Believing and Seeing. Symbolic Meanings in Southern San Rock Paintings

Rudner, Jalmar; Lewis‐Williams, J. D.

doi:10.2307/3888585

Cited by 2 publications

(4 citation statements)

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“…When pig fat is used the paste will fail to dry and remain sticky (Hill, 2001). Other ethnographic reports note ochre is mixed with a greasy substance when it is applied at the last stages of hide tanning (Rudner, 1982in Dubreuil & Grosman, 2009.…”

Section: Phase 3 3d Microscopic Analysis (Vhi)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Preliminary experiment into the effects of red ochre on decomposition rate and bone microstructure in stillborn/perinate Sus scrofa domesticus

Carlson,

Mandl,

Metscher

2023

Preprint

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The use of red ochre in funerary rituals holds continued interest for archaeologists and anthropologists given its ubiquity and debates surrounding its function. Despite this, and efforts into distinguishing corpse treatments on a histological level, there has been no experimental attempt to identify the potential effects of ochre treatments on soft tissue decomposition or skeletal remains. Moreover, there remain questions concerning the susceptibility of stillborn, perinate, and neonate remains to bacterial bioerosion. To help fill these knowledge gaps an exploratory study was conducted to assess the effects of red ochre on decomposition rate and bone histology using minimally destructive microCT-based protocols. Five stillborn or perinate domestic piglets, a reliable proxy for human corpse decomposition due to their similar gut bacteria and thoracic size, were either left untreated or subjected to one of two ochre treatments (paste or powder), and then buried or left to decompose in an open-air environment. The preliminary results of this experiment suggest that red ochre does not inhibit, nor significantly increase bacterial bioerosion in stillborn/perinate bone. However, ochre paste, which delayed skeletonisation and inhibited fly activity, did contribute to skeletal disarray in the exposed piglet, which we hypothesise is due to mechanical effects. Moreover, the very limited and localised evidence of potential bioerosion manifested on the periosteal surface, providing evidence for an exogenous origin for osteolytic microbiota.

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Section: Phase 3 3d Microscopic Analysis (Vhi)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Preliminary experiment into the effects of red ochre on decomposition rate and bone microstructure in stillborn/perinate Sus scrofa domesticus

Carlson,

Mandl,

Metscher

2023

Preprint

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“…Khoe-San people, past and present, decorate themselves with designs in various media. Rudner (1982) has the ethnographic data concerning 'cosmetic pigments and paints' by 'Hottentots' and 'Bushmen' (1982: 112, tables 20, 45 and passim). The practice of body painting is longstanding: Rudner concluded that A comparison with the practices of the historical Hottentots .…”

Section: Body Designsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Men and women beautified themselves with painted and tattooed designs, for cosmetic and ritual purposes, especially the initiation rites of young women, which I discuss in detail in Part III. Designs took the form of dots, stripes (Rudner 1982: figs 18 & 19), fingernail-scratched designs in body paint, as well as circular and zigzag forms. Pigments used included haematite, which yielded a red colour, specularite, powdered white quartz, white clay, charcoal (or soot, or pot-black, or ash), as well as plant pigments (Rudner 1982: 115-116, 210-211).…”

Section: Body Designsmentioning

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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Believing and Seeing. Symbolic Meanings in Southern San Rock Paintings

Cited by 2 publications

References 0 publications

Preliminary experiment into the effects of red ochre on decomposition rate and bone microstructure in stillborn/perinate Sus scrofa domesticus

Preliminary experiment into the effects of red ochre on decomposition rate and bone microstructure in stillborn/perinate Sus scrofa domesticus

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

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