Africa Antiqua: Mysteries of the Dragon Mountains

The Drakensberg Mountains of KwaZulu-Natal are not only the last area where rock art was painted before the artists disappeared into the mists of time, but it is also the area with the greatest density and diversity – and quality – of rock art sites and images in Southern Africa, if not the world. There are more than 500 recorded rock art sites containing an estimated 40 000 hand-painted images in the Ukhahlamba-Drakensberg Park alone. Kamberg’s Game Pass Shelter, with its awesome images of men and eland, is acknowledged as being one of the top five prehistoric rock art sites in the world, and is the most impressive site open to the public. These evocative and haunting images entrance scholars and tourists alike with the mysteries that surround their creators and their significance.

 So many mysteries

Even the name of the people who painted these images is open to debate. Should they be referred to as the San or the Bushmen? Once considered the more acceptable term of reference, the word “San” is actually the Khoi word for “vagabond” or “outcast”, so this is surely inappropriate. Once considered derogatory, “Bushman” is now the accepted name for the remaining small, scattered groups of Southern Africa. Strangely enough, Bushman descendants have no single name for themselves, except sometimes the Red People, and yet, in their language, red and yellow are similar words, so perhaps this is actually the Yellow People? No one really knows.

 Even traditional ideas about their appearance are flawed. Not all Bushmen are diminutive and yellow-skinned, with high cheekbones and oriental eyes. The first German missionaries to the Drakensberg recorded that the tribes in the area, who called themselves Bushmen and who painted the rock art of the Drakensberg, were tall with dark (black) skins, although small, yellow-skinned Bushmen also visited these tribes.

 No one really knows who actually did the painting either. Evidence suggests that it was the medicine men or those with knowledge of healing and the supernatural within the tribe, sometimes referred to as shaman. It is almost certain that the artists were men, and from the standard of the work they would have been trained artists with the ability to vividly recall, imagine and reproduce their subjects.

 A lost art form

The rock art of the Drakensberg dates from about 4000 years ago (sites found in the lower ‘berg) to about 8000 years (in the middle/upper ‘berg), although, because of weathering and erosion, older images may have vanished over the centuries. The most recent paintings date from the late 1800s to early 1920s, with images of horses, guns and wagons attesting to their more recent creation. There are tales of the last Bushman artist being shot in about 1880, but surviving Bushmen descendants talk of two shelters, one in the Transkei and one near Bushman’s Neck, Underberg, where rock art was painted in about 1920.

 Today, however, the skills are lost, the creative spirit dead. Before they moved away, were assimilated into neighbouring tribes or were hunted down and killed like vermin, the Bushmen of the Drakensberg were the last rock image artists.

The art itself

Although the rock art of the Drakensberg is described as prehistoric, it should not be seen as primitive and simplistic. Techniques used, such as foreshortening, perspective and the ability to paint animals in three-quarter view, combined with impressive naturalism and masterful brushwork, reflect skills and sophistication not seen in the early art of civilisations such as the Egyptians and Greeks.

 In primitive art, large groups of men and animals are painted in stereotyped form, almost identical. However, in Bushman art every animal is individually painted, differing from others in form, detail, action and size, although less attention is paid to human forms: faces are often featureless shapes, although the female form is differentiated with breasts clearly shown. Humans are usually engaged in a specific group activity: hunting, dancing, and fleeing from dangerous beasts, while animals may be portrayed singly and in static poses. There are also frequent images of ‘therianthropes’ or half-human, half-animal creatures, even half-man, half insect, as in the image of a half-man, half-praying mantis near Highmoor.

About 40% of the ‘berg rock art paintings are of animals, with the majority (70%) portraying antelope, and of these, more than half depict the largest of the antelope found in the area: the eland. However, smaller creatures, which were most definitely seen and hunted by the Bushmen, such as rock rabbits (‘dassies’), porcupines, mongoose and small rodents, are seldom depicted. The artists appear to have been very selective in their choice of animal subjects, with the eland and reedbuck being the most frequently found images. The fact that these animals appear so often, while other, more commonly hunted animals do not, seems to indicate that they held a special significance for the Bushmen.

Techniques and materials

Of all Drakensberg rock art, more than half is in one colour (monochrome), with red the favoured colour, followed by black, white, orange, yellow and brown. Studies show that older images were painted using mostly red, which was used less in later paintings, possibly as more pigment sources were discovered, giving a wider range of colours. Animals were often painted in colours different to their actual colour – an elephant might be painted in red, for example. Later paintings show skilled shading, with a gradual blending of one colour into another.

 The fact that so many rock art sites survive is testimony to the quality and durability of the materials used by Bushmen. Pigments were mainly mineral oxides, with colours darkened by burning the oxides over open flame. Black came from charcoal or burned bone splinters, white from bird droppings, clay or zinc oxide. The pigments were ground to powder and then mixed with fat, animal blood, plant sap or egg to produce a semi-liquid and surprisingly durable medium. ‘Paints’ were stored in the horns of a small antelope – a Bushman shot in the Cape in the 1800s had ten such containers hanging from his belt, each containing a different colour.

To apply the paint, artists used brushes and tools made from the hair of the black wildebeest and eland, reeds, and possibly feathers and sharp pieces of bone. Of interest is that Bushmen artists seem to have ‘primed’ their work surfaces (rock faces in overhangs or caves) to create an even surface for painting, applying a layer of paint as a base. In the case of two-colour images (bichromes) or multi-coloured pictures (polychromes), the other colours were applied, leaving the base colour (usually white) to show through.

Size of the images varies from larger-than-life (over six metres) to miniscule (dots representing insects), with little consistency of scale, which seems to vary according to the artist and the size of the available work surface. However, relative scale is common: where men and animals appear together, their size in relation to each other is quite accurate. Background detail is rare, with almost no depictions of scenery or plantlife. Another absence in Drakensberg rock art is the lack of symbols found elsewhere in the world, such as spirals, grids, circles and other shapes, and hand prints, which are found at sites in the Cape, Gauteng, Namibia and Zimbabwe. The rock art of the Drakensberg shows animals and people, mythical creatures and objects such as hunting tools/weapons and other implements of their lifestyle.

Spiritual or factual images?

Which leads to another aspect of ‘berg rock art still hotly debated by academics: is Bushman rock art spiritual or factual in its imagery? According to Frans Prins of the Maloti Drakensberg Transfrontier Project, who has close contact with Bushmen descendents living in the Drakensberg, the debate is likely to remain open.

He says, ‘I believe that it cannot be settled as there are no Bushman artists alive today, although Kerrick Ntusi, one of the oldest living mountain Bushmen, can remember his grandfather and great uncles painting rock art in Lesotho, and his initiation master painted in Underberg. The first rock art scholars tried to interpret images by studying the pictures, and seeing if patterns could be established in what was painted. But this still gave no real insight into why the images were painted, and what they were showing.’

Other academics see all rock art as being spiritual and/or symbolic, painted by the tribal shaman to explain visions and sensations experienced in a trance state. However, Frans believes that Bushman rock art is both spiritual and factual/narrative, and could have been painted by group leaders or shaman for educational/demonstrative/narrative purposes for the rest of the group.

Bushmen have a holistic view of life, and the spiritual element is just one aspect of life for them. They see animals as having an inherent spirituality, which, in artistic interpretations, can be both literal and spiritual’. He explains that there are rock art scenes which are clearly narrative in content, showing men on horseback wearing western clothes and carrying weapon-like ‘sticks’ or guns over their shoulders. He believes that a trance state is not necessarily part of the artistic creation process.

Preserving our legacy

The fact is that we will probably never be able to answer all the questions about our rock art. What is certain, however, is that this is a finite treasure that can never be replicated, revealing a mystical and lost way of life for a people we no longer know. Never touch or deface these images in any way. Should you know of significant rock art sites not known by the experts, contact the Natal Museum Rock Art Department for advice (they will probably come to evaluate the site if it is new). And when you look at these multi-hued scenes of men, beasts and other-worldly creatures, think awhile of the artists who left their mark on those rocky canvases so long ago. Thank heavens they did – their art is almost all that’s left of a vanished race and culture.