, Transvaal

Willcox, A. R.; Pager, Harald

doi:10.2307/3887756

Cited by 1 publication

(2 citation statements)

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“…In David Lewis-Williams's work undertaken in the 1970s and 1980s he disputed interpretations that reveal the art as reflecting specific events, hunting practice or domestic life, and located the art as part of ritual, shamanistic practice (trance performance, and resulting hallucinations). 69 In this article, the researcher acknowledge and add to the research already done on the petroglyphs of Redan by A. R. Willcox andH. L. Pager (1967), Margueritha Prins (2005), Jo-Ann Charmaine Chan (2017), and Jeremy Hollmann (2020).…”

Section: Historical Background and Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Willcox and Pager noted that the condition of the exposed soft rock at Redan is an indication that these petroglyphs are likely to be less than a century or two old. 75 Chronological evidence may be found if archaeologists excavate the Redan site to search for artefacts found in situ, thus making it possible to reconstruct the environment and date the petroglyphs. It may also help to extend the evidence of ritual from the engravings to the archaeological context and to reflect on the materiality of ritual activity, for example, the types of artefacts and material implicated in ritual, and their manipulation as ritually powerful objects.…”

Section: Datingmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Rock engravings marking the Redan landscape in Gauteng, South Africa

Gouws

2024

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The ontological1 and epistemological2 foundations of reality, myths, beliefs, and practices in ritual behaviour have long been studied by scholars around the globe. There is no single understanding and representation of reality, as all that is real or existent within the universe is historically shaped by interdependent cultural and social processes and fear factors. Although the study of rock art is primary a branch of archaeology, cultural history also focuses on a past time and place, to study beliefs and ideas from a bottom-up approach and include the objects and experiences (sometimes unwritten) of the everyday life of the uneducated and less privileged. It is particularly well equipped to offer an understanding of the San myths, beliefs, ritual practices, and modes of representation of reality, as represented in their rock art. The Redan open-air rock engraving site is located on the Kookfontein farm, near the former Klip power station at Redan, close to a wetland that was formerly a rivulet that founded its way to the Klip River, a tributary of the Vaal River. The Klip-Vaal area is situated in the southern part of Gauteng, South Africa. Being part of the Late Stone Age hunting, domestic and ritual sites of the San people and later migrants it contains numerous documented and undocumented rock art sites. In line with interpretivism, the methodology is based on published and unpublished literature, as well as several on-site inspections of the site between 2002 and 2022. Authorship of the engravings at the Redan site is unconfirmed, although two dominant views regarding the cultural origin have emerged, namely a San hunter-gatherer shamanistic approach and the Koranna-Khoekhoen initiation site hypothesis.Contribution: The article contributes to the neglected historiography of the rock engravings in the Klip-Vaal region, in particular the Redan site, and the need to facilitate a comparison with similar rock engravings in southern Africa.

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Section: Historical Background and Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Datingmentioning

confidence: 99%