âAn outstanding feature of these strange little wild folk was their love ... characteristics that clearly distinguish it from the paintings of other ... The name Klipbak, which in English translates as rock- or stone-bowl, undoubtedly derives ... hard and even rocky surface below the water source while the other rests on top of larger.
ROCK ENGRAVINGS OF THE
KORANNABERG AN ANALYSIS OF ENGRAVED IMAGERY FROM THE SOUTH-EASTERN KALAHARI
R. F. Rifkin University of the Witwatersrand 2005
A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of
Bachelor of Arts with Honours in Archaeology
Faculty of Humanities School of Geography, Archaeology and Environmental Studies University of the Witwatersrand 2005
R. F. Rifkin 0509919 H
Declaration I declare that this dissertation/thesis is my own unaided work. It is submitted to the degree of Bachelor of Arts with Honours at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. It has not been submitted before for any other degree or examination in any other university.
………………………………………….…… Riaan F. Rifkin (0509919 H)
20 November 2005.
For Jonathan and Jennifer
ABSTRACT This particular research project was carried out as per the requirements set forth by the University of the Witwatersrand for the successful completion of the degree of Bachelor of Arts with Honours in Archaeology. In addition to the initial field research which was carried out during January 2005, the project was finalised by another such concluding research period which took place during September and October 2005. The primary research area is located in the north-eastern corner of the Northern Cape Province which covers an expanse in excess of 361 000 km² and which is renowned for its extensive and abundant rock engraving sites. Although some five hundred such engraved sites have been identified thus far, many of these are known only from historical accounts and from surveys carried out during the 1960s and 1970s. The recent discovery of a substantial number of engraved sites attest to the reality that the Korannaberg and Langeberg ranges are indeed endowed with a rich archaeological and rock art heritage. It is believed that it is only with an increase in systematic and focused archaeological survey and research within the region that many additional engraved sites will be discovered and accordingly documented. The research sites with which this project is concerned, namely Klipbak I and II, are located within the privately owned Tswalu Kalahari Reserve and situated on the farm formerly known as Klipbak 256. The archaeology and rock art of these two sites are discussed in terms of their social and ritual significance as indicated by and related to the engraved imagery present at the sites, the position of the sites within the landscape, the significance of the water sources around which the imagery occur, and also the unique echoic and acoustic character of the sites. Ultimately, the role and function of the Klipbak I site will be discussed in terms of San cosmological and religious views as related to the manufacture and occurrence of rain.
i
TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract
i
List of Figures
iv
Acknowledgements
vi
1. Introduction
1
The Korannaberg mountain range
1
The physical space
3
2. Historical Background
8
Regional social complexity
8
Artistic technological and compositional variability
17
The production and consumption of engraved imagery
18
3. Meaning
22
The interpretation of engraved imagery
22
Context and polysemy
24
Engraved imagery from Klipbak I
26
Human depictions
28
Animal motifs
32
- Giraffe
32
- Eland
35
Sound and ceremony
43
Acoustics and echoes
48
- Resonant rocks
49
- Echoes
51
Circular designs
59
Water
63
ii
- Trans-cosmological travel
64
- Mythology
65
Buchu
67
- Abraded surfaces
71
- Cupules
78
4. The Ritual Space
83
Klipbak and !Khwa
83
- Rain
83
- Engraved metaphors
85
5. The Social Space
90
The social life of Klipbak
90
Appendix
95
References
97
iii
LIST OF FIGURES Figure
Page
1.1 Regional map.
1
1.2 Photograph of the Klipbak hill.
3
1.3 Map of Klipbak hill and engraved sites.
4
1.4 View towards the south from atop Klipbak.
5
3.1 Site plan of Klipbak I.
26
3.2 Frequency of engraved imagery at Klipbak I.
27
3.3. a Photograph of pecked human figure.
28
3.3. b Redrawing of pecked human figure.
28
3.4. Engraved human figures wielding dancing sticks.
29
3.5. a Photograph of smaller pecked human figure.
31
3.5. b Redrawing of smaller pecked human figure.
31
3.6 Redrawing of two pecked giraffe, cluster six.
33
3.7 Redrawing of single pecked giraffe, cluster seven.
34
3.8 Redrawing of pecked eland, cluster six.
36
3.9 Redrawing of pecked eland, cluster six.
37
3.10 Redrawing of pecked eland, cluster six.
38
3.11 Redrawing of pecked eland, cluster five.
39
3.12 Engraved rain eland with attendant rain-shamans.
40
3.13 Redrawing of engraved rain-bull, cluster eight.
41
3.14 Photograph of the sandy area and engraved surface.
45
3.15 Plan of the circular arrangement of stones.
46
3.16 a. Photograph of rock gong at Klipbak I.
50
3.16 b. Redrawing of rock gong and percussion marks.
50
3.17 Locations of echoic recordings at Klipbak I.
52
3.18 Illustration of echogram structure.
53
3.19 a. Echogram for location one.
54
3.19 b. Enhanced echogram for location one.
54
3.20 a. Echogram for location four.
55
3.20 b. Enhanced echogram for location four.
55
iv
3.21 a. Echogram for location six.
56
3.21 b. Enhanced echogram for location six.
56
3.22 Circular design distribution frequency.
59
3.23 Redrawing of circular designs, cluster two.
61
3.24 Redrawing of circular designs, cluster four.
61
3.25 Redrawing of circular designs, cluster ten.
61
3.26 The water-pool at Klipbak I during summer.
63
3.27 The parched pool prior to the summer rains.
66
3.28 a. Agathosma betulina, buchu.
69
3.28 b. Dried buchu leaves.
69
3.29 Abraded surface, cluster three.
73
3.30 Redrawing of abraded surfaces, cluster ten, extract a.
74
3.31 Redrawing of abraded surfaces, cluster ten, extract b.
75
3.32 Redrawing of abraded surfaces, cluster ten, extract c.
76
3.33 Cupule frequency at Klipbak I.
78
3.34 a. Primary concentration of engraved cupules, cluster one.
80
3.34 b. Engraved forms, cluster one.
80
3.34 c. Group of six cupules, cluster one.
80
3.35 Redrawing of engraved cupules, cluster one.
81
3.36 redrawing of engraved cupules, cluster nine.
82
4.1 Proportional analysis of engraved eland at Klipbak one.
86
4.2 Engraved rain-making group, cluster eight.
88
A.1 Proportional analysis of engraved imagery at Klipbak II.
95
A.2 Site plan of Klipbak II.
96
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to convey my most sincere appreciation towards Mr. Jonathan and Mrs. Jennifer Oppenheimer. The assistance and support they have provided have proven to be of immense value to the commencement and the successful conclusion of this research project. Thank you. I am truly grateful for the time, tremendous insight and excellent guidance provided by my supervisor, Dr. Benjamin Smith. I am indebted to Nadine, Gert, Justin, Kerry, and Steve for the invaluable field assistance they so eagerly provided. Thank you for the many strenuous days you had to endure underneath the scorching Kalahari sun. I would like to thank Thea for her generous and much appreciated hospitality and the personnel of Tswalu Kalahari Reserve for the provision of site access, accommodation and modes of transport. I would like to thank Prof. Thomas Huffman for the many thoughtprovoking discussions we had, Lara Mallen for her advice on how to set about this venture, Sven Ouzman for his informative insight into the world of rock-engravings, David Pearce for his advice and insight into the study of rock art, Dr. Thembi Russell for her enthusiastic encouragement and invaluable advice, and Dr. Karim Sadr for his constructive responses to numerous enquiries. Dr. George Sussino is thanked for his advice and keen interest in this project.
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“An outstanding feature of these strange little wild folk was their love of painting and engraving. The Bushman painting has pronounced characteristics that clearly distinguish it from the paintings of other races. It seems incongruous that a race so primitive in culture and living under such conditions should cultivate the arts generally attributed to advanced civilization. Yet this was the case, for although he himself has become extinct, wherever the Bushmen dwelt traces of his former presence remain in the form of paintings and engravings.”
E.J. Dunn, 1931.
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Chapter1 INTRODUCTION The Korannaberg mountain range The Klipbak I and II rock art sites are situated atop one of the isolated hills comprising the Korannaberg mountains. These are located in the Kalahari-Kgalagadi district municipality of the Northern Cape Province of South Africa. The Korannaberg designates an ecological and geographical divide between the dolomite-rich Ghaap (Kora ≠hab) plateau which extends for some 250 kilometres towards the west, and the arid and aeolian-covered sands of the Kalahari Desert stretching towards the north and east (Humphreys & Thackeray 1983).
Figure 1.1. Map of the region indicating the location of the Klipbak rock art sites.
The Korannaberg is believed to have derived its name from Khora, the ancestral chief of the Korana tribe (Maingard 1937). The Korannaberg range is an extension of the greater Langeberg Mountain Range and extends for some 50 kilometres between the towns of Hotazel in the north and Olifantshoek towards the south. 1
The northern and southern limits of the range are to be found on the farms Sandbath 252 and Gringley 497 respectively. The Klipbak outcrop is comprised of a metamorphosed quartzite conglomerate which, because of its exceptional geochemical inertness, exhibits particularly low rates of surface attrition and mechanical weathering. The outcrop is furthermore surrounded by aeolian sands which are arranged into sequences of stable and therefore predominantly vegetated parallel sand dunes (Humphreys & Thackeray 1983; Heine 1990; Beaumont 2002; McCarthy & Rubige 2005). The Northern Cape region falls within the South African summer rainfall zone, with the climate of the region typified by impressive summer thunderstorms and great extremes in temperature. The Koppen classification describes the climate as winter dry cool steppe, and the Thornthwaite systems as a semi-arid mesothermal climate with no water surplus during any season (Humphreys & Thackeray 1983). The average annual rainfall in this biome ranges from 235 mm to approximately 500 mm. Although this amount is rather high for a desert biome environment, the inhabitants of the region do not necessarily derive the full benefit of the rain as it characteristically occurs in isolated and vicious thunderstorms of very short duration (Lovegrove 1993). The research area incorporates two primary and fairly distinct vegetation zones which both form part of the more extensive Arid Savanna biome. The vegetation of the Korannaberg Mountains is classified as Kalahari Mountain Bushveld and found on shallow soils on hills with an altitude of 450 to 1250 meters in the vicinity of Olifantshoek, Kuruman, and northwards to Sonstraal. Rainfall is extremely erratic with only some 350 mm falling in summer, and temperatures vary between -8° C and 40°C with an average of 19°C (Low & Rebelo 1998). The surrounding landscape is classified as Kalahari Thornveld 16 (Acocks 1988) or Shrubby Kalahari Dune Bushveld and is comprised of undulating linear dunes with calcrete pans of varying sizes scattered throughout the region. Temperatures vary between 10°C and 45°C with an average of 20°C. Rainfall figures are provided as some 200 mm falling between November and April, with a peak in precipitation reached during March. (Low & Rebelo 1998).
2
The physical space “… you must please go and cut the rain at the great waterpits which are on the mountain … I will really ride up the mountain on top of which I always cut the rain. It is high, so the rain’s blood flows down, for the Flat Bushmen live on the plains…” //Kabbo, Mowbray, 1872.
Figure 1.2. The Klipbak hill as viewed from the west.
The name Klipbak, which in English translates as rock- or stone-bowl, undoubtedly derives from the presence of two naturally formed cisterns or rock pools atop the hill. The fence-line, which formerly demarcated the boundary between the Klipbak and Helderberg farms and of which some remnants are still visible, intersect the hillock and passes within meters of the actual klip-bak. The hill has two rock art sites which are situated some 130 meters apart. These have been allocated the numbers I and II. Site I comprise the focal point of this thesis and encompass the lower engraved location at which there is a fairly voluminous cistern beside which there are engraved cupules, circular designs, and also several depictions of humans and animals. The animal depictions are comprised of giraffe and also depictions of what appears to be eland antelope. The human figures are isolated from the main concentration of engravings at the site and are depicted in upright posture. One figure appears to be holding an elongated or staff-like object, and both are depicted as somewhat distorted.
3
Site II denotes the upper location at which a much less substantial cistern and a limited amount of engraved circles and cupules are present. In consequence Klipbak II is not discussed in immense detail save for a brief synopsis provided in the Appendix. Klipbak, Helderberg and the adjacent farms are sited on the 1:50 000 Topographical Map Series, map 2722 BA Floradora. A customized version of this map is presented below to indicate the physical relationship between and the exact positions of the two sites.
Figure 1.3. The positioning of the Klipbak engraved sites atop the hill.
The hill projects vertically some 120 meters above the valley floor to an elevation of 1307 metres, with the two sites situated some 60 metres above the valley. The easiest route to ascend the hill is via a small rocky ravine on the western face.
4
Although relatively low-lying, the prominent character of the hill in the flat and featureless landscape of the south-eastern Kalahari ensures exceptional views from its summit. The 360° vista provides a powerful sense of being suspended between heaven and earth. Many well-known engraved sites such as Wildebeestkuil, Stowlands, and Kinderdam are located on low-lying hills or rocky outcrops which present excellent 360° vista views of the surrounding environment. Other engraved sites such as Driekopseiland and Steenkamp are located in close association with water and occur for instance in riverbeds or small ravines (Morris 2001; Taçon & Ouzman 2004). The Klipbak I engraved site, although situated atop a prominent hill, does not however present such an expansive panoramic view of the surrounding environ. The site is located in a small elliptical basin which is bordered on the northern, eastern, and western edges by low-lying and visually obtrusive rocky ridges. The only noteworthy view is that gained from looking towards the southern edge of the basin and which provides a glimpse of the remainder of the Korannaberg range to the south (figure 1.4 below).
Figure 1.4. The view towards the south from Klipbak I.
There are in addition two small seasonal pools atop the hill which fill with rainwater during the summer months. The pool at the lower site is more substantial in depth and quantity than the one towards the summit and holds a more generous amount of water and for a longer period of time. 5
Because of rapid rates of evaporation their subsistence utility is rather limited, but the presence of engraved hollows along their edges may suggest that a different type of significance is attached to these pools. There are also two boulders which show extensive damage and appear as if they have been beaten considerably. One of these is positioned on a hard and even rocky surface below the water source while the other rests on top of larger boulders above the pool. The larger boulder is also covered in abstract and circular engraved forms not reminiscent of any particular identifiable images. Because of the situation of Klipbak in a protected natural area, large animals such as eland, mountain zebra, and also lion habitually venture onto the hill in search of food or water. Upon the initial discovery of this site there already existed a footpath which wound its way up along the side of the ravine. This path was in all probability created by the small groups of mountain zebra and also eland that frequent the hill. In addition, the site is also visited on a regular basis by field-guides and guests who stay in the luxurious lodgings offered by the game reserve. The vegetation atop the hill differs substantially from that of the surrounding Kalahari landscape. In contrast to the poorer quality quartzitic red sands of the dunes below, the presence of clay-rich sediments atop the hills encourages the growth of an extensive range of fragrant plant species. Wild camphor and Lavender croton are but two of the exceptionally aromatic species which grows atop these hills. From the summit one is presented with a breathtaking view of the surrounding landscape which is comprised of undulating red sand dunes and jagged hills on the horizon. The archaeology of Klipbak provides ample evidence for human activity at the site and also for the extensive nature of human occupation of the site which spans countless millennia. In 2001 a number of test excavations were carried out by Peter Beaumont and the author. These have yielded large amounts of lithic remains indicative of human occupation during the Early Stone Age, the Middle Stone Age, and the Later Stone Age. Surface finds such as ceramic remains and a glass bead furthermore suggests that the cultural group who utilised Klipbak also interacted with other groups in the region.
6
In order to accomplish an improved understanding of the exact nature of the development of Klipbak into a place of enhanced spirituality it is necessary to take into consideration the histories of the various indigenous cultural groups who are known to have inhabited the region. There are a number of sources of information which can be consulted and which would accordingly enlighten our understanding of the social, cultural, and artistic orientation and significance of the Klipbak engraved site. In Chapter Two, and through an examination of the historical milieu in which Klipbak is situated, we will endeavour to discover the identity of the artists responsible for the creation of the engraved art at Klipbak.
7
Chapter2 HISTORICAL BACKGROUND Regional social complexity The objective of this chapter is to provide an overview of the relevant social and cultural contexts within which the Klipbak rock art site was created and in which it functioned. There are several sources of information which help us to better understand how Klipbak fits into the archaeological and cultural history of the region. The Northern Cape possesses a diverse history of human settlement, and in order to determine the authorship of the engraved art at Klipbak it is necessary to perform a comprehensive analysis of the historical composition of the cultural groups within the region. The rock art of southern Africa reflects our changing cultural traditions and is therefore regionally and temporally variable in nature. Depictions were produced either through the application of paint of variable colours and substances to a rock surface, or by means of engraving depictions into a rock surface. There exists a marked variation in the distribution of rock art traditions and in the techniques employed in the production of rock art in the region. Apart from several San paintings at Wonderwerk Cave and some non-representational and probably Khoe or Bantu-speaking agriculturalist finger-paintings at Andriesfontein, Meidekop, and Toto in the Langeberg, there are few recorded cases of paintings in the region (Fock 1969a; Morris 1988). Engraved imagery is more common and is attributed to the artistic traditions of Bantu-speaking agro-pastoralists (Maggs 1995; Deacon & Deacon 1999), Khoe herders (Beaumont & Vogel 1989; Smith & Ouzman 2004), and also San huntergatherer groups (Morris 1988; Beaumont & Vogel 1989; Butzer et al. 1979; Dowson 1992; Maggs 1995; Deacon & Deacon 1999). Genetic and linguistic studies have shown that the various hunter-gatherer language groups, collectively referred to as the San, are the oldest known inhabitants of the region. Their early history is closely connected to the Later Stone Age which stretches back some 20 000 years (Deacon & Deacon 1999) and for which extensive archaeological evidence exists in the Northern Cape region (Humphreys & Thackeray 1983).
8
The identities of individual hunter-gatherer groups are linked directly to the languages and linguistic dialects they spoke and, as the distributions of these language groups are well known, insight into the identities of the former inhabitants of the region may be gained. The Klipbak rock art site is situated between the regions encompassing the Nharo, the northern !Kung and the southern /Xam San ethnographic linguistic groups. To the north of Klipbak the most prominent language groups include that of !Xu, Ju/’hoa or !Kung, !Kõ , and ≠Khomani (Heinz & MacGuire 1967; Deacon & Deacon 1999). To the south of Klipbak the /Xam language group was the most prominent (Deacon & Deacon 1999). The central region towards the west was inhabited by the Nharo, a Khoe-speaking hunter-gatherer group (Guenther 1986; 1999). The immediate region appears to have been inhabited by N/hu language speakers, and some modern-day informants in addition claim to be of N/amani and ≠Khomani descent (Steyn 1984). Maria Willman and Dorethea Bleek noted the presence of an additional language group in the region, the //N-!kè who at that time was found to live and work on European farms in the Langeberg just to the south of Klipbak. It appears that the //N-!kè language was similar to and presumably very closely related to the /Xam language spoken by the San groups towards the south (Willman 1933). Even though diverse dialects were spoken by different San groups, there exists a substantial degree of linguistic uniformity amongst the San (Bleek & Lloyd 1968; Deacon 1986). Given the dialectical diversity of the /Xam groups interviewed by Bleek and Lloyd the tremendous degree of uniformity in beliefs and cosmology is truly remarkable. The /Xam San informants of Wilhelm Bleek and Lucy Lloyd were comprised of Flat Bushmen who inhabited the plains or flats, and Grass Bushmen who occupied the Katkop Mountains to the west. Both groups were also familiar with the Mountain Bushmen in the south and the Hardast Bushmen who lived between the Grass and Flat Bushmen (Deacon 1986). The landscape surrounding Klipbak exhibits a similar degree of topographic and also social complexity. It is consequently conceivable that resident Korannaberg groups strongly associated with and were, in similar fashion to the /Xam groups of the Upper Karoo, known for and named after the prominent geographical features characteristic of the regions in which they lived. There may well have been a linguistic and territorial distinction between ‘Flat Bushmen’ and ‘Mountain Bushmen’ in the region.
9
San rock art is characterised by the principally naturalistic depictions of human and animals. San religion was comprised of institutionalised altered states of consciousness and much of the art serve to symbolize aspects of San shamanism (Lewis-Williams 1995). The rock art of the San is therefore primarily shamanistic in nature and reflects strongly on the religious beliefs and cosmological views of the San (Lewis-Williams & Dowson 1990; Dowson 1992; Lewis-Williams 1995). Enough is known about the social and religious contexts within which the art was produced to enable researchers to draw inferences from specific images and categories of images as visible in the art (Lewis-Williams 2002). Much of the more recently produced San art in addition includes depictions of Khoe herders, Bantu-speaking farmers, and also European settlers. Approximately 2000 years ago, Khoe pastoralist groups such as the Einiqua, Damara, and the Great Namaqua entered the region and in the process introduced livestock-herding as a viable economic activity (Inskeep 1978; Barnard 1992; Deacon & Deacon 1999; Coulson & Campbell 2001; Sadr & Plug 2001). It is believed that before the acquisition of livestock, the Khoe way of life was for the most part comparable to that of the San, and accordingly the two groups shared many linguistic and cultural features (Schapera 1930; Elphick 1985; Barnard 1992 but see Schrire 1984, Smith et al. 1991; Sadr 1998 and others for contrasting views). Interaction between the two groups took place either in the form of conflict resulting from competition over food and water and resources related to hunting and access to good pastures, or as assimilation through intermarriage and the acquisition of wealth in the form of livestock. These pastoral people lived in larger groups and had more advanced weaponry, and as a result they could exert control over more favourable resources. Many San often served these newcomers through herding their stock, hunting, and also through the performance of ritual acts such as rain-making and curing (Hewitt 1986; Barnard 1992; Boonzaier et al. 1996). The rock art produced by the Khoe pastoralists differs from San art both in content and in technique. Herder art does not occur as prolifically as does San art and is composed primarily of geometric designs, finger dots, and handprints. The depictions of humans and animals so characteristic of San art are virtually absent in the art of the Khoe (Smith & Ouzman 2004). The engraved art of the Khoe is technically and typologically different from the fine-pecked San entoptic imagery (Smith & Ouzman 2004). There is no imagery representative of this tradition present at Klipbak.
10
Despite the fact that Bantu-speaking agriculturalists entered the northern parts of South Africa some 1800 years ago, it was not until much later that groups of San and Khoe in the Northern Cape came into contact with these people (Inskeep 1978; Hall 1987). During the period after AD 1000 increasing numbers of agro-pastoralists filtered into the region and came into contact with the local inhabitants. Contact with the newcomers provided the San and Khoe with additional means of subsistence and income as the Bantu-speakers readily made use of services such as the hunting skills and ritual expertise provided by the San and Khoe. Interaction was for the most part mutually beneficial and integration and assimilation was widespread (Inskeep 1978; Hall 1987; Thorpe 1996; Hammond-Tooke 1999). The Bantu-speaker artistic tradition is mainly restricted to the eastern parts of South Africa and comparatively less common in occurrence than the art produced by the San and Khoe (Maggs 1995; Deacon & Deacon 1999; Smith & Blundell 2004). While Bantu-speakers are known to have engraved depictions of settlement layouts, weaponry, human figures, and also stylised depictions of cattle and crocodiles, most of the art is in fact painted (Fock & Fock 1984; Maggs 1995; Ouzman 1995; Deacon & Deacon 1999). The rock art at Klipbak does not include any imagery representative of this artistic tradition. The Koranna as they are known historically were comprised of an amalgamation of San, Khoe, and Bantu-speaking peoples (Willman 1933). They initially settled along the Gariep River between the towns of Prieska and Upington in 1778 (Strauss 1979) but only attracted attention towards the end of the eighteenth century as they came into conflict with advancing Bantu-speakers and later with the Griquas. The majority of the historical accounts relating to the Koranna do not provide a sympathetic portrayal of these people. It has only recently been recognised that the Koranna also produced a certain amount of the rock art in the region, and research into the distribution and characteristics of this tradition is presently underway. This military-magical tradition appears to be comprised primarily of geometric depictions and also more recent and predominantly militaristically-oriented portrayals of horses and scenes related to colonial contact and conflict (Smith & Ouzman 2004; Ouzman in press). There are a number of engraved sites in the region which may contain Koranna art, but no such depictions have been identified at Klipbak.
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An additional artistic tradition which occurs in the region but which is not present at Klipbak is the engraved and painted imagery produced by early European travellers and explorers. These are easily recognisable and are comprised primarily of inscriptions which include mostly European names and also dates (Fock 1969; Morris 1988; Deacon & Deacon 1999; Smith & Ouzman 2004). By the conclusion of the 17th century the social complexity in the region had increased to a level never experienced before. The Rolong, who engaged in trade with the local San, Khoe and other Bantu-speaking groups had become the most powerful Tswana-speaking group in the region (Hall 1987; Hammond-Tooke 1993). By the middle of the 18th century the Tlhaping, with the aid of several San and Koranna groups, managed to expel the Rolong from their area of influence. Intermarriage between the Tswana-speaking chiefs and Koranna women was common and this aided the establishment of a powerful military and trade alliance (Hall 1987; Hammond-Tooke 1993). By the end of the 18th century the Tlhaping had developed into a prosperous chiefdom. Accounts by early European travellers attest to the magnificent Tlhaping capital which hosted some 20 000 inhabitants and which was established at Dithakong (Humphreys & Thackeray 1983; Hall 1987). The relatively stable and amiable social interplay which existed between hunter-gatherers and herders increased greatly in complexity with the arrival of hierarchically-structured and sedentary Bantuspeaking communities. Conflict between existing groups and the influx of European settlers further intensified the state of instability in the region during the late 19th century. The warlike habits of the Koranna and some newly militarised San groups led to frequent and violent clashes with European settlers. Resistance was brutally suppressed and met with severe retaliation raids by colonial forces and local European farmers. In many instances the colonials reacted by slaughtering masses of San and Koranna men, women, and also children. During the period after 1850 the extermination of the San in the Upper Karoo reached new heights and reports of fierce clashes continued to increase (Hewitt 1986). These calamitous events finally culminated in the Koranna War of 1868 to 1869 which led to the establishment of the northern border police by the British colonial authority (Deacon 1986). Subsequent relations between the Koranna and increasing numbers of European settlers did not improve and clashes between Anglo-Boer and Koranna and San forces increased in both incidence and in brutality.
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The rock art of the region is assumed to correspond to and mirror the climate of intense multi-cultural interaction and unremitting social pressure which prevailed during this period. The San engraving tradition is presumed to have declined in occurrence because of pressures resulting from the influx of increasing numbers of Bantu-speaking and European farmers into the region. The ensuing situation of political instability and militancy in turn presented the tumultuous setting which fostered the conception of the military-magical art of the Koranna, a people who found themselves in a state of constant struggle against colonial forces. The precise means by which the Khoe and Bantu-speaking artistic traditions came to a conclusion is uncertain, but there are some indications that these were absorbed in an amalgam of various forms of remonstrative rock arts. There is no evidence for the existence of imagery related to these integrated and rather defiant artistic forms at Klipbak. From a visual and conceptual perspective the engraved art at Klipbak appears to be consistent with what is generally referred to as San rock art. The weathered nature of the especially resilient quartzites into which the imagery is engraved is indicative of their old age, and the subject matter of the art is comprised of elements more characteristic of San art than the more recent herder and agro-pastoralist artistic traditions (Lewis-Williams & Dowson 1988; Ouzman 1995; Smith & Ouzman 2004). A final observation is that the harsh interior regions which were occupied by ethnographically and historically known San groups essentially overlie the core rock engraving region of southern Africa (Ouzman 2001). The parallels that exist between the spatial concurrence of San groups who were known to have engraved (Butzer et al. 1979; Deacon 1986, 1988) and the region in which the majority of rock art is comprised of rock engravings (Ouzman 2001) lends support to the notion that the bulk of the engraved art in this region was in fact produced by the San. The authorship of the engraved imagery at Klipbak can thus be assigned with confidence to the linguistically ancient San hunter-gatherer peoples who have lived in the region for millennia. It is therefore to the San belief system that we must turn to if we wish to understand the rock art of Klipbak. This and the subsequent discovery of the meaning of the art is what the focal point of Chapter Three is comprised of. Having recognised that the rock art of Klipbak was manufactured by San hunter-gatherers I will now consider Klipbak within the broader context of San rock art in southern Africa.
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Rock engravings or petroglyphs are located principally on the semi-arid and central plateau, with primary concentrations of engravings occurring in the Gariep-Vaal basin, the Karoo, and in Namibia. The region surrounding Kimberley and also the Magaliesberg area are well known for their abundant engraved sites. Numerous additional sites have also been recorded from the upper Vaal and Limpopo basins as well as from the eastern Free State (Wilman 1933; Morris 1988; Lewis-Williams 2000). Engravings may be positioned on both horizontal and vertical rock surfaces and tends to occur in the open on either large boulders, flat or glaciated rocky pavements, or within shelters or semi-sheltered sites atop low-lying hills or rocky outcrops (Dowson 1992). Engraved depictions seldom present the large scale and complexity characteristic of paintings and it is often difficult to discern relationships between different images (Taçon & Ouzman 2004). At several sites engravings and paintings occur in close proximity and there are some recorded cases in which engravings were also painted (Wilman 1933; Morris 1988; Walker 1998). Whilst some degree of overlap between the primary engraved and painted regions do occur, the two techniques are generally separated spatially and no exact geological or topographical correlations exist (Morris 1988). According to Carl Butzer and Gerhard Fock (Butzer et al. 1979) the discontinuous patterning of engraved sites is comparable to the extent of the Tertiary Kalahari System. This system comprise a large area of principally surficial sands with few rocky outcrops of which most are predominantly unsuitable for the production and placement of rock art. While substantial areas within the more optimal dolerite and andesite engraving-zones are practically devoid of any engraved sites, large portions of the more peripheral and seemingly unsuitable zones, for instance the Korannaberg and Langeberg ranges, abound with extensive engraved sites. Engraved art may be produced by means of three techniques of manufacture, namely pecking, incision, and scraping. The engraved art at Klipbak is comprised entirely of pecked engravings. This is a large and variable group of intermediate age (Deacon 1988; Beaumont & Vogel 1989) and in which images were produced percussively with a pointed stone tool. Emil Holub had described an assortment of large and small stone tools which were used in the production of these pitted or pecked images (Wilman 1933). Vertical percussion would produce dots of variable sizes and depths, and slanted strokes would produce dashes of varying extent and concentration (Fock & Fock 1984; Morris 1988).
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The percussive marks range in size from the coarse and irregular hacked engravings where the holes exceed 10 mm in size, to the much more controlled and so finer peckings of the socalled classical engravings which are characterised by their presentation of the engraved figure in three-dimensional form (Fock 1979; Butzer et al. 1979; Morris 1988). The imagery at Klipbak appears to be comprised of both coarser and finer pecked engravings. These pecked engravings were furthermore either produced in outline (profile), in silhouette (fully pecked), or, as in the case of the imagery at Klipbak, in a combination of both techniques (Butzer et al. 1979; Fock 1979; Beaumont & Vogel 1985). Although no comparable demonstrations were ever obtained of how engravings were created the images themselves provide sufficient information on how they were produced (Lewis-Williams & Dowson 1990). The second technique, namely incised engravings, are believed to precede both pecked and scraped engravings (Deacon 1988; Beaumont & Vogel 1989), and incorporates the categories of fineline or hair-line engravings which are produced through cutting into the darker patina with a sharp pointed stone (Butzer et al. 1979; Lewis-Williams 2000). The third and most recent technique employed in engraving entails the removal of the patina through scraping it away with a sharp-edged stone (Deacon 1988; Beaumont & Vogel 1989). A fine and sharp stone is used to scrape a number of very closely positioned lines to form whichever figure the artist desired to create. This method is to some extent related to hairline engravings, but is distinguished from these by the fact that human, animal, and geometric motifs are not merely outlined but entirely scraped and that they tend to be much less patinated than the hairline engravings (Deacon 1986; Morris 1988). The process of scraping allows for variable degrees of penetration into the outer patina which in turn results in the production of shaded or polychrome-like engravings (Fock 1969). There are three primary categories of subject matter or thematic groups which are depicted in engraved art. These categories are all, to variable degrees, represented by the engraved imagery at Klipbak. The first category is that of animal depictions, which includes mostly larger mammals such as eland, rhinoceros, and giraffe, ostrich, and to a lesser extent also fish, reptiles, birds, and other invertebrates. According to Wilman (1933) there are three basic means by which animals could be depicted in engravings; as a simple outline picture, as a filled-in silhouette, or as a relatively naturalistic portrait. The animal figures at Klipbak are comprised exclusively of giraffe and eland, both species of which are in this case depicted in finely-or coarsely-pecked combinations of outline and filled-in silhouette. 15
The second category is that of human depictions. Human figures may be depicted singly or in groups or in association of animal figures, with males occurring most frequently. In the Northern Cape and in the Karoo the distribution of human footprints and animal spoor motifs is limited to a few sites south of the Gariep River and a few in the Vryburg-Kuruman district (Morris 1988). As opposed to their presence and virtual dominance in paintings, humans occur much less frequently in engravings in both South Africa and in Namibia (Wilman 1933; Fock 1979; Morris 1988; Steel 1988). Human figures also hardly ever occur at sites with less than twenty-five engravings (Morris 1988), and are especially poorly represented at sites with abundant geometric depictions (Fock 1979). Equipment such as clothing and ornaments are occasionally portrayed. The two pecked human figures at Klipbak are depicted in upright postures that may possibly relate to the performance of trance dances or rain-making rituals. This notion is further explored in Chapters Four and Five. The third category of images depicted in rock art is that of geometric designs. Gerard Fock (1979) refers to this group as a mixed class of geometric forms and inanimate objects which includes a wide range of essentially non-representational shapes such as circles of which some are connected to form groups and some forming concentric rings, ovals which may be crosshatched with vertical or horizontal lines, asterisks, stars, zigzag lines, wavy lines, rectangles, spirals and so forth. The occurrence of numerous circular designs at Klipbak, many of which are connected or grouped together, is related to this category rock engravings. Recent research however suggests that these geometric depictions were in all probability produced by Khoe pastoralists (Smith & Ouzman 2004). This tradition is comprised of a large number of geometric forms, which although irregular, appears to possess some tangible and symbolic qualities so as to essentially represent material cultural objects such as tasselled food bags, pegged animal skins, karosses, leather aprons, or game traps. Although these have not been observed at Klipbak, the presence of such culturally identifiable items are known from at least two additional engraved sites within the region, namely Diepdruppel and Klapin. In similar fashion to the observable variability in the occurrence of artistic traditions, the placement of engraved art within the natural landscape, and the subject matter depicted, there is also much variability in the regional distribution of the techniques of manufacture and of the arrangement of subject matter within engraved sites.
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Artistic technological and compositional variability Although the variable distribution in technique and content of San rock engravings in the region is especially noticeable it is unclear what the precise implications of such variability may be (Butzer et al. 1979; Morris 1988; Beaumont & Vogel 1989). While incised fine-line engravings occur both to the north and south of the Gariep River, they tend to be concentrated at large engraved sites such as Jagt Pan and Groot Kolk in the Karoo, but rare in the Vryburg-Kalahari region. (Fock & Fock 1984; Morris 1988). Scraped engravings are rather limited in their distribution and appear to be largely confined to the Upper Karoo region with no recorded presence north of the Gariep (Fock 1974; Fock 1979). Conversely, pecked engravings are found predominantly to the north of the Gariep, including the Korannaberg and Langeberg mountains, and are rare towards the south where the scraped technique occur ubiquitously (Morris 1988; Beaumont & Vogel 1989). Such a north-south model may appear to overly simplify a complex picture, but the Gariep does seem to have formed an approximate northward limit of occupation and therefore engraving activity during the time in which most scraped engravings were produced. This notion is supported by both climatic data and a markedly limited degree of archaeological visibility in the northern regions for this period (Beaumont & Vogel 1989). A similar degree of variability in distribution is visible within engraved sites. At Kinderdam there are clear disjunctions in the distribution of humans and geometric motifs relative to animal motifs, and at Klipfontein it is obvious that human figures are clustered together (Fock & Fock 1984; Morris 1988). At Driekopseiland and at Schanskop animal motifs tend to occur on elevated surfaces in relation to the large concentrations of geometrics which are to be found along the active riverbed below (Morris 1988). The intra-site positioning of the imagery at Klipbak emerges to display a comparable degree of clustering. Geometric designs are generally grouped together and around the water sources, animal depictions are either isolated or associated with each other but not with geometric depictions, and the two human figures are completely detached from the rest of the engraved imagery at the site.
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There is also much variability in the content of incised, scraped, and pecked engravings. Incised engravings contain primarily human depictions and animal figures. Mythical creatures and depictions of trance-related activities such as nose- and mouth- bleeding and dying animals are absent. Scraped engravings include numerous depictions of elephants, some humans, and few eland. Whereas depictions of entoptic forms and domesticated animals occur frequently in pecked engravings, they are nearly entirely absent in scraped engravings. Eland predominate in pecked engravings and human figures are not uncommon (Butzer et al. 1979; Morris 1988; Beaumont & Vogel 1989). The imagery at Klipbak fully corresponds with this observation. The rock art genres of the region are reflective of the diverse yet interactive socio-cultural systems of the hunter-gatherer, herder, and agro-pastoralist communities who inhabited the region. With regards San engraved art in particular, it is likely that the observable systematic and temporal variation of the engravings mirrors both processual change and identityconscious groups within the regional San cultural structure (Butzer et al. 1979). The engraved art was not simply conjured up and created purely for secular and superficial reasons. As the art is intimately linked to and representative of San shamanic practice and religious beliefs it is important to take into account the procedures involved in the actual production of engraved images and the subsequent consumption and utilisation of places which have been spiritually enhanced through the calculated and intentional placement of engraved imagery. The production and consumption of engraved imagery It is of tremendous interpretive importance to consider the processes involved in the production of engraved imagery. It is known that San rock art is essentially associated with a range of shamanic beliefs and rituals and that that the imagery comprises symbols of supernatural potency, images from trance dances and processed visions of trance experiences, transformed shamans, and also beings encountered in the spirit world (Lewis-Williams 1998). According to the shamanistic explanation shamanic beliefs and activities constitute the focal point in the search for meaning within the art and also for the interpretation of engraved art.
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David Lewis-Williams (1995) constructed a model that effectively isolates and defines the progressive steps involved in the creation of rock art imagery. Although intended for and applied specifically to paintings, this model may, with slight adaptation, also be applied to rock engravings (Lewis-Williams 1995). The four successive steps involved in the creation of an engraved image on the rock surface may be expressed as; (1) acquiring an image or motif for depiction; (2) selecting a rock surface of appropriate size and location and which display requisite natural features; (3) the act of engraving an image onto and into the selected rock surface; (4) and the subsequent use of the engraved imagery through its significant spiritual nature and the supernatural qualities attached to it. There are a number of contexts from which San shamans could attain insights into the spirit world. These include the trance dance (the principal San shamanic ritual act), special and smaller scale curing rituals (during which an individual who is deemed particularly ill is cured), through the viewing of other engraved rock art imagery (which almost certainly formed part of the recursive relationship between seeing specific engraved images and then experiencing these during trance), through dreams (during which shamans experienced out-of-body journeys to faraway and supernatural places), and perhaps also through the visual experiences provided by mirages and mirage-derived mythology (Bleek & Lloyd 1911; Bleek 1933, 1935, 1936; Lewis-Williams 1981; Dowson 1992; Maggs 1995; Ouzman 1996; Lewis-Williams 1998; Lewis-Williams & Dowson 2000; Tributsch 2000; Lewis-Williams 2002; Lewis-Williams & Pearce 2004a). Because the rock surface was regarded as a permeable entity that separated this and the spirit world, the selection of a suitable rock surface on which to place an image was of immense implication. The selection must have however depended on a number of variables governed by individual preference and by the nature of the source from which the image was derived. The engraver was confronted with questions such as; at which location or in which space (a known, significant, and frequented place, or an unknown place) the image was to be placed; was the image to be placed in close proximity to other engraved images (close association) or did it require a certain amount of open space (no association, large size, or emblematical superiority) around it; was it necessary that the rock surface exhibited natural features such as cracks, crevices, convex bulges, or amygdalous cavities which could be incorporated into and thus enhance the meaning of the image; and which method of manufacture (incision, pecking in either outline or silhouette, or scarping) was to be employed in the production of the image. 19
Engraving entails the removal of the dark outer patina of the rock and the replacement thereof with an engraved image which exists in the ambiguous space between worlds and which consequently becomes a supernatural and powerful entity representative of the spirit world from which it came and which it inhabits (Ouzman 2001). It is unlikely that engravers, in similar fashion to painters, engraved while in deep trance as they would tremble excessively and in consequence lack the motor-skills required to accurately peck away the patina (LewisWilliams & Pearce 2004a). Engraving necessitated the recollection of transient glimpses of the spirit world prior to the recreation of such visions, and was in essence a process of fixing supernatural and powerful visualizations to the rock for all to see. Accordingly, the act of engraving may have been deemed as hazardous as travelling to the spirit world from whence these visions were derived, and it is thus conceivable that this task of materialising visions was accompanied by intense preparation and perhaps also by special ritual acts (Lewis-Williams 1995). On the contrary, the act of engraving, which is typified by rhythmic percussive actions and the production of repetitive sound, may have formed an integral part of the progression involved in crossing into an altered state of consciousness. Repetitive percussive sound is known to induce heightened states of reality and feelings of general euphoria and corporal disassociation (Needham 1967; Ouzman 2001). The imagery at Klipbak appears to indicate that both the cognisant and the insentient forms of engraving may have been employed here. Whereas some of the engraved animal figures display a coarse and hacked pattern of percussion which may signify an insentient or trance-like manner of production, other animal figures and the human figures in particular display a finer and more conscious and calculated pattern of percussion. The consignment of human and animal figures to one of the above categories is somewhat problematic, but the notion that percussive action was a foremost motivating factor in the production of, for example cupules, is more credible. The enduring quality of engravings and their placement at specific locations suggests that the choice of locality was in itself a purposeful and significant act (Deacon 1988). In addition, once completed the engraved images would have continued to perform significant social and spiritual functions (Morris 1988; Lewis-Williams 1995; Ouzman 1995). Engraved images functioned as important visual cues to the significance of such places and they facilitated the acquisition of supernatural potency through tactile contact. Although the roles played by engraved places such as Klipbak certainly varied according to specific social circumstances, there is no question that they remained to be regarded as spiritually powerful spaces. 20
While rock art researchers are entirely aware of the spatial and positional significance of engraved images the explicit implications thereof is not always apparent. Researchers are not at all times able to perform research according to the exact notions of spatial and temporal arrangement as envisaged by the artists, and for this reason the analysis of rock art is accompanied by the artificial subdivision of rock art sites into panels or clusters of seemingly associated images or sets of images. The assumption that such associations indeed exist between the imagery is based primarily on our Western concept of what art is and that San artists pursued a similar approach in their composition and viewing of rock art and the places at which it occur. There is, in truth, no means of determining or knowing whether the San concepts of composition and viewing was in any way similar to our own views (LewisWilliams 1998). It seems likely that the areas of rock not engraved were viewed as just as important as those areas on which engravings were made (Lewis-Williams & Dowson 1990; Taçon & Ouzman 2004), and that the apparently empty spaces created by these stretches of bare rock in no way suggests a lack of conceptual or spiritual relationships between engraved images (Lewis-Williams & Pearce 2004a). For the benefit of uncomplicated documentation and discussion Klipbak I was divided into clusters (areas of concentrated images which are separated by other similar areas by blank or non-engraved spaces), and elements (single images or small groupings of images recognised as individually perceptible although forming part of the larger cluster). In the chapter that follows the engraved art is discussed and interpreted as per the ethnographic collections which are based primarily on the historically-known northern !Kung and the southern /Xam San linguistic groups. In addition, the occurrence of a number of remarkable phenomena related to the geological, environmental, and acoustic character of Klipbak is considered in relation to the engraved imagery and the greater spiritual significance of this place. The presence of these natural and environmental elements at this site is truly remarkable and cannot be ignored or excluded from any discussion on the significance of Klipbak as an engraved rock art site.
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Chapter3 MEANING The interpretation of engraved imagery At the present there exists no interpretation for the engraved art at Klipbak and of the social and religious contexts within which it is situated. The ethnographies of the /Xam, the !Kung, and also the Nharo have provided a basis for the interpretation and understanding of rock art and rock art sites across southern Africa. The application of ethnographic evidence to the engraved art at Klipbak may help us to acquire some idea of the social relevance and the spiritual significance of the art and of this place. The interpretation of rock art has developed and changed considerably since the first attempts at discovering meaning of the art was made more than two centuries ago. Initial interpretations emerged during the early Colonial Period when Europeans first encountered the San and their rock art (Lewis-Williams 1984; Deacon & Dowson 1996; Lewis-Williams & Dowson 1999). The people and their art were viewed as primitive and crude. Much of the art was subsequently ascribed to more advanced near Eastern civilisations such as the Phoenicians and the Sabaeans (Breuil 1955; Lewis-Williams & Dowson 1999). These people were presumed to have had visited southern Africa before San or Bantu-speakers inhabited the region. Such exotic explanations suited the nature of colonial expansion and were used to justify the occupation of South Africa by colonial powers (Deacon & Dowson 1996; Deacon & Dowson 1996). In the early 1980s it became clear that two primary opposing positions towards the meaning of rock art had emerged (Lewis-Williams 1984). The first became popular during the 1950s and argued that there was no meaning behind the art and that it was made purely for enjoyment. Art was thus made for arts sake alone and the engraved and painted imagery was nothing more that pretty pictures. The second view was that the art was associated with the attempts of hunter-gatherer groups to exert some form of control over the surrounding environment through the appeasement of supernatural forces and through the depiction of their prey in rock art (Lewis-Williams 1984; Lewis-Williams & Dowson 1999).
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Rock art was, in addition, analysed by means of quantitative studies in which the art was enthusiastically classified according to a number of visually observable variables. Such quantitative analyses could not however shed any light on the meaning of the art, and were subsequently abandoned (Vinnicombe 1967; Lewis-Williams 1984; Lewis-Williams & Dowson 1999; Blundell 2004). By the late 1960s and early 1970s researchers realised that rock art research would not progress unless some insight into the religious beliefs and life-way of the artists could be gained. Consequently, many researchers turned to the ethnographies collected by Thomas Arbousset and Francois Daumas (1846), Joseph Orpen (1874), Wilhelm H. I. Bleek and Lucy Lloyd (1870s), and the twentieth-century ethnographic material gathered by Richard Lee (1968), Lorna Marshall (1969), Megan Biesele (1978), and Richard Katz (1982) from the Kalahari desert (Lewis-Williams 1998, 2002). The Bleek and Lloyd collection (e.g. Bleek & Lloyd 1911; Bleek 1933, 1935, 1936) and the Kalahari material comprise the principal corpus of San ethnography. It was realised that there was a striking degree of consistency between the twentieth-century Kalahari San ethnographies and the ethno-historical records from the 1870s. The correspondence between the different ethnographies and the ethnographies and the art revealed the existence of traditions and beliefs that were ‘pan-San’ (Lewis-Williams 1998, 2002). The making of rock art is accordingly believed to have been strongly associated with a range of San shamanistic beliefs, rituals, and experiences. The painted and engraved images are reminiscent of and capture the shamanic experiences of San ritual specialists and comprise symbols and metaphors of potency and images of the spirit world experience (Lewis-Williams 1998). Although the shamanistic explanation proposes a focus on the links between the art and diverse shamanistic activities and beliefs, and while it is in part irrefutable, it does not deny the possibility of other potential meanings (Lewis-Williams 1998). The use of San ethnographic texts in interpreting rock art is an inevitable cornerstone of southern African rock art research (Vinnicombe 1976; Lewis-Williams 1981; Dowson 1992; Ouzman 1996; Lewis-Williams & Dowson 2000; Lewis-Williams 2002). The northern San ethnographies have significant relevance to the rock engravings of the Northern Cape and may be employed in order to attain insight into the meaning of the engraved art at Klipbak.
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The majority of the ethnographically known San were in fact familiar only with rock engravings (Dowson 1992; Ouzman 2001). My interpretations of the art at Klipbak are based primarily on the extensive ethnographic accounts of the northern !Kung or Ju/’hoan and the southern /Xam San groups. The recent ethnographies of the Nharo who inhabited the region to the north and west of Klipbak are also of excellent interpretative value. The geographic location of Klipbak, sandwiched between the regions formerly inhabited by these groups, adds tremendous validity to the use of their beliefs to interpret the art. Context and polysemy The interpretation of engraved imagery is dependant on a clear understanding of the contexts in which the images were made. San painted and engraved images have many meanings which are intertwined and embedded in a complex matrix of social activities and religious beliefs (Lewis-Williams 1998). The term polysemy denotes the possession of many meanings and may be applied to things with multiple associations and implications (Lewis-Williams 1999). The eland is a prime example of a polysemic symbol which, as a central or key symbol, is situated at the heart of the San belief system. The eland is associated with a number of central rituals and practices (Marshall 1969; Vinnicombe 1976; Biesele 1993; Lewis-Williams 1995; Solomon 1997; Lewis-Williams 1998; Lewis-Williams & Pearce 2004a) and depictions of eland are therefore able to communicate wide-ranging as well as specific meanings. The specific context of such a key symbol determines which one of its many associations is highlighted, and in the rock art the association between images, the context in which it occurs, is what determines which element of its wide-ranging spectrum is emphasized (Lewis-Williams 1998). For example, a cross on a road sign evokes a crossroads ahead, but when worn on a chain around a person’s neck it is more likely to represent the cross of Christ. All engraved images are shamanistic as they form part of San shamanistic cosmology; they are polysemic. Conversely, not all images are shamanic in that they are directly associated with shamanic activities and experiences, in which case the imagery would constitute focussed polysemy. The engraved images at Klipbak I comprise both broad and focussed polysemic depictions. There are a number of equally isolated and associated depictions of eland, giraffe, and human figures.
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Without an appreciation of the context in which these images occur, for example the significance and implication of the elevated location, the isolated nature of this place, the presence of the water source atop the hill, and a number of accompanying and equally remarkable features characteristic of this site, the interpretation of these images would be, for the most part, devoid of relevance and meaning. The construction of context is furthermore aided by the existence of numerous collections of especially relevant historical information and also extensive ethnographic information. The employment of ethnographic accounts enables archaeologists to make inferences about the significance and meaning of rock art, and forms the principal foundation of the process involved in reading meaning in southern African rock art.
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Engraved imagery from Klipbak I Klipbak I comprises the lower section of the cluster of two engraved sites atop the Klipbak hill and is situated at S 27º 09′ 670″ and E 22º 32′ 112″ with an elevation of 1 256 m. The site covers an area of 670 m². The National site number allocated to the site by the South African Heritage Resources Agency is 2722 BA 001.
Figure 3.1. Site plan of Klipbak I.
According to the visually discernible differentiation and grouping of engraved imagery the site was subdivided to consist of twenty-one engraved clusters. Within each cluster the imagery was placed in categories comprised of human figures, animal motifs, circular designs, cupules, and abraded surfaces. The numerical prominence of engraved imagery is provided in tableform below (figure 3.2). Of the total of 948 engraved forms which occur at Klipbak I, only two comprise humans and nine depict animal figures. The remaining 937 engraved forms comprise an assortment of circular designs, cupules, and abraded areas.
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The images are discussed firstly by their subject categories, and secondly by the cluster numbers in which they occur. These discussions do not engage the engraved imagery alone, but intend to also incorporate the occurrence several key contextual elements which provides for the collective structure within which the rock art is situated. In consequence, the presence of a water source at the site, the acoustic character of the site and the activity-related arrangement of a number of large stones at Klipbak are examined in relation to the wider composition of Klipbak as an engraved rock art site.
856
900 800
frequency
700 600 500 400 300 200 100 0
2
9
32
human
animal
abraded
85
circular
cupules
image category Figure 3.2. The numerical prominence of engraved imagery at Klipbak I.
Each discernable human and animal figure is regarded as a single engraved image, and similarly, each engraved circular form and cupule and each discernable abraded form is counted as an individual engraving. Such a counting strategy provides for the documentation of engravings per each individually engraved image and as per the clusters within which they occur. It is a simplified system which is not overly prone to misinterpretation and which allows for the study of both individual and supposedly associated sets of imagery. The determination of association between engraved imagery is complex since intricate and anonymous inter-image relationships are manifest at such an engraved site.
In addition to the insertion of scale-bars which represent a measurement of 50 millimetres unless otherwise indicated, arrows indicative of the north-orientation of the engraved images have also been added. In addition to the above, reference numbers have been added to the redrawings to facilitate the discussion of specific features and characteristics in the text.
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Human depictions “This man who stands in front seems to be showing the people how to dance; that is why he holds a stick, for he feels that he is a great man. So he holds the dancing stick, because he is the one who dances before the people, that they may dance after him, for the people know, that he is the one who always dances first, because he is a great sorcerer.” Diä!kwain, Mowbray, 1875.
Figure 3.3 a. Pecked human figure.
Figure 3.3 b. Redrawing of figure 3.3 a.
The first set of engraved images one encounters atop the hill is comprised of two upright human figures and one partial animal figure. The first human figure (figure 3.3 a above) measures 45.00 cm from the top of the head to the lower end of the left foot, and 20.50 cm from where the hands meet the staff-like object to the farthest right end of the lower back. The image, which is partly pecked in outline and partly filled, is reasonably well preserved and plainly visible. The antelope-like figure to the right of the human figure measures 30.50 cm from the top of the front left flank to the lower last part of the left hind leg. The first feature which may be discussed is that of the staff-like object held by the human figure (feature 1). These are a familiar feature of San rock paintings where they have been shown to represent dancing ticks. Such depictions are not uncommon, such as the two engraved figures below (figure 3.4), both of which are holding sticks of variable sorts. 28
Sticks were often employed during male initiation rites (Hewitt 1986), and Marshall (1969) describes how many men carry their digging-sticks or carrying-sticks while they dance. Sticks are used mostly for balance but may also be held out in front of the person dancing or swung around and over the heads of the singing women.
Figure 3.4. Two dancing figures wielding dancing-sticks (from Dowson 1992).
Depictions like these are interpreted as ‘fragments’ of the trance dance, and may in this case be reminiscent of the attempts of the shaman in establishing contact with the spirit world (Dowson 1992; Lewis-Williams & Dowson 2000). This notion is supported by the words of Diä!kwain (cited above) when providing an explanation of a rock painting depicting a man, five women, and a lone steenbok (Bleek 1935). The second feature consists of a protrusion which appears to emanate from the throat or neck of the figure (feature 2). The significance of this feature is debatable but it may be related to the profusion of nasal haemorrhaging experienced by shamans during dances and the blood that was used to cure people either through smelling it or by being rubbed with it (Bleek 1935; Marshall 1969; Dowson 1992; Ouzman 1996; Lewis-Williams & Dowson 2000; Lewis-Williams & Pearce 2004a). The protrusion at the upper back and base of the neck (feature 3), which is linked with and apparently transforming into the animal figure behind the human figure (feature 4), is also noteworthy. This precise place on the neck, the n//ao spot, is known to be great significance with regards to trance experiences and curing. It is the place from which evil is expelled. This spot also features prominently in the control of weather and in the making of rain (LewisWilliams & Pearce 2004a). 29
There are many rock paintings of shamans bleeding from the nose, carrying flywhisks or sticks, bending forward, and having emanations from their n//ao spots. Young apprenticing shamans are also said to experience tingling sensations in their n//ao when their mentors are behind them (Biesele 1993). The animal-like backwards-bent legs of the human figure (feature 5) and the many cracks in the rock face which have been incorporated into the engraving (e.g. feature 6) are also significant. Shamans in trance obtain potency from and believe that they transform into animals. These events may be related to this particular therianthropic depiction and is evident from the non-human articulation of the legs (Dowson 1992; Ouzman 1996; Lewis-Williams & Dowson 2000; Parkington 2003; Lewis-Williams & Pearce 2004b). It is known that the spirit world behind the rock face could be reached, during trance and as a transformed animal, through the cracks and crevices in the rock face (Lewis-Williams & Dowson 1990; Woodhouse 1990; Dowson 1992; Lewis-Williams & Pearce 2004a). Klipbak however present hardly any non-fractured rock surfaces and the incorporation of the majority of these into the engraved imagery should be viewed as inevitable. The prominent and obviously unreal penis of the human figure (feature 7) relates to the discussion on supernatural potency and the ability to enter trance and travel to the spirit world. Among the !Kung the belief exists that god has an enormous horned penis, and his spirit-world companions are often referred to as ‘elephant penis’ or ‘big penis’. The phallic symbolism of the exaggerated penis may be viewed in light of the underlying and pervasive gender-structure of San life. San shamans were also perceived as extremely potent sexually (Ouzman 1996). In combination, these features allude to the fact that this depiction is that of a powerful shaman in a dancing posture and in a state of trance or transformation. The nearby and slightly smaller human figure measures 38.00 cm from the top of the head to the end of the lower leg, and 23.50 cm from the tip of the longer arm to the furthest end of the lower back. The image is pecked in outline and partly filled. It is fairly well preserved and clearly visible. The head of the first human figure and the line forming the front leg of the animal figure is visible in the top right-hand corner of the photograph and redrawing (figure 3.5 a below). The context within which this figure occurs, namely in close association with the first human figure, is in itself an important observation which provides some insight to the significance of this human figure.
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Figure 3.5 a. Pecked human figure.
Figure 3.5 b. Redrawing of figure 3.5 a.
The arms (feature 1) are, in similar fashion to the first human figure, stretched out to the front of the body as if reaching for or into the spirit world behind the large cracks in the rock face (feature 2). The figure also appears to emerge from the crack (feature 3) behind it (LewisWilliams & Dowson 1990; Woodhouse 1990; Dowson 1992; Lewis-Williams & Pearce 2004a). The legs and the feet in particular (feature 4) are not entirely human and have been distorted, as takes place during trance states (Dowson 1992; Ouzman 1996; Lewis-Williams & Dowson 2000; Parkington 2003; Lewis-Williams & Pearce 2004a). The raised knee (feature 5) is often depicted in paintings and may in this case relate to the tightening of the stomach muscles during the trance experience (Lewis-Williams & Dowson 2000). The prominent penis (feature 6) is also similar to the first human figure. A final component of this engraving, and which may be suggestive of a trance state, is the cupule-like form (feature 7) in front of the human figure. Such forms may derive from the visions experienced during trance (Dowson 1992). Once again, the six features pointed out substantiate the notion that this is a depiction of a powerful shaman as a ‘fragment’ of the trance dance. The placement of these two male human figures on the southern edge of the site and some sixty meters from the other engraved surfaces may be suggestive of the unique potency contained by and the sociocultural and perhaps even a political implication for these shamanic figures.
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Animal motifs San hunter-gatherer expressive culture abounds with animals and the mythological landscape of all San groups is dominated by animal characters (Guenther 1988). San myths place a great emphasis on the supernatural power and potency possessed by animals and which is much sought after by San shamans for the purpose of healing and cosmological travel. Accordingly, it is believed that the more frequently engraved animals graphically represent the primary source of potency for the shamans in that region and also at that particular place (Dowson 1992; Lewis-Williams & Dowson 2000). The animal depictions at Klipbak are comprised exclusively of giraffe and eland, two species which are known to feature prominently in the belief system of the San. Giraffe Giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis) are the tallest living animals and formerly occurred in large numbers throughout the arid regions. They disperse widely in the rainy season, during which most conceptions take place, and tend to congregate along water-courses in the dry season (Estes 1991). According to the !Kung giraffe possess some of the strongest supernatural potency and it is still believed today that the Giraffe Song Great is capable of curing any imaginable sickness (Marshall 1969; Dowson 1990). Megan Biesele (1975) relates how giraffe medicine came to be so popular in the Kalahari region at present. A women named Be on one occasion witnessed a herd of giraffe running ahead of a thunderstorm. The rolling beat of their hooves became louder and, in her head, mingled with the sound of sudden rain. She immediately realised that this was a song she had never heard before, and she began to sing. Upon returning home she taught the song to her husband, /Ti!ke, and he realised that this was a medicine song (Biesele 1975). Shamans who harness giraffe potency during trance, when entoptic grids are experienced as part of the hallucinatory nature of the trance experience, are almost certainly inclined to construe such entoptic grids as representative of the characteristic jagged and patched coat-patterning of actual giraffe (Dowson 1990). As in the case of the eland, the terminology used in reference to the depictions of giraffe requires clarification. Engraved depictions of giraffe are believed to, rather than depict real animals, instead fix a potency-rich supernatural symbol upon the rock (Lewis-Williams 1995, 1998; Lewis-Williams & Pearce 2004a). Accordingly, the engraved depictions of giraffe are to be viewed within the context of the spiritual qualities attached to these animals by the San. 32
Cluster 6 is comprised of three discernable elements or associated groups of engraved animals on a single flat stone slab which measures 195.00 cm by 110.50 cm. The two giraffe (figure 3.6 below) are placed to the left or north of two centrally depicted linked eland which are in turn flanked by a depiction of a single enigmatic eland to its right or south.
Figure 3.6. Redrawing of two pecked giraffe.
The larger of the two giraffe measures 45.50 cm from the front of the face to the top of the back leg. The giraffe appear as fairly naturalistic depictions but there are features suggestive of the supernatural context within which they occur. The first is the positioning of the giraffe on the rock face to provide the impression that the larger animal is emerging from the veil (feature 1) and standing within and being a part of (feature 2) the spirit world (Lewis-Williams & Dowson 1990; Woodhouse 1990; Dowson 1992; Lewis-Williams & Pearce 2004a). The large crevice surrounds both animals and appears to have been utilised in the placement of the lowered head of the smaller animal (feature 3). The crevice furthermore serves to both separate and associate the giraffe from two eland depicted to its right (figures 3.20 and 3.21 below). The neck of the larger giraffe is depicted as proportionally much longer than it actually should be (feature 4), which may be symptomatic of the strong supernatural potency possessed by the animal. The front legs of the smaller giraffe appears to be more suggestive of exaggeratedly depicted genitalia (feature 5), which may be suggestive of the enhanced supernatural potency of the animal. 33
Cluster 7 is comprised of a single and somewhat non-figurative giraffe which is engraved on a small and isolated boulder. The image itself measures 45.00 cm from the nose to the lower end of the back leg (figure 3.7 below).
Figure 3.7. Redrawing of pecked giraffe.
The natural contours and crevices in the rock have once again been incorporated into the creation of this engraving. The depiction of the hind leg as touching on the edge of the rock may relate to the fact that painted and engraved animals are regularly depicted as in contact with the spirit world behind the veil (Lewis-Williams & Dowson 1990; Woodhouse 1990; Dowson 1992; Lewis-Williams & Pearce 2004a). The animal, which may at first be identified as a giraffe, is not naturalistically depicted and therefore more reminiscent of a supernaturally potent giraffe. The exaggerated neck is also suggestive of the supernatural nature of this animal. This depiction is believed to, rather than depicting a real and ordinary giraffe, instead communicate the qualities characteristic of a potency-rich and supernaturally occurring giraffe (Lewis-Williams 1995, 1998; Lewis-Williams & Pearce 2004a). The exact role of giraffe in San religion is relatively vague as there are only a few ethnographic accounts suggestive of the supernatural and spiritual significance of giraffe. Conversely, a large amount of ethnographic material relates to the central role of the eland in San society. The context in which the engraved depictions of eland at Klipbak I occurs, and their close relation to the engraved giraffe in cluster six may further explicate the significance of the engraved depictions of the giraffe at this site. 34
Eland Eland antelope (Taurotragus oryx) possess a number of unique morphological and behavioural characteristics. They are the largest and fattest, most mobile and most adaptable of all the African antelope. Their daily activity is extremely variable and while they can go for prolonged periods of time without drinking water, mating and calving is closely associated with the onset of the rainy season. Although inter-specific aggression is minimal eland are known not to take flight but fearlessly defend themselves against large predators. They are incredible high-jumpers and when trotting they produce an unusual castanet-like clicking sound which is audible for hundreds of meters. Eland also have the longest flight distance, some three hundred to five hundred meters, of all African game species (Estes 1991). Both the nineteenth- and twentieth-century /Xam and !Kung San ethnographies confirm that the eland was a central and pervasive symbol in San spiritual thought (Lewis-Williams 1987; Lewis-Williams & Dowson 2000; Lewis-Williams & Pearce 2004b). The eland was /Kaggen’s first creation and favourite animal, and featured in girl’s puberty rituals, boy’s first-kill observances, marriage rites, and also in trance curing rituals (Lewis-Williams 1987; Parkington 2003). The eland was also closely associated with and even identified as the rain, and the exceptional supernatural potency of eland was and still is greatly desired by San shamans. “A very long time ago a man hunted !khwa, the rain … At that time the rain was like an eland … ” /Han≠kass’o, Mowbray, 1878 The interrelated notions of eland potency and rain are deeply revered and celebrated in the medicine songs of the !Kung San. The Rain song and the Great Eland song are sung by different language groups across the Kalahari and are unusually old-scale in composition and therefore of great musical antiquity (Marshall 1969; Biesele 1993). There is an important point to be made here concerning the terminology used to refer to depictions of eland. Although many of the engraved animals do display characteristics typical of real and ordinary eland (the eland antelope), such as the dewlaps and general shape of the body, the presence of additional unusual features necessitate that they are instead to be regarded as depictions of supernatural and potency-rich eland (the eland symbol). The eland is the rain, or !Kwa, and these depictions are believed to rather relate to rain (-animals) -eland or !kwa-ka xoro rather than to ordinary antelope-eland (Lewis-Williams 1995, 1998; Lewis-Williams & Pearce 2004a).
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It is apparent that the many meanings or polysemy of eland, which encompass the natural characteristics and the supernatural and mythological associations of the eland, clarifies the numerical dominance of eland in San rock art (Vinnicombe 1976; Solomon 1997). Apart from the two engraved giraffe on the stone slab labelled cluster 6 (figure 3.6 above), this cluster also includes depictions of three additional eland. The smaller of the two roughly pecked and hardly visible adjoined eland in cluster 6 measures 35.50 cm across and 35.00 cm from the top of the back to the tip of the front leg (figure 3.8 below).
Figure 3.8. Redrawing of pecked eland.
The head of the animal has been purposely omitted (feature 1) as the animal is depicted as entering the spirit world through the crevice in the rock face (Lewis-Williams & Dowson 1990; Woodhouse 1990; Dowson 1992; Lewis-Williams & Pearce 2004a). The nuchal hump (feature 2), an area known to be associated with supernatural potency, is exaggeratedly depicted and so suggestive of the potent nature of this animal (Lewis-Williams 1981; Ouzman 2001). The dewlap (feature 3) provides some clue to the specific identity of the animal, an eland, and as a result attaches additional spiritual significance to the image (Lewis-Williams 1987; Lewis-Williams & Dowson 2000; Lewis-Williams & Pearce 2004b).
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The genitalia (feature 4) are also prominently depicted, which may well be indicative of the potency of the animal. The circular cupule-like forms (feature 5) may be derived from and suggestive of the visions experienced during trance (Dowson 1992). This depiction is thus representative of the eland-symbol and not simply an eland-antelope. The larger of the two linked eland measures 63.50 cm across and 40.50 cm from the top of the horns to the end of the back leg (figure 3.9 below).
Figure 3.9. Redrawing of pecked eland.
The prominent dewlap (feature 1) provides some indication to the identity of the animal as an eland and which attaches added spiritual significance to the depicted image (Lewis-Williams 1987; Lewis-Williams & Dowson 2000; Lewis-Williams & Pearce 2004b). One of the horns are depicted as venturing into the space behind the crack in the rock (feature 2) and may relate to the role of the rock surface as a veil through which the spirit world could be accessed (Lewis-Williams & Dowson 1990; Woodhouse 1990; Dowson 1992; Lewis-Williams & Pearce 2004a). This depiction also includes a cupule-like form (feature 3) which may, as with the above eland, be suggestive of a connection with the trance state (Dowson 1992). In light of the significance of the smaller eland as discussed above, the association of this eland with that animal (feature 4) provides this depiction with comparable supernatural significance.
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The right-hand or southern eland within cluster 6 measures 59.50 cm across and 27.00 cm from the top of the horn to bottom of the feet (figure 3.10 below).
Figure 3.10. Redrawing of pecked eland.
This seemingly enigmatic depiction does display some interpretable and informative features. The dewlap (feature 1) is once again suggestive of the species of animal depicted, namely an eland. Great care has been taken in the positioning of the depiction to incorporate the breaks in the rock surface (features 2 and 3) so as to illustrate the trans-cosmological character and condition of the animal. The trailing lines behind the body of the depiction (feature 4) are of great interest. In contrast to the other animal depictions the hind legs are not portrayed but are instead replaced by a set of three trailing lines. These provide the impression that the animal is afloat, most probably in the sky or inside a cloud. The rain was an eland (LewisWilliams 1995, 1998; Lewis-Williams & Pearce 2004a) and the Rain Bull or !kwa-ka xoro is known to have appeared and travelled either within or as a rain-cloud (Hoff 1998). This engraving is believed to be representative of such a Rain Bull as moving through or drifting across the sky in the form of a rain-cloud.
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Cluster 5 is comprised of a single eland which measures 58.00 cm across and 37.50 cm from the top of the horns to the lower tip of the front leg (figure 3.11 below). The entire slab on which the eland is engraved and especially the engraving itself shows clear signs of smoothing by non-abrasive action.
Figure 3.11. Redrawing of a pecked and smoothed eland.
This engraved depiction is comprised of and offers sufficient evidence for a comprehensive analysis of the supernatural context in which it occurs and which it symbolizes. The exaggerated dewlap (feature 1) implies the presence of a great deal of fat and therefore much supernatural potency (Lewis-Williams & Pearce 2004b). A number of features indicate this animal to be of supernatural origin and of trance status; such as the horns (feature 2) and the feet (feature 3) which are depicted as connected to the spirit world behind the rock face. The rock surface shows no indication that extensive corrosive damage occurred subsequent to the manufacture of the image. The natural cracks and crevices, although unavoidable in many cases, in this case appear to have been integrated with intent. The presence of seven engraved cupule-like forms (feature 4) and a number of potentially trance-derived dots and coiled lines (feature 5) below the engraved eland are additional features suggestive of a supernatural context for this engraved eland (Lewis-Williams & Dowson 1990; Woodhouse 1990; Dowson 1992; Lewis-Williams & Pearce 2004a). 39
The eland is further characterised by the depiction of six especially prominent parallel vertical lines engraved across the body of the animal (feature 6). These lines are suggestive of a strong association between this engraved animal and the manufacture of rain by San medicine men or !khwa-ka !gi:ten. “Then they go and sling a thong over the water-bull’s horns, they lead it out, they make it walk when they have slung the thong over its horns. They make it walk along and kill it on the way, that the rain may fall. They cut it up, and rain falls at the place where they threw it down.” “… the medicine men cut up the water-bull…” “… they seize and break the rain’s ribs…” /Han≠kass’o, Mowbray, 1878 The engraved lines are believed to be suggestive of the ribs of the rain animal which were broken during the rain-making ritual and of the cut marks resulting from the cutting-up of the rain atop a high hill (Bleek 1933; Dowson 1992; Lewis-Williams & Pearce 2004a). Depictions of similarly ‘cut-up’ and ‘broken’ animals, of which some are eland (e.g. figure 3.12 below) and others rhinoceroses, are described in detail and interpreted in a corresponding manner by Janette Deacon (1988) and Sven Ouzman (1996).
Figure 3.12. Engraving of a rain-bull bearing horizontal and vertical ‘cut-marks’ (from Deacon 1988).
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In addition to the two engraved human figures of cluster 8 (figures 3.3 and 3.5 above), this cluster also includes a large bovine figure which measures 58.00 cm across and 34.50 cm from the top of the hump to the lower edge of the back leg (figure 3.13 below). The figure is, because of its position on a slanted rock surface and substantial smoothing of the surface, of exceptionally reduced visibility. This engraved figure presents an interesting assortment of features not characteristic of any of the other and more eland-like depictions at Klipbak.
Figure 3.13. Redrawing of pecked bovine figure.
The figure is more bull-like in appearance, and lacks the distinctive dewlap (feature 1) which is so characteristic of the eland. The nuchal hump (feature 2) is more prominent and more Brahman- or cattle-like in appearance. Many modern-day informants have stated the Water Bull to have such a hump, and many have referred to the Rain Bull as a Water bees or an Afrikaner bees (a bull ox as in domesticated cattle). While the Bleek and Lloyd informants did not refer to it in a similar sense, they did compare it to and said that it resembled a bull (Hewitt 1986; Hoff 1998). The lowered head (feature 3) and the extended tail (feature 4) are characteristic of a dying antelope, and as death is one of the metaphors of trance, this depiction may relate strongly to the trance experience and the fantastic creatures associated with and observed during such experiences (Dowson 1988; Lewis-Williams & Dowson 1990).
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Whereas the integration of the majority of natural cracks (features 4 and 5) may be incidental, the incorporation of the lower edge of the rock face (feature 6) into the engraving is suggestive of the trans-cosmological nature of this animal (Lewis-Williams & Dowson 1990; Woodhouse 1990; Dowson 1992; Lewis-Williams & Pearce 2004a). Whereas the hoof of the front leg is clearly depicted, the hind leg appears to be incomplete (feature 6). However, when it rains a small puddle materializes between this engraved figure and the two human figures. Given that the hind leg of the bull touches onto the water in the puddle, the impression that the bull is actually emerging from the water is especially noticeable. This is of great interest and may be viewed as a metaphorical depiction; the !kwa-ka xoro is known to inhabit waterholes, such as the one at Klipbak, and this is the exact place from where it is captured and subsequently slaughtered during the rain-making ritual (Schmidt 1979; Hoff 1998; Solomon 1997; Lewis-Williams & Pearce 2004b). The genitalia (feature 7) are depicted in a dissimilar fashion to and in more detail than the other animal depictions, which may once again be suggestive of the supernatural potency possessed by this particular animal. This depiction does not display the more typical characteristics associated with eland (antelope and symbols) and is more reminiscent of a true (water or rain) bull. The close association that exists between this bull-like figure and the two human figures in cluster eight necessitates further investigation as it may provide unforeseen and imperative insight into the nature of the activities performed in this space. An in-depth examination of the engraved content and context of this particular cluster forms the focal point of Chapter Four. The presence of these supernaturally-derived and potency-rich engraved images suggests that Klipbak I was utilised for a range of religiously-oriented activities. The engravings served to enhance the potency and supernatural significance of this place and as a result created an appropriate space in which to perform both secluded ritual acts and communal ceremonial activities. There are, in addition to the engraved images, a number of accompanying natural elements which significantly augment the supernatural status of Klipbak. These remarkable characteristics are easily overlooked since they are visually concealed and not outwardly apparent to the observer. In the section that follows it is shown that these phenomena form an integral part of the supernatural implication and also the subsequent interpretation of the Klipbak engraved site.
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Sound and ceremony The fundamental role of the trance dance in San society is well documented and much reference to the dance is made in the rock art of the San (Marshall 1969; Katz 1982; LewisWilliams 1982; Deacon 1986; Hewitt 1986; Deacon 1988; Dowson 1990, 1992; LewisWilliams 1992; Biesele 1993; Lewis-Williams 1995, 1999; Lewis-Williams & Dowson 1999; Ouzman 2001; Lewis-Williams & Pearce 2004a). During the summer months, when water and veld foods were widely available the many kinrelated households who normally lived as small bands scattered across the region would congregate at a prearranged locality (Lee 1979). The coordination of aggregation and dispersal among the Kalahari San is substantiated by both ethnographic and archaeological data (Marshall 1969; Lee 1979; Deacon 1984; Wadley 1987; Barnard 1992). Apart from the intensification of social activity during this period it is furthermore characterised by the incidence and pervasiveness of the trance dance (Lee 1979; Deacon 1984; Barnard 1992; Deacon & Deacon 1999). A trance dance could be held for a number of reasons, which ranged from rejoicing because the group had conducted a successful hunt, or to cure specific or heal all participating individuals (Lewis-Williams & Pearce 2004a). Richard Lee (1979) and Paul Wiessner (1982) remark that modern San groups such as the G/wi readily travel hundreds of kilometres to attend the trance rituals conducted at such periodic aggregation camps. Up to two-hundred people may congregate during such gatherings and the large numbers of people in attendance at these locations provides for the fact that aggregation sites are of exceptionally high archaeological visibility. Much evidence exists for the manufacture of items for gift exchange during aggregation phases (Deacon 1984; Wadley 1987), and in this particular case the occurrence of concentrations of ostrich-eggshell fragments and an assortment of lithic raw materials not locally obtainable are highly suggestive of the aggregative nature of this place. The activation of the n/um or supernatural potency of the medicine men or women for the purpose of curing is facilitated by the singing of particular medicine songs (n/um tsi-si) such as Giraffe Song and Great Eland Song, songs which are created by the god ≠Gao N!a and endowed with n/um before they are given to the people. According to the !Kung, the singing, the fire, and the dancing serve to awaken their hearts and their n/um (Marshall 1969). 43
“Therefore the men dance well on account of it, while they feel that the drum which the women beat… and the dancing rattles which the men tie around their feet…sounds well…therefore, they sound nicely, because they are good”. /Han≠kass’o, Mowbray, 1878 The reality that sound is able to both facilitate the transition of state and aid the shaman to enter into the spirit world is similarly substantiated by neurological and psychological research. Percussive sound acts as an analgesic by blocking overriding pain and as the percussive rhythms approach the 10-hertz alpha cycle of the brain they assist in inducing a trance-like state. The medicine dance thus functions as a physiological resource through which a shaman can cross the painful threshold between states of consciousness. Once this threshold has been crossed it takes tremendous effort and concentration to maintain his identity in a world in which all senses become incoherently mixed up and distorted. The only constant in this altered state of reality is the insistent percussive noise which serves to both remind the shaman of and guide him back to the ordinary world (Needham 1967; Ouzman 2001; Kenny & Faunce 2005). According to Richard Katz (1982), the trance dance provides a focal point for San culture; the dance is the principal expression of religion, cosmology, and also medicine, and is in fact the primary ritual of all San groups (Lewis-Williams & Pearce 2004a). In light of the centrality of the trance dance in San society and the direct association that exists between the rock art and the dance, it becomes apparent that the potential and motivation for the execution of trance dances within this particular environment, which is already considerably enriched by the presence of cosmologically relevant engraved imagery, a water source of supernatural significance, and astounding acoustic and echoic qualities, is undoubtedly especially prominent. Lorna Marshall (1969) provides much insight into the physical characteristics of the trance dance as performed by the Kalahari !Kung. An open area which is relatively free from shrubbery and grass and which will be used repeatedly during their stay at the site is chosen not too far from the encampment, and a large dance fire which lights up the dance area and heat up the n/um of the medicine men is made in its centre. During the dance a deep dance-groove or n≠ebe forms which may extend to some 15 centimetres deep and span 5 meters in diameter.
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The motif throughout the dance is the circle; the women’s circle, the men’s dancing circle, the circle of firelight and, finally, the encircling of the entire scene by the expansive horizon and the bright stars above makes for an extraordinary arrangement of people, light, and sound (Marshall 1969; Biesele 1993). The dominance of the circular motif throughout trance dances may relate to the occurrence of some eighty-five circular engraved designs at Klipbak I. Whether these result from some type of utilitarian activity, or whether they, in some roundabout way, relate to the circular motif which pervades trance performances, is unknown. This matter provides some interesting questions regarding the incentive for the manufacture of engraved circular forms, and is explored later on in this chapter.
Figure 3.14. The sandy area with the engraved surface in the background.
Upon mapping the extent of the site it became apparent that a semi-circular arrangement of twenty-nine large stones existed in the sandy area below the engraved rock surface. As it is extremely unlikely that standard environmental dynamics could have been responsible for the circular arrangement of the stones, the possibility that they were in fact intentionally arranged in this sandy space by people is unavoidable. The artificial arrangement of these stones (figure 3.15 below) effectively creates a clearance which spans approximately ten meters in diameter. The occurrence of the stones within the sandy area corresponds to the notion that trance dances were indeed performed in this space.
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Figure 3.15. The circular arrangement of stones in the sandy area.
To facilitate the sustainable gathering of large groups the local environment had to be in an excellent ecological state with sufficient resources to maintain scores of people. Although the precise periods during which groups chose to aggregate varied substantially, it is most likely that, in this region in particular, aggregation took place during the summer months subsequent to the onset of the rainy season. In view of that, it is evident that the production of rain by rain-shamans must have preceded and therefore paved the way for the occurrence of such aggregation or public phases. The two engraved humans in cluster 8 and the five engraved depictions of eland are believed to correspond to and signify the events that took place at Klipbak. The two human figures have been interpreted in the contexts of both trance performances and rain-making, and the animal figures were considered in terms of their perceived supernatural potency and their role in the trance experience, healing, and also rainmaking. The relationship that exists between these sequential activities, namely that of the process of rain-making which is followed by the phases of aggregation, is further examined in Chapter Four. 46
The presence of subsurface disturbances or remnants of human activity in this sandy area, such as filled-in pits and concentrations of ash and animal fats within the sediments, may at a later stage be discovered through the application of non-destructive investigative techniques such as resistivity survey, geophysical survey or through the analysis of phosphates in the soils (Renfrew & Bahn 2001). The knowledge gained from such an investigation may add substantially to our understanding of the more specific and most generally indeterminable details of the activities which took place during aggregation phases and during communal trance performances. For instance, information on the association of particular plants or other food sources with such performances, specific types of firewood, and the arrangement of the smaller camp-fires around the centrally positioned fire can add tremendously to our understanding of the physical and social nature of these events. Further into the Kalahari the winds and sands persistently wipe clean the tracks and traces of human and animal activities, but in this case the circular arrangement of a series of large stones presents a more enduring structural indication of the activities which formerly took place at Klipbak I. In light of the evidence for the performance of trance dances at Klipbak, it is necessary to consider the significant role of sound, both percussive and reflective, within the sphere of ritual activity.
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Acoustics and echoes “Mother used to tell us that she would beat the ground with a stone, to see what could be the matter, that when father was hunting the things did not act nicely as he stood or walked. When we beat the ground we beg of the people who own game; that is why we beat the ground, for it is a prayer.” Diä!kwain, Mowbray, 1875. Rock art researchers have tended to rely on a single sensory perception, that of visual perception or seeing, in the documentation and interpretation of rock art, and this dependence and focus on the visual has distorted our perception of the essential character and cultural significance of rock art sites (Waller 1989, 1993, 2000; Ouzman 2001; Goldhahn 2002). Many rock art sites include non-representational culturally produced marks which may occur as either super- or sub-imposed with other forms of engraved imagery, marks which in most cases are not commented upon at all but which have been shown to relate significantly to the spirituality of the sites (Ouzman 2001). The significant role of sound during ritual activity, especially percussive sound, has received a great deal of attention in the spheres of anthropology and also rock art studies (Needham 1967; Scarre 1989; Waller 1993; Ouzman 2001; Arsenault 2004). Worldwide ritual acts are accompanied and characterised by the production and fundamental presence of sound, be it in the form of singing, clapping, stamping feet, or through creating percussive sound by means of beating or banging a diversity of objects of both organic and inorganic substance. Percussion may be viewed as a primary and elemental phenomenon which is not bound to any specific culture and which presents the easiest means of producing sounds (Needham 1967). Music and rhythmic sound is known to possess tremendous therapeutic characteristics. Music in addition results in increased memory capacity, enhance the ability to learn faster and more efficiently, and also to foster a sense of general well-being and an improved state of mind (Geddes & Grosset 1997; Kenny & Faunce 2005). The notions of percussion and sound as discussed above are concepts which are of direct relevance to the rock art of Klipbak I. The large bashed boulder in the midst of the primary engraved area at Klipbak, has been pounded and hammered because it is a natural rock gong.
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Resonant rocks Rock gongs or lithophones represent an interesting aspect of the relationship between rock art and sound. Rock gongs are naturally occurring boulders of igneous or sedimentary origin that rest on top of other larger rocks and which emits a harsh metallic and often ringing sound when struck. The sound produced by gongs is generally limited in tone and timber, but some, and perhaps also the particular gong implicated here, appear to have a three-octave range (Kirby 1972). Akin to drums and most other percussive instruments, it is believed that the sound-waves produced by gongs have definite neural and organic effects on human beings, regardless of their cultural orientation. The low-frequency reverberations produced by percussive instruments not only appeal to humans because of the aesthetically pleasing effects but also because of the deeper subconsciously experienced physiological effects which result from the intensity of the sound-waves. Percussion has played a central role in effecting the transformations associated with shamans on many continents and in establishing contact with the supernatural and spiritual realms (Needham 1967). Rock gongs have been recorded from the Americas (Waller 1994, 2000), India (Boivin 2004), Sweden (Henschen-Nyman 1988) the Canary Islands (Alvarez & Siemens 1988), Nigeria (Goodwin 1957), Zimbabwe (Cooke 1964), and also in South Africa (Malan 1959; Fock 1972; Kirby 1972; Ouzman 2001, 2002). People selected sites for engraving because of their echoic properties as well as other spiritual properties. In South Africa gong rocks occur at some 11% of a sample of 762 engraving sites, but only a small percentage of these bear signs of having been utilised (Ouzman 2001). The percussive marks on such ‘gongs’ are in most cases clearly discernable and appear to coincide consistently with the most suitable places from which to coax the hollow metallic sound in the event of being struck (Goodwin 1959; Fock 1972; Ouzman 2001). It is these resonant ‘sweet-spots’ which, because they effectively represent the visual residues of aurality, are indicative of the function and utility of the rock gongs at Klipbak I. Many San gong rocks are also engraved. In Zimbabwe Keith Robinson (1958) and Cran Cooke (1964) noted a striking association between cupules, utilitarian grooves and gong rocks. At Klipbak I the upper and front faces of the larger of the two gongs contain a series of eleven circular engraved designs, seven engraved cupules and several percussion marks (figures 3.16 a and b below).
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It is highly improbable that this gong was not implicated in the production of rhythmic percussive sound which accompanied and characterised trance performances. The aural significance of this gong is further clarified when we consider the remarkable echoic character of the small falcate arena in which the Klipbak engraved site is located.
Figure 3.16 a. The engraved and hammered rock gong at Klipbak I.
Figure 3.16 b. Redrawing of the rock gong illustrating non-representational hammer marks.
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Echoes In other parts of the world the acoustic properties of some three hundred rock art sites have been documented as possessing exceptional sound reflection in the form of echoes, reverberation, or resonance, and as a result it is becoming increasingly evident that sound reflection may have been a motivating influence in the production and placement of a considerable amount of rock art (Waller 2002a; 2002b). In numerous cases the positions of rock art coincide with the exact points from which echoes emanate; in many of the caves of Western Europe, for example, Palaeolithic art is placed exactly at points of outstanding resonance (Scarre 1989). A substantial amount of ethnographic and historic information also alludes to the significant supernatural qualities which were attributed to echoes by many ancient cultures (Waller 1993). The significance of the occurrence of remarkable echoic qualities at San rock art sites may be further illustrated when we consider the importance and function of rock the surface itself. The San viewed the rock-face as a veil through which shamans could enter the world in which spirit beings resided, and for this reason San shamans in trance would have perceived the minute steps and cracks in the rock as entrances leading to the spirit world (Lewis-Williams & Dowson 1990; Woodhouse 1990; Dowson 1992; Lewis-Williams & Pearce 2004a). The relationship between echoing and the notion of a spirit world behind the veil is further supported by /Han≠kass’o as recorded by Wilhelm Bleek and Lucy Lloyd in 1878 (Ouzman 2001). “O beast of prey! Thou art the one who hearest the place behind, it is resonant with sound” /Han≠kass’o, Mowbray, 1878 Megan Biesele (1992) and Sven Ouzman (2001) interprets the phrase as referring to a powerful shaman (beast of prey) who is familiar with and visits the spirit world (place behind), a place which is, as expected, resonant with sound. Since it is clear that the San believed in the existence of such a veil which formed a permeable divide between this and the spirit world, it is arguable that sound reflection locations, by way of the emanation of echoes, were perceived as the dwelling places of spirits and that such places were consequently regarded as possessing vast amounts of supernatural potency.
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To confirm and visually illustrate the unique echoic character of Klipbak I an experiment involving the production and recording of percussive sound was conducted. Steven Waller (1999) notes the conditions necessary for the precise digital recording of acoustic values at rock art sites, namely a minimum of modern alterations and ambient noise at the site, easy access to the site, specific topological representation by the site, and the recognised authenticity of the art. All of these requisites are fulfilled by Klipbak I. A sharp percussive noise was produced by striking together a wooden clave and wooden block and both the produced and reflected sounds were recorded with a Sony IC Digital Recorder (ICD-B 100). The sound was processed by the Protrax Music Production House by way of the Adobe Audition 1.5 Sound Editing Programme. Echoes were recorded at eight locations in the natural arena in which the site is situated (figure 3.17 below), and positions one, four, and six are discussed fully. It must be noted that no prominent echoic characteristics were detectable from the elevated area away from the rock engravings.
Figure 3.17. The locations at which percussive stimuli were produced and echoes recorded.
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The acoustics of rock arts sites can be studied in a similar manner to that of architectural acoustics, in which the central idea is to consider the measurement space to be a linear system and the primary aim to determine the impulse response of this space. The impulse response is characterised by plotting the increase in audible sound in decibels (dB) on the Y-axis, and the frequency or progression of time in seconds (sec) on the X-axis. In the exemplar echogram below (figure 3.18) the echo occurring after the initial impulse shows as an extra signal due to sound reflection which is delayed by the amount of time equivalent to the round-trip travel distance of the original sound impulse. With a sufficient time delay this extra signal is perceived as a psycho-acoustic event separate from the original impulse; an echo (Waller 2002b).
Figure 3.18. An echogram of echoes recorded at Piedras Marcadas #119 (Waller 2002b).
The echogram above represents the more general appearance of echograms by which echoes are visually illustrated. The echograms for Klipbak I are somewhat more complex in their appearance as the equipment and digital sound program used in processing the sound was of incredible sensitivity. Much more of the sound is therefore visible in these echograms. Although the echoes at Klipbak I are aurally perceived as single echoes, they are in fact comprised of up to eight closely spaced reverberating echoic pulses. For this reason two sets of echograms are provided, the second of which have been enhanced visually in order to illustrate the reverberative characteristics of the echoes.
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Location 1 is positioned at the water source. The percussive stimulus was both produced and the echo recorded here. The sound produced by the closely spaced sets of echoes occurs as a low-tone reverberation which, when digitally delayed and enhanced, sounds like a bullroarer. Because of their occurrence in such short bursts of time (800 milliseconds), they are aurally perceived as a single acoustic event.
Figure 3.19 a. Full 1.000 second echogram recorded at location 1.
Figure 3.19 b. Partial 0.100–1.000 second echogram recorded at location 1 (100% enhanced).
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Location 4 is also positioned at the water source, but in this case the percussive sound was produced in the sandy area below the water source. The reverberations occur over a shorter duration (400 milliseconds) and are aurally perceived as a single echo. What is of interest is the intensification of the fourth returning sound impulse some 350 milliseconds after the initial stimulus occur. This specific impulse thus appears to be more intense may therefore have been more prone to being interpreted as a true echo.
Figure 3.20 a. Full 1.000 second echogram recorded at location 4.
Figure 3.20 b. Partial 0.100–0.858 second echogram recorded at location 4 (100% enhanced).
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Location 6 is positioned on the southern ridge opposite the engraved rock face. The echoes recorded here are of slightly less intensity than those at locations one to four, and comparable to those recorded at location seven.
Figure 3.21 a. The 0.892 second echogram recorded at location 6.
Figure 3.21 b. Partial 0.100–0.892 second echogram recorded at location 4 (100% enhanced).
The echoes from locations two and three are comparable to those recorded at location one. No prominent echoes are audible at location five but the echoes from the sound produced here were recorded at location four. Locations six and seven are also comparable in audibility.
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Echoes are clearly audible at location eight, the area adjacent to the engraved imagery of cluster eight and which is comprised of a scatter of Later Stone Age lithic artefacts and debitage. On account of excessive interference the recording could not be processed to display a suitable echogram. Of additional interest is the position of the engraved rock gong previously discussed (figure 3.16 a above). The gong is positioned at location two, the echoes of which are comparable in clarity and audibility to those recorded at location one. There are many other large boulders which are similarly inclined to produce the hollow and ringing metallic sounds heard when striking this engraved rock gong. However, and although some of these do show signs of limited percussive activity, none appear to have been utilised to the same extent as this particular engraved gong. The position of this resonating boulder, right within the zone in which echoes are perceived as exceptionally clear and intense, may provide some clue as to why this particular boulder, even though already a gong, was engraved and, more importantly, why it was hammered so recurrently. The echoes at Klipbak I are of immense interest, firstly because this is an open-air site and the presence of echoes are, in contrast to what one would expect from caves and rock shelters, unusual to the point of being bizarre. Secondly, the echoes materialize, rather than a single acoustic event or solitary echo, as sets of reverberating pulses which is comprised of a series of closely concurrent echoes. Because of the topographic and geological nature of the site there is also a significant amount of back-scattering involved. The echoes are reflected from a number of hard surfaces which provides the impression that they emerge from variable locations and that they in fact surround the listener. This may explain the increase in intensity of echoes at some locations, such as at locations four and six (figures 3.20 and 3.21 above). Humans with normal hearing are able to detect sounds within the 20 Hz to 20 kHz range, but it is to be expected that indigenous peoples had a much better high frequency hearing range because of a tremendously reduced amount of exposure to intense high and low frequency noise (Waller et al. 1999). It is therefore extremely likely that the San who frequented Klipbak were in fact able to recognize these repetitive echoes or reverberations.
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It is in consequence apparent that, apart form the aural pleasance and mythological significance of the echoes, it is likely that the unique reverberative character of the echoes, because of their profound neurological and physiological influence, are of greater stimulatory and therefore spiritual consequence (Needham 1967; Scarre 1989; Waller 1993; Ouzman 2001; Kenny & Faunce 2005). The performance of trance dances is substantiated by the occurrence of the circular arrangement of stones adjacent to the water source and the potency-filled and very powerful engraved surface at Klipbak I. The musicological and percussive activities associated with the trance dance, such as the singing of medicine songs, the rhythmic clapping of the women’s hands and stamping of the men’s feet, the sound of swishing rattles and resonating rocks, and the ultimate enhancement of these sounds by the occurrence remarkable and recurring echoes all serve to enhance and deepen the intensity of the dance and the spiritual experience of the participants, and is by no means incidental (Marshall 1969; Ouzman 2001). In light of the preceding discussion on the performance of trance-related activities at Klipbak, and the enhancement thereof by the remarkable echoic character of the space in which the physical remnants indicative of such performances are to be found, we may now turn to the occurrence of some eighty-five circular engraved designs at Klipbak I. The precise meaning of these engraved forms is unknown, but when we take into account the context in which they occur, namely in a supernaturally potent space which was used to perform trance rituals and which boasts engraved imagery reminiscent of supernatural animals, we may attain some insight into the significance and implication of these circular engraved forms.
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Circular designs The circular designs at Klipbak I are comprised of pecked circular forms of which the outlines are depicted in and as fairly thick bands or rings, while the interior sections of the designs have not been engraved. Consequently, the circular designs may also be described as banded circles or rings. A total of eighty-five circular designs occur at Klipbak I of which the bulk, seventy-nine circular designs, is represented by clusters 2, 4, and 10. The remaining clusters, clusters 1, 19, 20, and 21, comprise the balance of six circular designs (figure 3.22).
50 43
45 40
frequency
35 30
25
25 20 15
11
10 5
2
1
2
1
19
20
21
0 1
2
4
10 cluster number
Figure 3.22. Circular design frequency per cluster at Klipbak I.
The engraved circles are of an average diameter of 8.00 cm and the outline-bands range between 10 mm and 15 mm in width. In some cases the circles are linked to form a set of connected circles (clusters 4 and 10) but in most cases they are depicted singly. Circular designs are also implicated in the super- and sub-positioning of other forms such as cupules and abraded surfaces. Many of the engravings are considerably eroded and are, as a result, poorly visible. There is a noticeable lack of substantiated and analytical interpretation of banded or ring-like circular engraved designs, presumably because it is not possible to support explanations with ethnographic or historical evidence. It is possible that engraved depictions of circles, especially banded circles, essentially function as symbolic representations of the primary ritual act of the San, namely the medicine or trance dance. 59
It has previously been established that the trance dance comprised the central ritual performance in San society (Lewis-Williams & Dowson 1999; Lewis-Williams & Pearce 2004a), and the visual prominence of and the ritual governance by the circular motif during the trance dance is equally well described by both Lorna Marshall (1969) and Megan Biesele (1993). Circular forms such as the banded circular motifs are, although not generally regarded as primary recurring entoptic forms (Lewis-Williams & Dowson 1988), perceived during the first stages of the trance experience (Dowson 1992). As depictions of circular designs are not derived from imagery observed during the later and more complex stages of altered states of consciousness, it is highly improbable that they stand, as construed forms, for abstract hallucination-derived objects. It is more likely that circular designs are representative of exactly that, circular forms, of which the circular movement and structure of the dance fire, the dance circle, the circle of clapping women, the circle of firelight, and the horizon and sky above are particularly overriding (Marshall 1969; Biesele 1993). Whereas the engraving of, for example, an eland or a shamanic figure constituted a process of fixing supernatural visualizations to the rock face, the engraving of banded circular designs may have been a means of symbolically portraying and fixing signs which are simultaneously derived from and reminiscent of the primary procedure involved in achieving such supernatural visualizations, the trance dance. Cluster 1 is comprised principally of cupules and only two small circular designs are engraved amid the bulk of the cupules. The circular forms measure approximately 6.00 cm in diameter with and outline width of 1.40 cm. Cluster 2 (figure 3.23 below) is comprised of eleven circular designs and seven cupules. The boulder on which these designs are engraved is, in addition to the engraved designs, covered in non-representational culturally produced marks. The engraved imagery spans an area of 88.50 cm by 32.50 cm. The circles range from 4.00 cm to 9.50 cm in diameter and the pecked outlines vary from 1.10 cm to 3.00 cm in width. Because of substantial erosion and smoothing the circular designs are not easily discernible.
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Figure 3.23. Redrawing of circular designs and cupule on the rock gong, cluster 2.
Cluster 4 (figure 3.24 below) consists of twenty-six substantially weathered and consequently scarcely visible circular designs. These have been engraved atop a large boulder which is located against the eastern edge of the rocky ridge of the site. The cluster of engraved circular forms covers an area of 128.50 cm by 62.50 cm. The circles range from 4.80 cm to 11.00 cm in diameter and the pecked outlines vary from 1.10 cm to 2.70 cm in width.
Figure 3.24. Redrawing of circular designs, cluster 4.
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Cluster 10 comprises twenty-three abraded areas, ninety-one cupules, and forty-two circular designs. The cluster is located on an even and relatively smooth rocky surface and the images display substantial weathering and smoothing. Visibility is therefore poor. The extract provided below (figure 3.25 below) measures 57.50 cm by 38.00 cm. The pecked circular forms range from 10.10 cm to 4.60 cm in diameter with an outline width of 0.50 cm to 2.10 cm.
Figure 3.25. Redrawing of circular designs, cluster 10.
There are three additional clusters inclusive of banded circular designs. Cluster 19 and cluster 21 are both comprised of a single banded circular design, and cluster 20 consists of two connected banded circles which measures 32.50 cm in extent. These three clusters are comparatively isolated and occur on the elevated boulders comprising the rocky ridge to the north and west of the water source. As depictions of trance dances in circular form are manifest at several painting sites (Lewis-Williams & Pearce 2004a) the symbolic engraving of the primary San ritual act, the trance dance, through the engraving of circular forms onto the rock face, may not be as fantastic and improbable a notion as it initially appears to be. While there is at present little evidential support for this notion, further investigation into this matter may afford some unforeseen insight into the occurrence and meaning of circular engraved forms. 62
Water The importance of water as an essential and enlivening natural element is exemplified by the various and very descriptive Khoe and San place-names in the region. Many names consign a particular emphasis to the type and reliability of the source of water at that place, such as !ab (river), //gami (water), /aus and /ous (spring), xora or gora (excavated water), and ≠gab (waterhole). The descriptive and distinctive nature of place names was also transmitted to early European times. The Afrikaans name kuil is used in similar fashion to that of //gami and /aus in reference to more reliable sources of water in the eastern region, whereas in the drier west where it was frequently necessary to dig for water, the terms kolk or graafwater, similarly to xora or gora, is most prevalent (Humphreys & Thackeray 1983; Hoff 1998).
Figure 3.26. The seasonal pool at Klipbak I.
Many of the farms adjacent to Klipbak are still known as per the specific category of water source present there. The Dutch-Afrikaans farm names are as descriptive in nature and therefore reflective of a similar regard for water as that of the San. Names such as Verwater, Groenwater, Droekloof, Droge Poort, and Diepwater are illustrative of the tremendous subsistence importance of water sources in the region. The wide distribution of these names also reveals the former abundance of water sources and the relative ease with which water could be obtained in the region.
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The significance of sources water is further illustrated by the place names on the sketch map drawn by Wilhelm Bleek in 1871 on information provided by //Kabbo. Each location, of which the /Xam and in some cases the European names are provided, is invariably associated with and placed at a water source (Deacon 1986). The territory occupied by //Kabbo and his extended family included at least three reliable sources of water, most of which were probably owned or inherited, and although camps were never established right at the source, they were never too distant from a source of water (Biesele 1993; Lewis-Williams & Pearce 2004a). The nature of the Klipbak I water source, which offers a somewhat limited estimate of 4 700 litres of water and only so for a limited period of time (from January up until August when it is completely dry), should be regarded as irregular and therefore unreliable in nature. The significance of this water source is in consequence not so much subsistence-related as it is spiritually important. Trans-cosmological travel Waterholes were pivotally placed between the camp and the hunting ground and also between the subterranean realm and the sky, and they fulfilled important transformative and also restorative functions (Lewis-Williams & Pearce 2004a). Similar to the way in which the rock face was perceived as a permeable veil through which shamans could cross the threshold and enter into the spirit world, waterholes also functioned as points of cosmological transition through which the supernatural spirit realm could be accessed (Lewis-Williams 1998; Dowson 2002; Ouzman 2002; Solomon 2002). “… when a sorceror dies, his heart falls down from the sky, it goes into a waterpit… its fire went to get cool in a waterpit” Diä!kwain, Mowbray, 1875 “There are wells … It is here that I enter. I enter at one well and come out at the other. That is how I have my dance. Elands are there. Giraffe are there. Gemsbok are there. Kudu are there. These things don’t kill each other. They are god’s possessions.” K’xau, Botswana 1971 Waterholes such as this one and those referred to by //Kabbo, were above all important because it was at such places where the spirit world could be accessed that rain-making rituals were performed (Deacon 1988; Dowson 1992, 2002). 64
Mythology In 1838 J. E. Alexander reported the belief in a water bull which lives in certain deep pools. In the early 1870s Wilhelm Bleek and Lucy Lloyd recorded the belief that the rain existed as a supernatural being which was personalised in the form of a Water or Rain Bull (Hoff 1998), a widely occurring element in many other African and also European cultures (Schmidt 1979). The rain creature has been described as a rain bull or a rain cow, as a water thing, as a doctor, and also a medisyn-affere or a medicine-thing. The water creature has also been portrayed as rather small in size (the size of a calf) and as either red or brown, blueish, or black in colour. Many descriptions suggest a strong resemblance to cattle while others are more suggestive of an animal comprised of a series of features linked to game animals (Hoff 1998). Although the true abode of the !Kwa:-ka xoro (animal of the rain/water) was the sky, it regularly descended to the earth in either a cloud or in thick mist. During such an episode it preferred to inhabit sources of water (either deep pools or shallower and seasonal goras in which seepage water collected) atop mountains where it was quiet and where medicinal and aromatic plants grew abundantly. The Water Bull also inhabited and moved between different pools. When it moved it caused the abandoned pools to dry out (Hoff 1998; Solomon 1997; Lewis-Williams & Pearce 2004b). “The men go near the place at which there is water, for they know that the water-bull is in that water.” Diä!kwain, Mowbray, 1875. The manufacture of rain was founded and entirely dependent on the capture and slaughter of such a rain animal. The capture of the rain creature, which was carried out by rain-shamans or !Kwa:-ka !gi:ten, usually at night time, was followed by the ritualistic slaughter of the rain animal atop a nearby hill (Lewis-Williams & Pearce 2004b). “Then they go and sling a thong over the water-bull’s horns, they lead it out, they make it walk when they have slung the thong over its horns. They make it walk along and kill it on the way, that the rain may fall. They cut it up, and rain falls at the place where they threw it down.” “… the medicine men cut up the water-bull…” “… they seize and break the rain’s ribs…” /Han≠kass’o, Mowbray, 1878
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The rain animal, which could be either male or female, or manifest as an eland, was killed atop a high hill so that the blood and milk of the animal, which was the rain, could flow down the hillside, fall from the sky, and nourish the parched earth below. “… you must please go and cut the rain at the great waterpits which are on the mountain … I will really ride up the mountain on top of which I always cut the rain. It is high, so the rain’s blood flows down, for the Flat Bushmen live on the plains…” //Kabbo, Mowbray, 1872. In conjunction with the associated engraved context and the remarkable acoustic and echoic character of this space, the occurrence of the waterhole at Klipbak I is highly suggestive of the social and ritual significance of the physical space it occupies and the spiritual place it embodies. The implication of this meagre-looking and seemingly inconsequential pool is further explored in Chapter Five.
Figure 3.27. The parched pool prior to the summer rains.
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Buchu Various species of plants opt for a chemical approach towards defence against browsers and insect infestation, and accordingly they produce a range of chemical compounds such as alkaloids, phenolics, and terpenoids, all of which are strongly aversive or even toxic (Brewer 1998). The fragrant properties according to which humans select particular plants for particular purposes in consequence derive from the presence of toxic secondary compounds such as menthol, camphor, borneol, anethole, eucalyptol, crotofoline and terpineol, all of which originate from the manufacture of volatile and exceptionally aromatic but also potentially lethal terpenoids. The use of an aromatic plant known as buchu in an array of medicinal and ritual contexts, but more particularly for placating the often hostile Water Bull or !kwa-ka xoro, is well documented in the ethnographies of both the !Kung and /Xam San (Bleek & Lloyd 1911; Bleek 1933; Schmidt 1979; Hoff 1998; Lewis-Williams & Pearce 2004a). The particular method of preparing buchu for use was to pound up the selected plant parts into a fine powder. According to the /Xam it was customary for all people approaching a water source to powder their bodies with buchu, and upon arrival at the source, the buchu was sprinkled over the water to greet and appease the Water Bull (Hoff 1998). The !Kung San also made use of a number of highly aromatic plant species for the purpose of curing and healing during trance ceremonies (Hewitt 1986). The aromatic plants were prepared by first being roasted in a tortoise shell after which the charred remains were ground to a fine powder. The powdered ingredients were once again placed in a tortoise shell or pouch, mixed with marrow and fat, and a glowing coal was added to produce smoke medicine (_!go n/um). The smoke, which had strong medicinal properties, was wafted over the person being healed. The inhalation of the smoke also assisted people in entering a trance state (Marshall 1969). When bearing in mind that buchu, Agathosma betulina (figures 3.28 a and b below) is rather restricted in its natural distribution and that it only occurs in the mountains of the Western Cape, it becomes apparent that in the existent ethnographies, both the !Kung and the /Xam informants must in actual fact have been referring to an entire range of aromatic species of plants which were used for the abovementioned purposes.
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A great multiplicity of aromatic plant species are to be found atop the Klipbak hill, of which Tarchonanthus camphorates (mohata, vaalbos, wild camphor) and Croton gratissimus (maquassie, bergboegoe, lavender croton) are the most prominent (van Wyk et al. 1998; van Rooyen 2001). There is sufficient historical and pharmaceutical evidence to verify the narcotic and convulsive effects that the dried leaves of T. camphorates would have had in the event of it being smoked by the San (Watt et al. 1962; Watt 1967; Geddes & Grosset 2001). Similar evidence exists for the extensive use of C. gratissimus by the San, according to which the powdered leaves, in similar fashion to real buchu, were used as a perfume or to treat fevers, coughs, chest complaints, rheumatism, oedema and a number of other ailments. The inhalation of such aromatic molecules, either orally or nasally, is the most effective method of introducing the aromatic and soluble phytochemicals directly into the cerebral circulatory system (Geddes & Grosset 1997; van Wyk et al. 1998). Another species which is well known for its medicinal and hallucinogenic properties and which occur prolifically in the hills of the Korannaberg is Boophane distichia (gifbol, bushmen poison bulb), a bulbous plant of which the dry bulb scales are used to treat a myriad of ailments and infections (Watt et al. 1962; Smith 1966; van Wyk et al. 1998; Pujol 1990; Lewis-Williams & Pearce 2004a). Additional aromatic species present atop the hill include Artemisia species, Cleome kalachariensis, Cornocopus integrifolius, Dimorphotheca polyptera, Eriocephalus merxmuelerii, Galenia africana, Helichrysum argyrosphaerum, Hermannia burchelii, Hirpicium echinus, Lagerra decurrens, Orthanthera jasminiflora, Rhus tenuinervis, and Sesamum triphyllum. In light of the discussion on the use and distribution of the aromatic plant referred to as buchu, it seems reasonable to assume that the species listed above may well have met the requirements for a sweet-smelling aromatic pseudo buchu which could effectively be utilised during curing rituals. “The people give him buchu to smell, and he sneezes the lion out.” /Han≠kass’o, Mowbray, 1878 The term buchu may thus be viewed as a general one which is used in reference to a range of aromatic or fragrant species of plants. According to Andrew Sherratt (1991), the close association that exists between such aromatic and medicinal plants and the ritual uses they were put to suggest that they had a principally symbolic and ritually oriented significance not related to everyday subsistence needs and activities.
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Figure 3.28 a. Agathosma betulina (van Wyk 1997).
Figure 3.28 b. Buchu leaves (van Wyk 1997).
In addition, a considerable amount of ethnographic and historical evidence exists for the significant role of the olfactory sense in both !Kung and /Xam San society (Bleek & Lloyd 1911; Bleek 1933; Marshall 1969; Hewitt 1986; Deacon 1988; Hoff 1998). The association between the sense of smell and cosmological and spiritual concepts feature prominently in many hunter-gatherer societies. For instance, the Ongee people of the Andaman Islands do not consider smell as an isolated sense but as a fundamental cosmic principle; the nose is the place where the spirit resides, odour is the source of personal identity, and it too much or too little of it may give rise to life or even cause death (Watson 1999). An engraving of an elephant with a substantially elongated trunk in the region from which //Kabbo came exemplifies the worth of the human nose and sense of smell in San society. It is interpreted to symbolize the significance and importance of the nose of the medicine man who used it to sniff sickness out of patients during ritualised curing or ‘snoring’ (Hewitt 1986; Deacon 1988). Fragrant aromas and perfumes, with the help of two tiny sensory organs located in our upper palates, the vomeronasal organs, serve a diversity of functions and act as signals that carry multiple messages and help recall distant memories. Recent studies have illuminated our understanding and perception of the role of odours, aromas, and smells in everyday life; floral scents assist volunteers in performing puzzle-solving tasks up to 17% faster, and aroma engineering in Las Vegas casinos has been shown to increase customer optimism and so the willingness of clientele to gamble by as much as 51%.
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Furthermore, flooding offices with sweet scents assist proof-readers to drastically improve their accuracy and efficiency, and a hint of menthol in the changing rooms significantly increase the ability of athletes to prepare adequately for important events (Watson 1999). “…the rain loves buchu very much, for buchu is what it smells. It glides quietly along when it smells things which are unequalled in scent.” /Han≠kass’o, Mowbray, 1878 Apart from the supernatural potency (n/um) possessed by certain plants (Marshall 1969), it is also evident that the !khwa-ka xoro was extremely fond of sweet-smelling and fragrant things. It chose to reside in places characterised by fragrant scents and aromatic vegetation on which it could graze during the night. Apart from strewing buchu over the water it could also be burnt on coals in order to pacify and appease a potentially hostile water bull. As young girls resembled and smelt like flowers, the water bull would pursue them relentlessly and in addition use its own fragrant scent to gain their affection (Bleek & Lloyd 1911; Bleek 1933; Marshall 1969; Deacon 1988; Hoff 1998). “…the rain scented her, and the Rain went forth, on account of it…” “…and she lay, smelling the Rain’s scent, while the place was fragrant…the Rain’s scent it was. The people say there is no scent as sweet, hence the people say that it is fragrant.” /Han≠kass’o, Mowbray, 1878 The contrary was also true. Pungent and smelly things such as ‘dirty’ or ‘contaminated’ people, for instance pregnant or menstruating women or people who have been treated with malevolent medicines, could cause great offence to and therefore aggravate the !khwa-ka xoro. In the event of burning the outer sheaths of antelope horns in order to disperse severe and life-threatening weather, an act which generates large amounts of pungent smoke, the !khwaka xoro may even be put to flight (Hoff 1998). It is evident that fragrant smells have an unconscious but tremendous impact on our moods, abilities, body chemistry, and also body odour. The proliferation of sweet-smelling and aromatic plants atop the Klipbak hill contributes greatly to the situational and ritual significance of this place. The abundance of these aromatic species is believed to relate to the occurrence of numerous abraded surfaces which may have been utilised for and consequently result from the mechanical processing of aromatic species for medicinal and ritual use. 70
Abraded surfaces Abraded and smoothed surfaces are commonly found on horizontal rock faces and in conjunction with other forms of engraved imagery at Klipbak. Determining the precise mechanisms by which these surfaces were produced remains complicated, but many appear to correspond with the polished engravings referred to by Butzer and Fock (Butzer et al. 1979). Smoothly abraded surfaces exhibit particular qualities most characteristic of surfaces which were employed in the grinding, pounding, or crushing of vegetable and other organic or inorganic substances. They appear to have been produced by rubbing and grinding down the rock surface and they also display the shallow and predominantly semi-circular concave forms as described by Fock. In addition to these easily recognisable abraded and smoothed forms there is another type of smoothed surface present at Klipbak I. The rubbing and smoothing of certain engraved rocks by human tactile action has been reported from a number of sites (Ouzman 2001). Rubbing or touching powerful places and engraved depictions of supernatural beings allowed people access to the potency inherent to such places (Lewis-Williams 1995; Ouzman 2001; Lewis-Williams & Pearce 2004a). These smoothed areas may occur either singly or in clusters. Grinding surfaces have been recorded from Middle Stone Age, Later Stone Age, and Iron Age contexts in southern Africa, and while some are easily identifiable the majority are amorphous in nature and cannot be assigned to any particular historical or cultural context (Deacon & Deacon 1999). In Australia a large amount of ethnographic and historic information on the utilisation of grinding surfaces is available and researchers are thus able to recognize the distinct products of past functional and subsistence-related activities (Smith 1988; Taçon et al 1997). Seed foods constituted a vital source of amply available and dependable plant foods for aboriginal groups in Australia, and of the some 140 species of plant foods available 75 species were exploited for their seeds (Smith 1988). In southern Africa comparatively few accounts of the utilisation and morphology of such grinding hollows exist. Dunn (1931) provides a description of how the San gathered the larvae of a particular ant species and also the grass seeds collected by the ants. The seeds were ground up on a flat rock and then made into a kind of porridge by boiling it in a clay pot.
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Additional information on grindstones is provided by Cooke (1964). Not including grinding surfaces ascribed to metal-working Bantu-speakers, Cooke refers to a series of circular grinding hollows on an isolated and flat rocky outcrop near Plumtree. The surrounding area is not at all suited to agricultural activities and no settlement structures indicative of the settlements of Bantu speakers are present in the immediate vicinity. With this in mind, it may be necessary to consider the potential uses to which such grinding surfaces may have been put to by hunter-gatherer groups in southern Africa. H.P. Steyn (1984) performed an ethnobotanical study among descendants of the N/hu who had once inhabited the region. None of the informants had any knowledge of the use of wooden mortars and pestles for the grinding and crushing of plant foods, and all were familiar only with the use of grindstones for this purpose. An impressive array of plant foods, all of which required some degree of crushing or grinding before fit for human consumption, was regularly consumed by the inhabitants of the region. Tsama melons (Citrullus lanatus), gemsbok cucumbers (Acanthosicyos naudiniana) and numerous additional cucurbit species provided a vital source of water, nutrient-rich seeds, and roots which were eaten and used to treat a range of ailments. The fruits and berries of a number of woody plant species, such as Grewia flava, Ehretia rigida, Boscia foetida, and Rhus marlothii were pounded and could be eaten either as a dry powder or as mixed with the gum from various Acacia species, with honey and the flesh of young Cucumis africanus cucumbers, or mixed in water with honey to brew a type of sweet beer. Additional subsistence studies have provided equivalent information on the utilisation of plants which requires pounding and grinding to facilitate efficient consumption (Heinz & Maguire 1967). According to the !Kõ of the Tavatshwane valley in south-western Botswana, the crushed leaves of three species of Talinum, three members of the Oxogonum genus, and of Pentarrhinum insipidum provides them with a green salad-like source of food. The bulbs of Caralluma knobelii and Dipcadi longifolium, which may be eaten either green or roasted, are also crushed and pounded into a fine mash before being consumed. In similar fashion to the N/hu, the !Kõ also made extensive use of the crushed and ground seeds of the exact same plant species.
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The abraded surfaces at Klipbak I appear to comprise two fairly distinct morphological categories; those which display either a concave elliptical or spherical shape and which occur in numbers on even horizontal surfaces (the smooth abraded forms of clusters 10, 12, 14, and 15), and those which are generally amorphous in shape and concavity and which tend to occur mostly singly on uneven and irregular surfaces (clusters 3, 11, and 20). Cluster 3 (figure 3.29 below) is comprised of a single smoothed surface situated atop a one meter high upright stone pillar which is located between the rock gong (cluster 2) and the engraved boulder (cluster 4). The smoothed surface is principally amorphous in shape and concavity and measures 295 mm in length by 345 mm in breadth. Apart from a small number of prominent scratches, no peck-marks are visible and it seems most likely that this surface was smoothed by means of prolonged touching or rubbing with a soft and non-abrasive material.
Figure 3.29. The smoothed surface atop the stone pillar labelled cluster 3.
Cluster 10 measures 270 cm by 220 cm and contain a total of twenty three shallow abraded surfaces ranging from 135 mm to 120 mm in length and 150 mm to 105 mm in breadth. The abrasions are essentially elliptical (almost spherical) in shape and concave (bowl-shaped) in cross-section with a depth of no more that 9.5 mm as measured from the uppermost part of the outer rim of the form.
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The abrasion of these surfaces differs from that of the engraved cupules and circular designs in that they are smoother in appearance (containing hardly any discernable pits or peck marks) and that their surfaces display no conspicuous striations. These concave elliptical forms are essentially even and smooth in appearance.
Figure 3.30. Redrawing of cluster 10 (extract a).
There is no clear and consistent pattern of superpositioning discernable in the placement of the banded circular designs and the elliptical and concave abraded forms (figure 3.30 extract a above). The elliptical abraded surfaces may be either overlain by circular designs (features 1 and 2), or partly cover circular designs (feature 3). Abraded forms are also positioned above or below other abraded forms (feature 4). An additional extract from cluster 10 (figure 3.31 extract b below) substantiates the notion that there is no regular pattern regarding the positioning of circular designs, abraded forms, and cupules. Abraded forms are either positioned on top of circular designs (feature 1) and cupules (feature 2), or underneath cupules (feature 3).
74
Figure 3.31. Redrawing of cluster 10 (extract b).
The precise processes responsible for the fabrication of these elliptical concave surfaces are uncertain. However, in view of the wide-ranging subsistence and ritual uses to which plants were put, and in view of the general morphology of these surfaces, the suggestion that they result from the continuous and intensive processing of edible, but more importantly medicinally and ritually utilised plant materials, seems highly plausible. The variation in the placement and superpositioning of circular designs, abraded forms, and cupules furthermore suggest that the creation of these engraved forms spanned an extended period of time during which no particular form or activity enjoyed preference to the extent of the exclusion of other engraved forms. As rock art sites were re-used for ritual purposes and engraving over many centuries, they would have, over extended periods of time, acquired increasing numbers of engraved images (Morris 1988; Lewis-Williams 1995; Lewis-Williams & Pearce 2004a). Moreover, such sites would have also acquired increasing numbers of engraved forms indicative of activities related to subsistence and ritual.
75
The mechanical preparation of buchu by means of crushing and grinding (Bleek & Lloyd 1911; Bleek 1933; Schmidt 1979; Hoff 1998; Lewis-Williams & Pearce 2004a), is one such formal procedure associated with ritual activity which may have been responsible for the formation and incidence of these elliptical concavities. Although little ethnographic evidence exists for the precise means by which rain was made, in particular of the use of various medicines and powders, the consultation of Tswana ethnographies may provide additional insight into the preparation and employment of such medicines during rain-making. A tremendous degree of correspondence exists between the rainmaking beliefs of the San and many Tswana-speakers (Schapera 1971; Ouzman 1995). The principal tools used by most southern African Bantu-speaking rainmakers were grindstones, on which different medicines were ground up to a fine powder, and clay pots in which these concoctions were thoroughly mixed and made ready for use (Aukema 1989). The positioning of the abraded surfaces at Klipbak I amongst other engraved forms (figure 3.32 below) may provide substantiation to the notion that these surfaces and the activities of which they formed a crucial part were in fact related to the greater sphere of formalised ritual activities, most possibly the manufacture of rain, as carried out at Klipbak I.
Figure 3.32. Redrawing of cluster 10 (extract c).
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Cluster 11 is located next to the water source and is comprised of four amorphously shaped smoothed areas. There are additional clusters which display the concave elliptical or spherical shapes which tend to occur in numbers and on even surfaces. These abraded areas are scattered across the site and are much more isolated in terms of position and association with other engraved imagery. Their wide distribution and their isolated positions within the site may be indicative of the secretive nature of the activities, which may have included the preparation of curing or even rain-making medicines, in which they were implicated. Cluster 12 is comprised of two smooth hollows of approximately 140 mm and 170 mm in diameter, Cluster 14 contains a single smoothed hollow which measures 165 mm across, and Cluster 15 is comprised of one elliptical smooth hollow measuring 185 mm across. The final cluster which contains an abraded area is Cluster 20 which consists of a solitary and amorphouslyshaped smoothed area of approximately 300 mm in diameter. Because of their positioning on flat horizontal surfaces and characteristic grindstone-like morphology, the concave elliptical abraded areas examined and discussed above seem most likely to result from the mechanical processing of vegetable matter. In light of the discussion on the use of buchu in a myriad of medicinal and ritual contexts, and in the context of the waterhole and the prevalence of highly aromatic species of plants atop the Klipbak hill, I suggest that we can refine the range of likely substances to that of aromatic powders which were probably used in the contexts of rain-making and trance dances. Conversely, the attainment of a satisfactory explanation for the existence of the ubiquitously occurring cupules at Klipbak is much less straightforward.
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Cupules Due to the extensive occurrence of cupules at Klipbak I, a total of eight hundred and fortynine, only the most comprehensively engraved clusters, namely clusters 1, 9, and 10 are selected for discussion. The outstanding clusters (clusters 2, 13, 14, 15, 16, 20, and 21), which are jointly comprised of only twenty-four cupules, are noted and discussed briefly. The engraved cupules vary in size from 1.50 cm to 10.50 cm in diameter with a mean range of 3.50 cm diameter and a mean depth of 80 mm.
700
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Figure 3.33. Cupule frequency per cluster at Klipbak I.
Cupules may be described as cup-shaped marks which occur prolifically and which have been recorded from Europe, the Americas, Asia, the Pacific region and also Africa (Taçon et al. 1997; Taçon & Ouzman 2002). The cupules from Australia and South Africa appear to be the oldest forms of rock art and the fact that they are always placed underneath other forms of engraving or painting, that they possess thick silica skins, and that there is an almost complete lack of ethnographic evidence relating to cupules provides substantiation for this claim (Taçon & Ouzman 2004). In South Africa cupules readily occur in close association with other forms of engraved art such as animal and human figures and also geometric images. The lack of ethnographic information on the manufacture and significance of cupules makes it difficult to come to a satisfactory interpretation of these engraved forms, and it should be expected that their significance and meanings varied substantially cross-culturally.
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Australian ethnographic evidence provides some indication of the motives involved in the manufacture of cupules, but this information cannot simply be applied to the occurrence of cupules in other parts of the world (Flood 2004). There are strong indications in Australia that the rock dust arising from the pounding and pecking of the rock may have been of tremendous significance. It appears as if there are strong beliefs that the dust resulting from the percussive action involved in the creation of these forms is of supernatural significance as it contains the life-essence of supernatural beings residing within the rock. This notion may thus explain the occurrence of cupules on the rims of ledges and the edges of rock shelters and vertical walls in Australia (Flood 2004). In consequence, cupules are in this instance perceived as a form of gestural rock art, where it was the action involved which was of greater significance than the resultant by-products left behind, namely the cup-shaped non-utilitarian marks or cupules. It may, in seeking some degree of rationalization for the occurrence of cupules in southern Africa, be necessary to take into account the importance of the rock face and its role as a veil which connects this world and the spirit world (Lewis-Williams & Dowson 1990; Woodhouse 1990; Dowson 1992; Lewis-Williams & Pearce 2004a). The spirit world behind the rock face could be reached, most generally during trance, via the natural cracks and crevices in the rock face. It is possible that, if demanded by exceptional natural or social circumstances, people resorted to more deliberate and practically forced forms of entry into this supernatural realm. The pecking and pounding of the rock face, a process which, although unintentionally, would have resulted in the production of cupules, would in such cases have formed part of this act of forced entry into the supernatural realm. The tendency for cupules to occur in close proximity to sources of water may also be related to a means of facilitating entry into the spirit world. Analogous to the way in which the rock face was perceived as a permeable veil through which shamans could cross into the spirit world, waterholes also functioned as points of cosmological breakthrough through which the spirit realm could be accessed (Lewis-Williams 1998; Dowson 2002; Ouzman 2002; Solomon 2002). The pounding of rock faces adjacent to water sources may have functioned as a means of either piercing the veil to facilitate entry into the spiritual realm, or as a means of physically enlarging the visually perceptible surface area, and so the supernatural permeability, of the water source. 79
The cupules from cluster one (figure 3.34 a below) provides an example of how this may have been achieved and how this surface would have been perceived in the event of the cupules filling with water during the rainy season. Several engraved sites also provide evidence for the deliberate flaking of the rock face. It has been suggested that many of these instances may have been related to the acquisition of rock debris for ingestion or geophagy (Ouzman 2001). Reminiscent of the gaining of supernatural powers through the touching of certain places or particular rocks, the ingestion of rock debris from powerful places could also have facilitated the activation of the potency from such places within people. The scars which result from the flaking of rock is obviously indicative of the process of flaking, and it is highly unlikely that the purposeful flaking of the rock face in this case would have resulted in the formation of perfectly round and cup-shaped hollows. Cluster 1 comprises the largest engraved cluster at the site and measures 305.00 cm by 210.50 cm. This cluster contains 611 cupules of which 596 occur on the flat horizontal surface adjacent to the water source and 15 on the vertical surface forming the eastern wall of the cluster. There are also 2 small circular designs engraved amid the bulk of the cupules.
Figure 3.34 a. The cupules comprising cluster 1.
Figure 3.34 b and c, cluster 1.
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Apart from the two engraved forms (figure 3.34 b above) and six squarely engraved cupules (figure 4.34 c above) there are no clearly discernable patterns in the design and placement of the cupules in cluster one. The extract provided below (figure 3.35) measures 58.00 cm by 42.00 cm in extent and is representative of the central portion of the engraved cluster.
Figure 3.35. Redrawing of engraved cupules from cluster 1 (extract a).
Cluster 2 is comprised of eleven circular designs and six engraved cupules. In addition to the engraved cupules and circular designs this cluster, which is comprised of the rock gong, also show clear signs of a remarkable degree of non-representational percussive marks. Cluster 9 is (figure 3.36 below) comprised of one hundred and thirty-one engraved cupules of which eighteen appears as only partially visible. It is uncertain whether this degree of partiality was intentional or whether it results from secondary corrosion related to natural processes. There is a substantial amount of debris visible in a crevice intersecting this slab. It may be possible to acquire a sample of the debitage from this crevice for the purpose of analysis through optically stimulated luminescence. 81
The geochemical nature of these quartz soils renders them especially suitable for the future determination of a relative date for the engraved cupules in this particular cluster (Susino 2005). The extract provided below measures 58.00 cm by 40.50 cm.
Figure 3.36. Redrawing of engraved cupules from cluster 9 (extract a).
Cluster 10 spans an area of 270.50 cm by 220.50 cm and is comprised of a range of abraded areas, engraved circular designs and cupules. A total of 91 cupules are found in this cluster of which five appear as only partially depicted. Clusters thirteen to sixteen and clusters twenty and twenty-one collectively consists of thirty-five cupules which occur either singly, as in cluster twenty-one, or in larger groups of up to twenty as in the case of cluster thirteen. One final possibility is that these forms are, similarly to the abraded surfaces as discussed above, associated with and suggestive of the mechanical processing of highly aromatic and medicinally-utilised species of plants. Their cup-like and almost perfectly round shapes are suggestive of a kind of grinding action comparable to that which one would of expect from a mortar and pestle-like grinding process. However, as the understanding of cupules is largely uninformed by ethnographic or historical material, the interpretation of these engraved forms remains a challenging venture. 82
Chapter4 THE RITUAL SPACE Klipbak and !Khwa For the San, life and survival in the harsh interior region of the Karoo and Kalahari was intimately linked to the availability and occurrence of water. Apart from the subsistence and mythological significance of water, the supernatural status of rain-water in particular is well documented (Bleek & Lloyd 1911; Bleek 1933, 1935, 1936; Lee 1968; Marshall 1969; Biesele 1978; Katz 1982; Hewitt 1986; Deacon 1988; Ouzman 1996; Hoff 1998; Lewis-Williams 1998; Dowson 2002; Lewis-Williams 2002; Lewis-Williams & Pearce 2004a; Lewis-Williams & Pearce 2004b). Among the /Xam the rain, !Khwa, existed as a supernatural force which was personified as an ‘animal of the rain’ or water bull, the !khwa-ka xoro. There was an incessant need to ensure and direct the occurrence of rain, and this crucial aspect of San life was the responsibility of particular shamans who were able to exert some measure of influence over the !khwa-ka xoro. Rain The /Xam San referred to people who possessed special magical powers, namely rainmakers, medicine men or women, and those with an influence over sources of game, as !gi:xa. Rainmakers were said to ‘possess’ rain and game magicians ‘possessed’ certain game animals (Hewitt 1986; Lewis-Williams & Pearce 2004a). A degree of differentiation existed between the rainmakers, or !kwa-ka !gi:ten, and the game-magicians, or wai-ta !gi:xa (the pre-fix wai-ta refers to springbok and indicates the source of potency of a particular game- !gi:xa). Whereas game magicians also fulfilled the function of curers or healers and could be either male or female, the !kwa-ka !gi:ten were almost exclusively male. Healers were capable of cleansing and curing, but the !kwa-ka !gi:ten were, by way of their capacity to influence the occurrence of rain, in command of the entirety of natural and spiritual resources. The sphere of rainmaking therefore belonged to the elder and more knowledgeable individuals in the group (Hewitt 1986). Rainmakers worked either alone or in cooperation with other rain shamans. The process of rainmaking was veiled in secrecy and therefore stood in direct contrast to other shamanistic activities such as healing which was highly social in nature and which took place within the camp (Hewitt 1986; Lewis-Williams & Pearce 2004a; Lewis-Williams & Pearce 2004b). 83
It appears as if each !kwa-ka !gi:xa had a specific and remote place to which he would go to capture the !khwa-ka xoro and perform the rituals associated with making rain, most generally on elevated mountains or hilltops which were closely associated with nearby water sources (Schmidt 1979; Deacon 1988; Lewis-Williams & Pearce 2004a; Lewis-Williams & Pearce 2004b). //Kabbo provides some insight into the nature of the relationship between band members and rain shamans and also on the locations at which rain was normally made. The !kwa-ka !gi:ten were asked by the people to go and make rain atop a mountain at which there was a source of water; “…you must please go and cut the rain at the great waterpits which are on the mountain”. The !kwa-ka !gi:xa responded by stating; “I will really ride up the mountain on top of which I always cut the rain. It is high, so the rain’s blood flows down, for the Flat Bushmen live on the plains”. /Han≠kass’o in addition stated that the !kwa-ka !gi:ten would; “…go and sling a thong over the water-bull’s horns, they lead it out, they make it walk when they have slung the thong over its horns. They make it walk along and kill it on the way, that the rain may fall. They cut it up, and rain falls at the place where they threw it down… the medicine men cut up the water-bull…they seize and break the rain’s ribs…”. Diä!kwain in addition stated that his father, Xatin, had engraved images of gemsbok, quagga, and ostriches at !kann, a place where these animals formerly came to drink (Bleek & Lloyd 1911; Deacon 1988). This provides supplementary insight into the statements by //Kabbo, and /Han≠kass’o concerning the particular places at which the !kwa-ka !gi:ten would go in order to make rain. Additional /Xam narratives verify the belief that the production of rain regularly took place at elevated and north-facing locations, usually in close proximity to a water source (Deacon 1988; Lewis-Williams & Pearce 2004a). The elevated location provided both the secretive setting at which the !khwa-ka xoro could be slaughtered and the high place from which the ensuing rain could flow down onto the parched plains below.
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The water source provided the entrance into the realm in which the !khwa-ka xoro resided and from which it had to be lured by the !kwa-ka !gi:xa, or perhaps several !kwa-ka !gi:ten, the spirit world (Dowson 1990; Lewis-Williams 1998; Dowson 2002; Ouzman 2002; LewisWilliams & Pearce 2004a). The information supplied by //Kabbo, Han≠kass’o, and Diä!kwain provides a chillingly appropriate, albeit not actual, description of the Klipbak hill. The hill meets the requirements for and perfectly fits the description of a location of significant elevation with an appropriate water source in close proximity. In fact, this is a hill with a waterhole. The visual prominence of the hill is furthermore enhanced since it is the first ‘mountain’ one encounters when approaching from the featureless plains of, and the very last to be seen when entering into the vast Kalahari towards the north and west. Engraved metaphors The key to identifying the associations between rock art and the shamanistic beliefs and ritual practices of the San lies in recognizing the metaphors and symbols the San used when they converted their supernatural experiences into engraved images. These visual metaphors are characteristic of numerous forms of religious and secular art and are conveyed by the subject matter and the actions and performances selected for portrayal (Deacon 1999). The San ethnographic collections (e.g. Arbousset & Daumas 1846; Orpen 1874; Bleek & Lloyd 1911; Bleek 1933, 1935, 1936; Lee 1968; Marshall 1969; Biesele 1978; Katz 1982) provide excellent insight into the symbolic and iconic values of the subject matter depicted in San rock art. Apart from the supernatural qualities attributed to giraffe (Marshall 1969; Dowson 1990), the central role of the eland in San society is also acknowledged (Marshall 1969; Vinnicombe 1976; Lewis-Williams 1987; Biesele 1993; Solomon 1997; Lewis-Williams & Dowson 2000; Parkington 2003; Lewis-Williams & Pearce 2004b). Readers will have noticed a certain degree of uniformity in the overall size of the engraved depictions of the five eland-symbols at Klipbak (figure 4.1 below). Because of the supernatural potency of and the social influence projected by the engraved art, and as this was invariably linked to an underlying social and political ideology, the seeming dimensional standardisation of the imagery may be related to and indicative of the nature of the utilisation of the site, quite possibly as a rainmaking location, by either a single or several San raincontrollers. 85
Particular shamans exercised mastery over a single or even several metaphorical images linked to rain-control, and some even worked in co-operation with other rain-controllers at a single rain-controlling site. In any event, the occurrence of a group of images suggestive of raincontrol activities could certainly have reinforced the socio-political influence of the raincontrollers who utilised the location for the performance of rituals associated with the control and manufacture of rain (Lewis-Williams & Pearce 2004b).
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Figure 4.1. Proportional analysis of engraved eland at Klipbak I.
Of the five engraved animal figures at Klipbak I, four exhibit physiological characteristics (dewlaps and general posture) suggestive of the eland-antelope. However, one may perhaps be a depiction of an eland but it lacks a head (figure 3.31 above), one appears to be an eland but with stripes (figure 3.34 above), and one depiction emerge as a mysterious supernatural animal (figure 3.33 above). What is becoming apparent at this point is that each of these depictions is comprised of an amalgamation of both natural (dewlaps and posture) and supernatural (lacking heads and boasting additional lines and stripes) attributes. /Han≠kass’o stated that “…the rain was like an eland … ”, and therefore depictions of eland, even when in seemingly naturalistic form with no prominent or extraordinary features perceptible, are most likely to be depictions of supernatural rain-animals (Lewis-Williams & Pearce 2004b). With this kept in mind, there can be no doubt about the supernatural nature of these eland-like depictions. They are, after all, depicted as in supernatural states.
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The depiction of a bulky bovine figure, which is more reminiscent of a large bull than an eland or any other antelope (figure 3.36), is especially noteworthy with regards rain-making. This figure, because of it being more bull-like and conceivably more antagonistic in temperament, may indicate the existence of two different categories of rain animals at Klipbak. If this is indeed so, it may provide some unforeseen insight into the diverse types of social power in which these images and their producers were implicated. San ethnography provides clear indications of the associations between !kwa-ka !gi:ten and community members and between !kwa-ka !gi:ten and rock art. The /Xam distinguished between two kinds of !khwa-ka xoro, the volatile and feared ‘rain-bull’ and the more docile and communally preferred ‘rain-cow’. While most !kwa-ka !gi:ten were associated with specific types of bulls or cows some could actually exercise a measure of choice involving the attainment of a rain-bull or a rain-cow (Lewis-Williams & Pearce 2004a). In rock paintings the rivalry that existed between !kwa-ka !gi:ten is sometimes expressed in the art and manifest in the varying sizes and vividness of different depictions of rain animals (Lewis-Williams & Pearce 2004a, b). A !kwa-ka !gi:xa could challenge other !kwa-ka !gi:ten and assert his social and ritualistic superiority through, in this case, engraving a larger, more elaborate and more fearsome rain-bull. Through his depiction of his rain-bull, this !kwa-ka !gi:xa daringly stated that he was in fact powerful enough to control the more fearsome rain-bull. It is believed that the depiction of a rain-bull and two transformed human figures in cluster eight (figure 4.2 below) is representative of a particular !kwa-ka !gi:xa and his personal bull-like !khwa-ka xoro. Although not markedly larger or more elaborate than the other engravings, the image itself is certainly more evocative of a truly formidable rain-bull. Within their engraved context the three engraved depictions provide for a visual composition which simultaneously complements and is complimented by the ethnographic accounts and the many painted depictions illustrative of the ritual procedure of rain-making (Bleek 1933; Vinnicombe 1976; Ouzman 1995). Whereas a close association exists between these three images (occurring as a single panel of which the lower part fills with water during summer) they are in effect disassociated from the other engraved images at the site (located some fifty meters from clusters five, six, and seven).
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However, because the areas of rock not engraved were just as important as those areas which were engraved (Lewis-Williams & Dowson 1990; Taçon & Ouzman 2004), the empty spaces among clusters of engravings do not suggest a lack of conceptual or spiritual relationships between engraved images (Lewis-Williams & Pearce 2004a). The physical separation of this cluster, through its disassociation from the bulk of the engravings, may then be more emblematic or symbolic of the secretive nature of the process of rainmaking.
Figure 4.2. The engraved representation of a rain-making group in cluster 8. The scale bar is 50 mm long.
Engraved images functioned as important visual cues to the significance of engraved places, and the imagery at Klipbak lends substantial support to the notion that this location was indeed, although not exclusively, used by a single !kwa-ka !gi:xa or a number of cooperating !kwa-ka !gi:ten for the purpose of making rain.
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The trance experience during which the !khwa-ka xoro was captured and slaughtered was reserved exclusively for the !kwa-ka !gi:ten (Bleek 1933; Marshall 1969; Hewitt 1986; Ouzman 1996; Dowson 2002; Ouzman 2002). Potent aromatic plants were crushed and ground up into fine and powerful medicinal powders which were employed in both enticing the !khwa-ka xoro from its spiritual abode and in placating it to ensure that no !kwa-ka !gi:ten are harmed during the course of its capture. Because the rain-making ritual occurred as both a real social event and as a hallucinatory experience, all the members of the community could partake in the associated and communal trance performances. The social performance of trance dances was tremendously augmented by the presence of a number of unique features. The water source functioned as a portal to the spirit world and the place in which the !khwa-ka xoro resided and provides a tremendous degree of spiritual implication to this place. The engraved imagery, of which the depictions are representative of powerful shamanic figures in dancing posture and of several potencyrich and supernaturally derived animals, served to further exemplify the spiritual status of the space. Of fundamental importance is the occurrence of remarkable acoustic and echoic qualities at Klipbak. The singing of powerful and intoxicating medicine songs and the rhythmic clapping of the women was greatly amplified by recurring and often intensifying echoes which in many cases would have been perceived as surrounding and enveloping the ritual participants. Klipbak consequently also functioned as a communal ritual space in which large numbers of people would participate in communal ritual and ceremonial activities. The social nature of the activities performed at Klipbak and the social space it in effect constitutes is further explored in Chapter Five.
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Chapter5 THE SOCIAL SPACE The social life of Klipbak In concurrence with the Kalahari and contiguous region Klipbak cradles one of the most ancient histories of human life. Preliminary test excavations atop the hill have revealed the presence of large bifacial stone tools which are characteristic of the Acheulian hand-axe culture. Typologically these formally produced stone artefacts date back no less than one million years and in consequence provide convincing evidence for the extensive nature of the human occupational history of Klipbak. The hill was intermittently occupied during the successive Middle Stone Age and Later Stone Age periods for which ample evidence exist in the form of scatters of lithic remains and debitage. Later Stone Age archaeological remains, which includes lithic and ceramic remains, ostrich egg-shell fragments, and a single blue glass bead are reminiscent of the more recent social and cultural history of Klipbak (Deacon & Deacon 1999; Lewis-Williams & Pearce 2004). The extensive occupational history of this site is clearly reflected in the archaeological and the artistic cultural components present. Through an analysis of the engraved art and of the social climate prevailing in the region during the 19th century, by way of an ethnographically and historically informed approach, an improved understanding of the social life of this place can be attained. Ethnographic data also allows us to draw inferences with regards the social and ritual implication of the locational, acoustic, and ecological components of the site. The simultaneous occurrence of these unique characteristics at a single place is remarkable and undoubtedly served to provide the necessary incentive for humans to associate with this place. The identification of the structural remnants of the ritual activities conducted at the site also adds substantially to the understanding of the social and ritual utilisation and significance of Klipbak hill as an extraordinary place within this arid and mountainous landscape. Much has been written about the definition and function of the landscape in hunter-gatherer society and on the various approaches that may be followed in studies concerning the relationship between the natural and socio-cultural landscape and rock art (Bradley 1994; Tilley 1996; Ross 2001; Harley & Wolley Vawser 2002; Whitley 2002; Arsenault 2004; Chippendale & Nash 2004; David 2004; Hyder 2004; Lenssen-Erz 2004; Smith & Blundell 2004). 90
The term ‘landscape’ generally denotes the visually perceptible and physical surroundings which are comprised of natural geological and topographical features. In studies concerned with the occurrence of rock art within the natural environment, the landscape is understood to rather be a socially and culturally constructed phenomenon which is just as symbolic and conceptual in character as it is geomorphological (Ouzman 2001; Arsenault 2004; Whitley et al. 2004). Many anthropological studies have also indicated that various hunter-gatherer cultures attached a significant amount of spiritual and ritual importance to features within the landscape (Deacon 1988; Hartley and Wolley Vawser 2002; Whitley 2002; Flood 2004; Ouzman 2004). Topophilia, the feeling of a strong emotional attachment to familiar places, is a widespread cultural phenomenon (Deacon 1988; Ouzman 1995, 2001, 2002). In this particular case, the notion of attachment to the place in which one lives has already been illustrated to have featured prominently. Upon a closer examination of the folklore and beliefs of the /Xam it becomes clear that at least some landmarks were incorporated into the cosmology and religious belief system of the San. The physical appearance of landmarks was often explained in terms of mythological events, such as in the /Xam song “The death of the Lizard”. According to /Han≠kass’o, who provides an account and a sketch of the events responsible for the occurrence and appearance of the three hills comprising the Strontberg, the formation of the hills took place as a mythical event during which a travelling lizard was sliced into two parts (Bleek & Lloyd 1911; Deacon 1988). In addition, the Bleek and Lloyd informants referred to themselves as Flat Bushmen and Grass Bushmen. These two groups were in turn familiar with the existence of two adjacent groups of people who was referred to as the Mountain (Kareeberge) Bushmen and Hardast (Hartbees River) Bushmen (Bleek & Lloyd 1911; Deacon 1986). The employment of terminologies recounting landscape features such as mountains, rivers, and possibly also vegetation zones in the naming and identification of different groups strongly suggests that the /Xam, and almost certainly many other San groups, personally associated with and was intimately attached to the more prominent geographical features characteristic of the regions in which they lived. The natural environment, through its utilisation as a natural resource, the existence of people within it, and the interactions humans have with it, in consequence becomes charged with multiple and complex meanings (Arsenault 2004). 91
This occurs as the natural landscape is converted into one in which the natural, social, and spiritual is compounded to create a sphere of existence in which these components become intertwined to form a mutually cohesive socio-cultural structure. Meaning is inadvertently attached to the physical places which are regularly visited by people, and this is how cultural and sacred landscapes are formed. The addition of engraved imagery over time greatly enhanced the supernatural status of such sites, and in due course places of exceptional supernatural influence and potency were created. There exists little evidence for the occupation and utilisation of Klipbak by other linguistic and cultural groups. It has been established that the engraved art at this site conforms to what is generally referred to as San art and that the archaeological remains are indicative of the presence of people who subsisted primarily by way of hunting and gathering. However, the ceramic remains and blue glass bead recovered at the site provides some evidence for interaction with other groups, possibly Khoe herders, Bantu-speaking agro-pastoralists, and conceivably also early European settlers. By the conclusion of the 17th century the social complexity in the region had increased immensely and the social, economic and political presence of influential Tswana-speaking groups such as the Rolong and the Thlaping could no longer be ignored by resident huntergatherers (Humphreys & Thackeray 1983; Hall 1987; Hammond-Tooke 1993). Bantuspeakers across southern Africa are acknowledged to have regularly employed San ritual specialists for the purposes of healing and rain-making (Wilmsen & Denbow 1989; Maggs 1995; Ouzman 1995; Hammond-Tooke 1998; Lewis-Williams & Pearce 2004a), and as a result many diverse social, political and also religious elements were equally transmitted to and assimilated by both hunter-gatherers and farmers (Ouzman 1995). The fact that there exists no local knowledge or memory of Klipbak as a place of spirituality may indicate that, prior to the evaporation of such local familiarity, a comprehensive shift towards the manufacture of rain for local Tswana-speaking communities occurred. The influx of European farmers complicated the situation even further, and after the 1850s the extermination of the San in the region reached new heights (Hewitt 1986). In a manner akin to the state of affairs in the southern Drakensberg Mountains during this period (Hammond-Tooke 1998; Blundell 2004; Lewis-Williams & Pearce 2004a), the manufacture of rain for Tswana-speakers may have increased substantially in both its importance and incidence. 92
The depletion of natural resources and the loss of land resulted in a near-complete loss of traditional means of subsistence for local San groups. San communities along with their ritual specialists and rain-makers were forced to seek alternative means of survival, and the production of rain, an ability and form of spiritual competence exclusive to San !kwa-ka !gi:ten, fitted perfectly into this newly developed niche. With the increase in ritual performances for and the collection of payment from local farming communities, the engraving tradition of Klipbak gradually faded away until it had dwindled to little more than a vague memory of a spiritual place atop a nearby hill which once inspired powerful San rain-shamans. Klipbak does not appear to have been incorporated into and consequently utilised as place of ritual activity by local Tswana-speaking communities, such as is the cases of nearby engraved sites like Thaba Sione (Ouzman 1995, 1996), Matsieng (Walker 1997) and perhaps even Kinderdam (Ouzman 1995). In fact, it is most probable that the ritual focus which once resided in and at Klipbak was transferred to larger and more accessible locales such as Thaba Sione and Matsieng. These engraved places still feature prominently in the religious and political routines of the Tswana-speaking communities amongst which they occur (Ouzman 1995; Walker 1997, 1998). Janette Deacon (1988) provides a most appropriate précis of the inferences that can be drawn from the topographic situation and the cultural substance of this particular place. The enduring nature of rock engravings and their positioning at specific places within the landscape is suggestive of a culturally motivated cognitive process which involves carefully calculated attempts to mark the landscape. The extensive choice of potential sites and the selection of only a small number of specific places suggest that the choice of a site for engraving was purposeful and therefore meaningful. In similar fashion to several engraved sites in Australia (Flood 2004), Klipbak as a place of enhanced spirituality may have come into being precisely because of the occurrence of a number of unique physical and supernaturally interpretable features atop the outcrop. The elevated position of the site, the presence of a water-source on the hill, the prevalence of unique acoustic and echoic qualities in a protective basin, and the occurrence of an assortment of aromatic and medicinal plants atop the hill provides for an exceptional compilation of geomorphological, aquatic, acoustic, and floral components which are especially prone to supernatural perception and interpretation. 93
The ensuing performance of ritual activities and the addition of supernaturally derived and potency-rich engraved imagery further served to enhance the spiritual and religious significance of this place. Regardless of the secrecy in which rain-making was normally concealed, the depiction of rain-animals at large sites where there is more than enough space for and much archaeological evidence of extensive social and ritual activities is not unusual (Lewis-Williams & Pearce 2004b). The occurrence of engraved imagery depicting a number of !khwa-ka xoro along with the structural remnants of the trance dances which once took place, at a single location, is more remarkable. It provides for an increasingly complex portrayal of the activities which formerly took place at this place. In concurrence with the criteria and categories provided by a classificatory system for the schematic-structural categorization of rock art sites (Lenssen-Erz 2004), and as per the conclusions reached in the above discussions of Klipbak, we may endeavour to construct a brief yet expressive and meaningful classification of the Klipbak rock art site. Klipbak I may be classified firstly as a prominent landmark site (a solitary and visually prominent elevated locality), secondly as a place where public secular (aggregation camps) and public religious (informal and formalised rituals such as curing and trance dances) activities were conducted, and thirdly as a place where private and secluded religious activities (rain-making rituals) were performed. It is evident that although Klipbak I was utilised primarily for communal religious and secretive shamanistic purposes, this was not done to the total exclusion of ordinary and secular activities. The site is believed to have also functioned as a venue for aggregation camps and for the many associated and primarily socially-oriented activities such as hxaro gift exchange, marriage brokering, and communal hunting and feasting which took place during these gatherings. Klipbak is but a single engraved site within this region. Numerous smaller- and also largerscale engraved locations are scattered across the hills of the Korannaberg and its isolated outcrops towards the west. A comprehensive survey of the region and the application of technologies linked to the Geographic Information System may ultimately expose the existence of patterns in the distribution of engraved sites. This could enhance our understanding of the placement of such ‘links in the landscape’ and may reveal the deliberate and therefore cognitive arrangement and management of social and ritual activities within this natural and cultural landscape. 94
Appendix Engraved imagery from Klipbak II Klipbak II comprise the upper section of the cluster of two engraved sites atop the Klipbak hill and is situated at S 27º 09′ 576″ and E 22º 32′ 037″ with an elevation of 1 259 m. The site is located some 130 meters north northwest of the Klipbak I engraved site and covers an area of 240 m². The National site number allocated to the site by the South African Heritage Resources Agency is 2722 BA 002. 180 153
160
frequency
140 120 100 80 60 40 20 0
17 0
0
1
human
animal
abraded
circular
cupules
image category Figure A.1. Numerical proportions of engraved imagery at Klipbak II.
The engraved imagery at Klipbak II is comprised of seventeen circular designs and one hundred and fifty-three cupules. There is a single amorphously shaped abraded or smoothed area, and no engraved depictions of human or animal figures are to be found (figure A. 1 above). The site was subdivided to consist of eight clusters of engravings. Cluster 1 contains six engraved circles of approximately 8.00 cm to 15.00 cm in diameter and of which four are linked. Cluster 2 is comprised of two engraved circular designs which are positioned some 55 cm apart in a shallow impression in the rock. Cluster 3 includes four eroded and isolated panels which are comprised of one hundred and eleven engraved cupules. The engraved rock face is heavily eroded and many cupules are only partially visible. Cluster 4 is comprised of a single engraved cupule. 95
Cluster 5 consists of an amorphously shaped smoothed area adjacent to the water pool. Cluster 6 is comprised of thirty-nine cupules and six banded circular designs of which one measures 9.50 cm in diameter. There are also a total of seven solidly engraved circular designs. These are not concave in appearance and shape like the cupules but level and smooth in form. Cluster 7 includes two engraved cupules. Cluster 8 is comprised of a smooth and substantially eroded horizontal rock face. The entire slab is covered in cracks and lines, many of which are most likely to have been engraved. This is a favoured rolling and dustbathing spot for Mountain zebra which frequent the area and which consequently contributes to the gradual erosion of the imagery at the site.
Figure A.2. Site plan of Klipbak II.
Although and most probably because this location affords the visitor a breathtaking vista view of the surrounding area there are no substantial echoic qualities to be found here. The water source is also less striking visually and much more limited in capacity. The subject matter depicted at this site and the extensive erosion of the engraved rocks suggests that the imagery may perhaps predate the engraved art and range of activities at Klipbak I. There is a small cavernous shelter to the east of and behind the water source. A thick archaeological deposit, which contains lithic artefacts and debitage characteristic of the Middle Stone Age, occurs at the mouth of the shelter. 96
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