As an added dimension to the walks and hikes of South Africa, many of the most beautiful and scenic areas conceal some real cultural treasures in the form of rock art and cave paintings. The stunningly detailed paintings and engravings of the Bushmen (or San - a Khoi word meaning vagrant), form an essential part of anyone's understanding of southern Africa, it's history and peoples.

The cave paintings of Bushmen artists has in the past been misinterpreted as merely depicting daily life or at most serving as a form of sympathetic magic - the idea that by painting animals before a hunt would ensure success.

Fortunately we are able to move away from these stereotypes now that current rock art research is focused on finding out how the Bushmen themselves responded to these images. The Bushmen have been all but exterminated over the past two centuries by genocide and the loss of land rights. However by turning to 19th and early 20th century records for information on Bushman concepts, beliefs and cosmology, researchers are beginning to unravel some of the cultural significance and meanings conveyed by these images.

From these studies it emerges that the Bushmen had a multilevel view of the cosmos. The rock-face upon which they painted, was itself believed to be a veil between this world and the spirit world. By entering an altered state of consciousness during a communal dance, shamans were believed to activate a supernatural potency which enabled them to move between these levels - performing such diverse tasks as curing the sick, making rain and controlling animals.

Although the association of Bushmen art with shamanistic practices is not fully understood, many of these enigmatic images become more comprehensible when viewed in the light of universal psychotropic experience. The dots, zig zags, nested 'u' and geometric shapes are derived from entoptic phenomena (bright pulsating forms 'seen' in certain altered states of consciousness). Also depicted are therianthropic figures - half human half animal; elements such as potency that were seen by shamans only; rain animals whose potency was harnessed to create rain; images of running and flying; and a range of other fantastic experiences.

The rock art of southern Africa is the art of a people who have survived in this landscape and developed their culture over a period of 27 000 years - probably more. In it's richness and complexity, it stands today as testament to the depth and scope of their religious and cultural beliefs. Becoming more apocalyptic in nature, the later (most recent) images may be seen as an attempt to deal with the encroaching pressures of other cultures, scenes of violence and malevolent beings perhaps attesting to a traumatically altered psyche.

It is doubtful if we will ever fully understand the true function and meaning of these images. Perhaps it's more important that we try to understand them. In so doing, we may just learn a little something of ourselves, as we catch a fleeting glimps of the Bushman soul.

Further Reading:
1. Dowson, TA & Lewis-Williams, D. 1994. "Contested Images" Witwatersrand University Press.
2. Lewis Williams, D & Blundell, G. 1998. "Fragile Heritage: A Rock Art Fieldguide". Witwatersrand University Press.
3. Lewis-Williams, J D. 1990. "Discovering Southern African Rock Art" David Philip Publishers.