Symbolism, aesthetics, and narrative in rock art

Abstract

A San (Bushman) rock art site in the Free State Province of South Africa is considered by local inhabitants to depict specific historical events of the nineteenth century. This chapter describes the paintings and dispels these ‘romantic’ myths. Using ethnographic evidence, albeit with a healthy dose of Clegg-like caution, it is argued that the site is not a mere ‘narrative’ of actual events but rather a symbolic manifestation of the cosmological belief systems of the San.