San rock art of the Drakensberg

The San rock art of the Drakensberg in South Africa is often dominated by the impressive gallery at Game Pass Shelter; a veritable palimpsest of polychrome eland and human figures. The human figures are sometimes depicted with fur and hooves. Indeed, the panel contains one particular scene which is referred to as the 'Rosetta Stone' (below) of San rock art, enabling Professor David Lewis-Williams to gain a new and invaluable insight into the meaning of the art.

The dying eland with a man apparently holding its tail; the man has hooves like the eland, his hair is standing out like the eland's hair, and his legs are crossed, in imitation of the eland's legs. Both the eland and the man are behaving as if they are dying. Lewis-Williams suggests that the man is a shaman going into trance - he is about to leave this world for the spirit world, and he is taking on the power of the eland.

Found in other isolated locations, rock art sites posses unique displays of exquisite and fine paintings, full of style and symbolism. The small ledge known as Wilcox site is one such site.

On the white-painted ' hallucinatory' figure (above) with bow and arrows, note the animal features - ears, hair and paws - which again may reflect the Bushman mythology; by juxtaposing animals and humans, the natural and the spiritual realms are connected.

The site reflects the importance of the eland, the largest African antelope; it plays a major role in the beliefs of the San in South Africa. Lewis-Williams states that the elands possess the power the shamans sought to control.

The eland's principle significance was shamanic supernatural potency. In San thought, when an eland is killed, the place where it lies is filled with potency, and shamans are able to perform a particularly effective trance dance (Clottes & Lewis-Williams 1998). This potency was channeled into the eland paintings by mixing the antelope's blood with the paint. The paintings themselves would then becomes 'reservoirs of potency'. As shamans danced in the rock shelters, the paintings would 'electrify' them, catapulting them into the spirit realm.

https://t.co/iGcUyswnKD the mythology behind the art #San #Bushmen #SouthAfrica pic.twitter.com/Ea825Fzgcb

— Bradshaw Foundation (@BradshawFND) March 14, 2016

See more San rock art in the Rock Art Archive of South Africa:

http://www.bradshawfoundation.com/south_africa/index.php