Rock Art Research Institute (RARI)
University of the Witwatersrand
The eland is the most frequently depicted animal in many regions of southern Africa. It is also the animal upon which San artists lavished most care. They painted eland in a great variety of postures, from various perspectives, and embellished them with the finest details. Here we see an eland, depicted from the rear, from the Eastern Cape Drakensberg.
San art was much more than the communication of knowledge and esoteric insight, more than mere pictures of the dancers' power. Many of the paintings were storehouses of the supernatural potency that shamans harnessed for their cosmological journeys. Moreover, the rock on which the images were placed was like a veil suspended between this world and the spirit world.
The most important San ritual was the healing or trance dance. These dances continue to be practised amongst San groups living in the Kalahari today. Dancers stomp in a circle around the campfire for many hours. The women clap the rhythm of the dance and sing powerful songs. After hours of stomping, some dancers start to slip into trance or half-trance. In this altered state of consciousness many have out-of-body experiences. They describe travelling to the spirit realm. Those dancers who practise and utilise out-of-body experiences on a regular basis are termed shamans. Up to 40% of the members of any one group may be practising shamans. This painting from KwaZulu-Natal, depicts a typical San circular dance.
