Southern African San Rock Painting as Social Intervention: A Study of Rain-Control Images

Abstract

Many aspects of southern African San rock art images can be understood in the light of nineteenth-and twentieth-century ethnography. San beliefs about different kinds of "rain-animals" and the secrecy that attended rain-control rites informed different kinds of social relations between rain-controllers themselvesand between them and other people. San communities were less egalitarian than is often supposed, though on grounds that are commonly overlooked. These points are made in reference to a hitherto unknown painted site.De nombreux aspects de l'art rupestre sud-africain peuventêtre comprisà la lumière de documents ethnographiques des dix-neuvième et vingtième siècles. La croyance des San en différentes sortes 'd'animaux de pluie' et le secret environnant les rites de contrôle de la pluie ont révélé plusieurs types de relations sociales entre les faiseurs de pluie eux-mêmes, ainsi qu'entre ceux-ci et les autres personnes. Les communautés sanétaient moinségalitaires qu'on le suppose souvent, bien que cela n'apparaisse que sur des bases généralement négligées. Ces points sont développés en référenceà un site orné jusqu'à présent inconnu.

Milestones in the development of symbolic behaviour: a case study from Wonderwerk Cave, South Africa

“…The presence of rock paintings accentuates the special status of this site, since engravings (petroglyphs) are the prevalent rock art form in the interior of South Africa (Morris 2002;Parkington et al 2008;Thackeray et al 1981). It is possible that the significance of this part of the cave with its rock art lies in ritual beliefs that continue today, associating water sources with the powerful spirit of a snake or rainfall (Bernard 2003;Hoff 1997;Lewis-Williams and Pearce 2004). The large stalagmite that dominates this part of the cave has been dated by U-series to the last 35,000 years (Brook et al in press) so it was active during at least part of the LSA occupation and was possibly associated with this belief.…”

Spatial Distribution of Rock Art Sites in Didima Gorge, South Africa

“…There is nothing secretive about it. There is evidence that the same applied in the south (Lewis- Williams 1992b;Lewis-Williams andPearce 2004a, 2012). For instance, in the 1870s in the Eastern Cape and the eastern Free State Provinces of South Africa, the copyist George Stow found unmistakable evidence for dancing in every camp and, significantly, every large rock shelter, the locations where he found and copied rock paintings:…”

Bridging Realms: Towards Ethnographically Informed Methods to Identify Religious and Artistic Practices in Different Settings

“…It comprised spiritual realms above and below the level of daily life. F. Bleek 1933;Lewis-Williams 1981, 103-116;Lewis-Williams and Pearce 2004b). Lewis-Williams and J.H.N.…”

“…One explanation of this phrase is that he was a "maker of bridges" (pons, bridge; -fic-, facere, to make). Though the traditional San overt egalitarian ideology was already masking incipient inequality, it was further undermined by the practice of traditional rituals in new social circumstances (Lewis-Williams and Pearce 2004b). As his political power grew, the position was absorbed into political structures.…”