Twyfelfontein: A Centre of Prehistoric Art in South West Africa

Still Bay and serrated points from Umhlatuzana Rock Shelter, Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa

“…Goodwin and van Riet Lowe (1929) included oakleaf points in their original description of the Still Bay Industry. So-called 'serrated' oakleaf points were recorded as associated with the Still Bay at Twyfelfontein, Namibia (Viereck and Rudner, 1957). The Fish Hoek sites of Tunnel Cave and Skildergat Kop are reported to have Still Bay occurrences (Goodwin and van Riet Lowe, 1929).…”

Cupule engravings from Jinmium–Granilpi (northern Australia) and beyond: exploration of a widespread and enigmatic class of rock markings

“…African cupule sites include those of Kenya reported by Odak (1992), central African sites noted by Forsbrooke (19541, a few Namibian sites (Viereck & Rudner 1957), rare Zambian (Chaplin 1963) and Zimbabwean (Clark 1958;Cooke 1964;Dart 1953: Swan 1996Walker 1987) cupules, dots and ovals. Swan (1996) notes differences between cupules and iron-ore grinding hollows at some sites in Zimbabwe.…”

Status and past and present distribution of elephants in the Kaokoveld, South West Africa/Namibia

“…At Twyfelfontein and at Sossos south of Sesfontein, elephants feature prominently in the numerous rock engravings. While it might be argued that the artists could have moved a long distance after observing an animal before engraving it, it is conspicuous that with one doubtful exception (Vierech & Rudner 1957), only the animals that today still occur in the area, are featured there. The age of these engravings is not known, but judging from the amount of oxygenation on the engravings it can only be stated that they are very old (Vierech & Rudner 1957).…”

“…The theory that these elephants were forced into the west by human activities and development in the east (Schoeman 1984), is unacceptable because of the following facts. (a) Before 1900 the human population in the Kaokoveld must have been very low (Van Warmelo 1962) and long before there was any development or large-scale hunting in the east, there were reports of elephants occurring in the west (Alexander 1838;Hartmann 1897Hartmann , 1902Vedder 1937;Vierech & Rudner 1957). These early reports indicate that elephants utilized all the larger river courses in South West Africa right down to the Atlantic elephants drink during the night while the waterholes are utilized during the day by the Hereros and their animals.…”