The Materiality of Rock Art and Quartz: a Case Study from Mpumalanga Province, South Africa

Hampson, Jamie

doi:10.1017/s0959774313000498

Cited by 11 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 59 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Ethnographic and ethnohistoric records reveal that quartz was and is considered an important animistic agent, in the sense that quartz did and does things; in many hunter-gatherer worldviews, quartz is a potent agent (Pearson 2002;Hampson 2013). Indeed, a study of quartz from a dual and intertwined functionalist and symbolic perspective-that is, by examining concepts of materiality in addition to raw materials (Tilley 2004;Ingold 2007)helps break down rigid, but rarely scrutinised Western divisions such as animate:inanimate and nature:culture.…”

Section: Ethnohistorymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Lemaitre (2012: 24) concludes that “it is therefore possible that this crystalline particularity possesses an intrinsic value”. In addition, Hampson (2013) has shown that quartz veins form important components at South African rock art sites; one example in Mpumalanga province includes red pigment carefully and directly applied to a quartz seam.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Quartz crystal materiality in Terminal Pleistocene Lesotho

Pargeter

Hampson

2019

Antiquity

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Section: Ethnohistorymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Quartz crystal materiality in Terminal Pleistocene Lesotho

Pargeter

Hampson

2019

Antiquity

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Similarly, Whitley et al (1999) have shown that quartz hammerstones were carefully selected and used over a long period for ritualistic reasons. From a purely technical viewpoint, quartz is not the best stone for repeated percussion, but, as we know from research elsewhere (Hampson 2013b), it is considered potent by many indigenous groups.…”

Section: ) Vulvas and Cupulesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Embodiment, Transformation and Ideology in the Rock Art of Trans-Pecos Texas

Hampson

2016

CAJ

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Reuse ["licenses_typename_other" not defined] TakedownIf you consider content in White Rose Research Online to be in breach of UK law, please notify us by emailing eprints@whiterose.ac.uk including the URL of the record and the reason for the withdrawal request. and used by the original artists and subsequent viewers to shape, maintain and challenge ideologies and identities. Trans-Pecos Texas: an illustrative case studyThe eastern Trans-Pecos region of west Texas comprises approximately 80,000 sq.km (31,000 sq. miles) of the northern Chihuahuan Desert, extending from the NewMexico state boundary and the Guadalupe Mountains in the north to the Rio Grande in the south, and from the Salt Basin in Hudspeth County in the west to the Pecos River in the east (Fig. 1). Geologically, the Trans-Pecos is complex, with strata ranging from the Precambrian to the Cenozoic; there are igneous and limestone plateaus and outliers, and elevations ranging from broad desert basins (550 m or 1800 ft) to tree-clad mountain peaks (2590 m or 8500 ft) (Mallouf 2005: 220). The rock art of the Trans-Pecos is little known (cf. Jackson 1938; Kirkland & Newcomb 1967;Mallouf 1985; Kenmotsu 2001; Cloud 2004; Hampson 2011;2013a;. Importantly for concepts of archaeological regionalism in the Greater Southwest (and beyond), however, both the eastern and western boundaries of the eastern Trans-Pecos have been defined in part according to the presence or absence of certain rock art motifs -this is one of the reasons why I chose the Trans- From c. AD 1000, if not earlier (Sutherland 2006: 12; Hampson 2011;2013a; Wiseman pers. comm.), the western Trans-Pecos is characterised by the well-known agriculturalist Jornada Mogollon culture and its artefacts such as pottery, pithouse villages, and, above all, rock art. Western Trans-Pecos petroglyphs and pictographs include 'mask' motifs, 'stepped-fret' and 'blanket' designs, and other evidence of Mogollon and Mesoamerican influences such as Tlaloc-esque motifs, horned serpents, and other supernatural figures (Schaafsma 1975; 1980: 183-186, 198; 1992: 60-72; 2003: 8;Plog 1997; cf. Hays-Gilpin 2011; Munson 2011: 105-106).The borders between the western and eastern Trans-Pecos, and between the eastern Trans-Pecos and Lower Pecos regions, are of course in many ways both capricious and flexible -prehistoric inhabitants of these three culturally dynamic regions would not have considered any one of them as 'bounded'. Certainly, cultures and cultural remains occur on continuums with ill-defined bounds, and any temporal or spatial divisions drawn up today are necessarily arbitrary. In order to deal with vast amounts of information, however, researchers impose artificial divisions onto the remaining material culture that is both available and accessible (Ohl 2008: 1; Hampson 2011;2013a;. Although the main focus of this paper is the eastern Trans-Pecos, I also consider embodied rock art motifs in other regions of west Texas. The Lower Pecos region, east of the Pecos River, is justifiably famous; it contains...

show abstract

“…Lewis-Williams 1981; Huffman 1983; Yates et al . 1985; Dowson 1992; Smits 1993; Deacon 1994; Walker 1996; Hollmann 2002; Blundell 2004; Lewis-Williams & Pearce 2004a; Mguni 2004; Smith & Ouzman 2004; Challis 2005; Deacon & Foster 2005; Eastwood & Eastwood 2006; Loubser 2006; Wright & Mazel 2007; Mazel 2009; Lewis-Williams & Challis 2011; Hampson 2013). Certain researchers argue that some distinctive San rock art, largely in the northern parts of the subcontinent, also deals with the initiation of girls at puberty into womanhood (Eastwood & Eastwood 2006; Hollmann 2013).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

San rock art: evidence and argument

Lewis‐Williams

Pearce

2015

Antiquity

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Whether or not a ‘trance-dance’ akin to that of today's Kalahari San (Bushmen) was performed by southern /Xam San in the nineteenth century has long been the subject of intense debate. Here the authors point to parallels between nineteenth-century records of San life and beliefs and twentieth-century San ethnography from the Kalahari Desert in order to argue that this cultural practice was shared by these two geographically and chronologically distant groups. More significantly, it is suggested that these ethnographic parallels allow a clearer understanding of the religious and ritual practices depicted in the southern San rock art images.

show abstract

The Materiality of Rock Art and Quartz: a Case Study from Mpumalanga Province, South Africa

Cited by 11 publications

References 59 publications

Quartz crystal materiality in Terminal Pleistocene Lesotho

Quartz crystal materiality in Terminal Pleistocene Lesotho

Embodiment, Transformation and Ideology in the Rock Art of Trans-Pecos Texas

San rock art: evidence and argument

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About