Responsible behaviour at rock art sites

• Site visits are at own risk and one must always ask permission to visit sites.
• There is a R50 fee per person.
• Archaeological vandalism carries a R1 000 000 fine and 2 years’ imprisonment.
• Please report vandalism or new sites to the National Museum’s Rock Art Department on (051) 447 6273 or rockart@nasmus.co.za
• For 25 more Public Rock Art Sites visit www.nasmus.co.za

The Therainthropes

The Hunt

The Enigma

ROCK ART

What is Rock Art

Rock art is visual imagery painted onto or engraved out of a rock surface.  Thus, we have 2 types of rock art.  There are rock paintings such as the ones found here at Schaapplaats and you also get rock engravings.  Rock art is an archaeological artifact that tells us about its makers – who they were, when they lived and what they thought. 

How old is the Bushmen Rock art

Schaapplaats has rock paintings made over many, many years. The youngest paintings are those in the bright colours and they are less than 600 years old. The darker paintings such as the herd of eland are older than 600 years. 

What did the Bushmen use for paint

Red paints were made from ferrous oxide – a type of rusted ironstone. This ironstone was ground to a fine powder and mixed with animal blood and fat. Plantsap and egg whites were used to bind the paints.

Yellow paints were made from hydrous ferrous oxide.

White paints were made from clay, bird droppings, calcrete and bone.

Black paints were made from manganese and sometimes charcoal.

Vegetable dies were obtained from local plants.

More about the Rock Art at Schaapplaats

South Africa has over 30 000 Bushmen rock art sites.  Since the Bushman rock paintings site of Schaapplaats was featured in the Illustrated London News in 1933, the Schaapplaats rock paintings have captured the popular imagination for their beauty and the glimpse they give into the life and religious practices of the Bushmen communities who once lived there.  Not only are the rock paintings important, the whole landscape with its animals, people, plants, special places and unexpected surprises like Schaapplaats’ dinosaur footprint, provide a richer understanding of our past.

There are three painted panels here that are worth a closer look.

Panel 1 – The Therianthropes
Roughly in the centre of the shelter are two groups of ‘Therianthropes’.  Therianthropes are part-human, part-animal creatures.  They are not depictions of hunters wearing masks but represent Bushman shamans or priests who have partially transformed into animals.  This transformation is part of the a belief that certain animals contained a supernatural essence or potency that could be used to heal, make rain, control the movements of animals and ensure the well-being of Bushman society.  In order to use this potency, shamans had to become one with the animal.  It is thus no accident that the Therianthropes are located next to a group of five beautifully painted eland (Taurotragus oryx) – the most sacred and potent animal in Bushman religious belief.

Panel 2 – The Hunt
Contrary to popular belief, paintings of hunts are very rare because Bushman rock art was not about what people saw and ate, but about what they thought and believed.  Hunting was both a physical and a symbolic activity.  Bushmen believed that when an animal was killed it released its supernatural potency, creating a dense spiritual atmosphere.  Here at Schaapplaats The Hunt, which depicts a hunter taking aim at a Grey rhebuck, is painted to the left of the Therianthropes.  Significantly, the animal heads of the Theriantrhopes are also Grey Rhebuck, thus establishing that the Therianthropes are shamans who have utilized rhebuck potency.  Because of this and the fact that the Grey rhebuck are notoriously bad-tasting, this painting is more likely to depict a symbolic than a real hunt. Behind the ‘hunter’ there are two more Grey rhebuck and at least five arrows.  The grey paint is extremely rare.

Panel 3 – The Enigma
At the southern end of Schaapplaats there are some brightly coloured paintings.  There are two bright orange buck, one of which is an eland.  Above the other buck there are some bright red smears.  What are these?  Is the lower smear a supine human figure?  Are the smears fakes or do they represent an as yet unidentified theme in Bushman rock art?  We do not know the answer to this enigma and it makes us realize that any attempt to understand Bushman rock art takes years of dedication.