The death of trance: recent perspectives on San ethnographies and rock arts

Abstract

The argument that shamanism is the key that unlocks the hidden meaning of rock art continues to provoke debate over three decades after it was first proposed. In a recent article inAntiquity(86: 696–706), David Lewis-Williams and David Pearce defend the argument that nineteenth-century ethnographies provide evidence for a trance dance and shamanic healing that are vital to understanding southern African rock art. In this reply, Anne Solomon challenges the claim that the ethnographic evidence describes shamanism and trance healing and argues that elision of southern San (/Xam) and Kalahari San practices in a single narrative has obscured important differences. The author suggests that there is no evidence that dances or trance states were connected with healing in /Xam society. These confusions, it is argued, undermine key aspects of the shamanistic interpretation of rock art.

The Death of the Agama Lizard: The Historical Significances of a Multi-authored Rock-art Site in the Northern Cape (South Africa)

“…Therianthropic figures are, of course, well attested in 'classic' Bushman rock art, where they depict ritual specialists (ǃgi:tən) who were said to undergo animal transformations in the course of their spiritual labour (Lewis-Williams 1980, 473-7). Figure 9 suggests that some of the historical Strandberg images draw upon rain-making beliefs and practices that constitute a 'prominent theme' in |Xam ethnography (Solomon 2013(Solomon , 1211. This panel clearly relates to a colonial context, with depictions of a horse and rider and a figure in a voluminous dress; it also includes a depiction of a snake, an animal the |Xam associated with rain.…”

Truths, representationalism and disciplinarity in Khoesan researches

“…From my own field of research (Solomon 1997(Solomon , 2008(Solomon , 2011(Solomon , 2013a: Did the |Xam describe a healing dance? Do the accounts of people who walk by night in animal form describe shamans or spirits?…”

San rock art: evidence and argument

“…Anne Solomon (2013) challenges the essentially shamanistic (if the word is to be accepted) nature of San rock art, but significantly fails to see the historical context of southern African research. The issue is confused by reference to Patricia Vinnicombe's supposed eschewing of Kalahari San ethnography.…”

“….] signifies the imminence of actual ‘death’ (by lethal possession)” (Solomon 2013: 1211). Again, there is no ethnographic evidence for this belief.…”

“…Clearly, it is impossible to rehearse here all of the evidence and arguments that numerous writers have published over the decades, so we highlight a fundamental point. Much of Solomon's writing is posited, as is her recent contribution (Solomon 2013), on her belief that the nineteenth-century southern /Xam San were very different in highly significant ways from those groups who continue to live in the Kalahari and who were intensively and famously studied in the second half of the twentieth century. Solomon suggests that one of us (JDL-W) has been ‘unswerving’ in his uncritical acceptance of this Kalahari material.…”