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Rock Art Network Aron Mazel
Rock Art Network Aron Mazel
Rock Art Network Aron Mazel
Aron Mazel
Early masterpieces: San hunter-gatherer shaded paintings of the uKhahlamba-Drakensberg and surrounding areas
This a modified and scaled down version of: Mazel, A.D. 2021. Dancing in the dark with firelight: the power of shaded paintings in the uKhahlamba-Drakensberg and surrounding areas, southeastern Africa. In Charette, C., Mazel, A and Nash, G. (eds). Indigenous Heritage and Rock Art: Worldwide Research in Memory of Daniel Arsenault. Oxford: Archaeopress: 1-13.

Aron Mazel
Newcastle University and University of the Witwatersrand
& Ann Macdonald - Nyenganyenga Art and Design

San hunter-gatherers are renowned internationally for their prolific output of rock paintings of mostly humans, animals, and ritual figures with spiritual meanings linked to trance rituals. We know this because our understanding of their art is grounded in in-depth ethnographic research. San hunter-gatherers painted a wide range of animals, with finely observed shape detail that produces a keen sense of movement and they shaded many paintings in vibrant earth colours. Eland and rhebuck were the most commonly shaded animals in uKhahlamba-Drakensberg and surrounding areas (Figure 1, Figure 2, Figure 3, Figure 4 and Figure 5). Strikingly, thousands of shaded forms that are polychromatic have been found in these areas. This polychromatic style is also present in other parts of South Africa and in Zimbabwe and Botswana but in considerably fewer numbers. If a masterpiece has the qualities of ‘outstanding artistry or skill’ (Oxford English Dictionary 2021) then we would say that San hunter-gather paintings, and especially the shaded polychromatic examples, qualify and can claim to be the first painting masterpieces in southern Africa.

Paintings of shaded polychrome from Bundoran 1. At the top of the panel the eland are superimposed over elephants. The scale is 10cm long.
Figure 1
© Aron Mazel
 
A shaded robust human figure from Pager’s Shelter appearing to hold with a rhebuck over its shoulder. The scale is 10cm long.
Figure 2
© Aron Mazel
 
A shaded eland from Lower Mushroom Shelter.
Figure 3
© Aron Mazel
 
A shaded polychrome bushpig from Eland Cave.
Figure 4
© Aron Mazel
 
A reclining and a foreshortened shaded polychrome eland from Botha’s Shelter.
Figure 5
© Aron Mazel
 
Top end of Didima Gorge, northern uKhahlamba-Drakensberg.
Figure 6
© Aron Mazel

Injasuthi area, central uKhahlamba-Drakensberg.
Figure 7
© Aron Mazel
Mazel’s work, specialising in the uKhahlamba-Drakensburg (Figure 6 and Figure 7), has focused significant attention on not just recording and describing the paintings, but on trying to build a historical context around the data which he has amassed. For the shaded polychrome paintings, which stand out from the rest, this has begged the question of why the San were prompted to paint in this way. For many years, it was believed that they were created only in the last few hundred years as part of a linear progression in style complexity. It has been shown, however, that the San actually made them around 2000 years ago, and it has been argued that this was in response to the arrival of new people in the eastern part of southern Africa (Mazel 2009). Initially, the innovation of this more complex style, which is associated with the upsurge in the production of paintings, appeared to be a San response to the arrival of agriculturist communities moving down the African east coast around 2000 years ago. Re-examination of archaeological data in more depth has indicated that the San might also have experienced early encounters with pastoralists around the same time (Mazel 2013, 2021). So, the peopling of eastern southern Africa around 2000 years ago might have been more complex than originally thought.

Either way, the presence of new people on the landscape is likely to have shaken the San worldview and introduced hitherto unknown anxieties and challenges into their lives. This may have resulted in them not only expanding their exchange networks beyond existing boundaries (Mazel 2009; Mitchell 2009), but also increasing their ritual activity to ameliorate their anxieties, which in turn led to the proliferation of paintings accompanied by innovations, which included foreshortening and the making of shaded polychromatic paintings (Mazel 2009). This idea that increased stress resulted in heightened ritual activity is supported by work done by Guenther (1975-76) documenting the Kalahari San.

Drawing on insights from 19th and 20th century San ethnography and neuropsychological research, Lewis-Williams (2003) suggested that most if not all of the uKhahlamba-Drakensberg San rock paintings reflect the visions and experiences of medicine people in trance. In this state, they experience visual hallucinations that commonly take the form of images of the animals with which they fuse to enhance their own potency. In the Kalahari, San initiate trance dances by building a camp fire during the day. Dancing around the fire into the night then facilitates medicine people entering into trance. Being perceived as a strong stimulant, the fire plays a significant role in trance performances among the Kalahari San with its primary function to trigger n/um (i.e. energy), which assists in heating and controlling the dancer’s n/um (Katz 1982).

Transferring these insights into our understanding of San paintings, Lewis-Williams and Dowson (1990) commented: ‘In flickering firelight, paintings … probably assumed a three-dimensionality and life of their own … Paintings and the hallucinatory “motion picture or slide show” … would have melded one into the other’ In this scenario, it is likely that San shamans perceived actual eland, rhebok and other animals in the rock shelters when in trance, especially as the painted animals might have appeared bigger than they actually are on the walls of the rock shelters, perhaps even life size. Maqhoqha, whose father had been a shaman-artist, explained to Lewis-Williams (1986) and Jolly (1986), that shamans either touched or pointed at these ‘real and moving’ painted animals in order to harness their potency to achieve special powers. The ‘aliveness’ and power inherent in the walls of rock shelters would have been of great value to San shamans.

The San, therefore, may have innovated the polychromatic shading of paintings to increase their power. Laboratory experiments with shading and light have demonstrated that the interaction of these two variables produce a sense depth and motion. An experiment undertaken by Kleffner and Ramachandran (1992: 32) showed that ‘The extraction of shape from shading can also provide an input to motion perception.’ Moreover, it has been shown that the perception of depth and motion in shading may derive from the light source being at different angles, including from below (Morgenstern et al. 2011; Proulx (2014). With trance fires functioning as has already been discussed, such firelight in illuminating the shaded paintings in shelters likely evoked powerful stimulants for trance, serving to alleviate anxiety and stress.

It is, therefore, suggested that the San innovated the shading to give depth and motion to the paintings in order to increase their power. In essence, the shading of paintings was a deliberate stylistic feature used by the San to enhance the power of the paintings, which intensified their trance experience, as they believed that the animals whose power they were drawing on were not only present in the painted shelters but were also moving. This would have helped the San cope with the anxieties and stresses associated by the emergence of new people onto the landscape around 2000 years ago.

References

Guenther, M.G. 1975–76. The San trance dance: ritual and revitalization among the farm Bushmen of the Ghanzi District, Republic of Botswana. Journal of the South West Africa Scientific Society 30: 45–53.

Jolly, P. 1986. A first-generation descendant of the Transkei San. South African Archaeological Bulletin 41: 6–9.

Katz, R. 1982. Boiling Energy: Community Healing among the Kalahari !Kung. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

Kleffner, D. A. and Ramachadran, V.S. 1992. On the perception of shape from shading. Perception & Psychophysics. 52 (1): 18–36.

Lewis-Williams, J.D. 1986. The Last Testament of the Southern San. South African Archaeological Bulletin. 41: 10–11.

Lewis-Williams, J.D. 2003. Images of mystery: rock art of the Drakensberg. Cape Town: Double Storey.

Lewis-Williams J. D. and Dowson T. A. 1990. Through the Veil: San Rock Paintings and the Rock Face. South African Archaeological Bulletin 45: 5–16.

Mazel, A.D. 2009a. Unsettled times: shaded polychrome paintings and hunter-gatherer history in the southeastern mountains of southern Africa. Southern African Humanities 21: 85–115.

Mazel, A.D. 2013. Paint and earth: constructing hunter-gatherer history in the uKhahlamba-Drakensberg, South Africa. Time and Mind 6 (1): 49–58.

Mazel, A.D. 2021. Mountain living: The Holocene people of the uKhahlamba-Drakensberg, South Africa. Quaternary International. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2021.04.039

Mitchell, P. 2009. Hunter-gatherers and farmers: some implications of 1,800 years of interaction in the Maloti-Drakensberg region of southern Africa. In K. Ikeya, H. Ogawa and P. Mitchell (eds) Interactions between Hunter-Gatherers and Farmers: from Prehistory to Present. Senri Ethnological Studies 73: 15–46.

Morgenstern, Y. Murray, R. F. and Harris, L. R. 2011. The human visual system’s assumption that light comes from above is weak. PNAS 108 (30): 12551–12553.

Proulx, M.J. 2014. The perception of shape from shading in a new light. PeerJ 2:e363.

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29/11/2022
→ Signalling and Performance: Ancient Rock Art in Britain and Ireland
by Aron Mazel, George Nash
21/09/2022
→ Histories of Australian Rock Art Research
by Paul S.C. Taçon, Sally K. May, Ursula K. Frederick, Jo McDonald
07/07/2022
→ Rock Art and Tribal Art: Madhya Pradesh
by Meenakshi Dubey-Pathak
26/07/2022
→ Marra Wonga: Archaeological and contemporary First Nations interpretations of one of central Queensland’s largest rock art sites
by Paul Taçon
20/07/2022
→ David Coulson MBE
by David Coulson
16 June 2022
→  Extraordinary Back-to-Back Human and Animal Figures in the Art of Western Arnhem Land, Australia: One of the World's Largest Assemblages
by Paul Taçon
25 April 2022
→  An online course by SEAMEO Regional Centre for Archaeology and Fine Arts (SPAFA)
by Noel Hidalgo Tan
20 April 2022
→  Cupules and Vulvas in the Alwar area, Rajasthan
by Meenakshi Dubey-Pathak
14 March 2022
→  Color Engenders Life - Hunter-Gatherer Rock Art in the Lower Pecos Canyonlands
by Carolyn Boyd & Pilar Fatás
02 March 2022
→  David Coulson receives RGS Cherry Kearton Award
by David Coulson
07 February 2022
→  Vandalised petroglyphs in Texas
by Johannes H. N. Loubser
06 February 2022
→  Hand Stencils in Chhattisgarh
by Meenakshi Dubey-Pathak
05 February 2022
→  And then they were gone: Destruction of the Good Hope 1 rock paintings
by Aron Mazel
28 January 2022
→  Early masterpieces: San hunter-gatherer shaded paintings of the uKhahlamba-Drakensberg and surrounding areas
by Aron Mazel
8 September 2021
→  Aїr Mountains Safari - Sahara
by David Coulson
17 August 2021
→  The Neolithic rock art passage tombs of Anglesey as brand-new virtual tours
by Ffion Reynolds
21 June 2021
→  A Map from the Memory of the World
by Janette Deacon
8 June 2021
→  The dangers of 'Discovering' rock art
by Peter Robinson
1 June 2021
→  Dharkundi and Deurkuthar Rock Art Sites in Central India
by Meenakshi Dubey-Pathak
1 June 2021
→ Dating the Earth and its Rock Art
by Neville Agnew
23 May 2021
→ Studying the Source of Dust Using a Simple and Effective Methodology:
by Tom McClintock
30 April 2021
→ ABC Radio National 'Nightlife' with Philip Clark - 'Exploring the wonders of cave art in Australia'
by Professor Paul S.C. Taçon & Dr Josephine McDonald
30 April 2021
→ A Painted Treasure - San hunter-gatherer visual engagement with Didima Gorge (South Africa)
by Aron Mazel
10 March 2021
→ L'Atlas de la grotte Chauvet-Pont d'Arc
by
Jean-jacques Delannoy &
Jean-Michel Geneste
1 February 2021
→ Oldest cave painting found in Indonesia
by Rock Art Network
14 January 2021
→ Graffiti Dates and Names as a Rock Art Conservation and Management Tool
by Johannes H. N. Loubser
29 October 2020
→ Animals in Rock Art
by Aron Mazel
7 October 2020
→ Reflecting Back: 40 Years Since ‘A Survey of the Rock Art in the Natal Drakensberg’ Project (1978-1981)
by Aron Mazel
29 September 2020
→ Art on the Rocks in the Age of COVID-19
by Neville Agnew & Tom McClintock
15 September 2020
→ Explore Cederberg rock art from your home
by Janette Deacon
9 September 2020
→ The Continuum of Art: The relationship between Ice Age art and contemporary art and how an understanding of the former can help engage a modern audience
by Peter Robinson
16 August 2020
→ Illuminating the Realm of the Dead: The Rock Art within the Dolmen de Soto, Andalucía, Southern Spain
by George Nash
29 July 2020
→ Rock Art Adventurous Field Work during COVID-19 in the Southernmost of South America
by María Isabel Hernández Llosas
9 June 2020
→ The Final Passage - FAQ
by Jean-Michel Geneste
1 June 2020
→ Experts rush to map fire-hit rock art
by Andrew Bock
15 May 2020
→ Sacred Indigenous rock art sites under threat
by Amy van den Berg
12 May 2020
→ Virtual Meeting
by Ben Dickins
22 April 2020
→ The Bradshaw Foundation Launches the Rock Art Network Website
by Wendy All
23 March 2020
→ The aftermath of fire damage to important rock art at the Baloon Cave tourist destination, Carnarvon Gorge, Queensland, Australia
by Paul Taçon
24 November 2019
→ The removal and camouflage of graffiti: The art of creating chaos out of order and order out of chaos
by Johannes H. N. Loubser
11 November 2019
→ The Histories of Australian Rock Art Research symposium, 8-9 December 2019, Griffith University, Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia
by Paul Tacon
5 November 2019
→ San rock art exhibition at the National Museum & Research Center of Altamira
by Aron Mazel
17 September 2019
→ The 2018 Art on the Rocks Colloquium
by Wendy All
2 December 2018
→ Preserving Our Ancient Art Galleries: Volunteerism, Collaboration, and the Rock Art Archive
by Wendy All
1 December 2017
→ Altamira and the New Technology for Public Access
by Pilar Fatás Monforte
30 April 2017
→ From the Chauvet Cave to the Caverne du Pont d’Arc: Methods and Strategies for a Replica to Preserve the Heritage of a Decorated Cave That Cannot Be Made Accessible to the Public
by Jean-Michel Geneste
29 April 2017
→ Emerging Consciousness and New Media: The Management of Rock Art in Southeast Asia and New Opportunities for Communicating Its Significance
by Noel Hidalgo Tan
28 April 2017
→ Step by Step: The Power of Participatory Planning with Local Communities for Rock Art Management and Tourism
by Nicholas Hall
27 April 2017
→ Fundraising for Rock Art by Promoting Its Values
by Terry Little
26 April 2017
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