Drakensberg Rock Art

The Drakensberg (Afrikaans for "Dragon's Mountain") are the highest mountains in Southern Africa. In the Zulu language they are referred to as uKhahlamba ("barrier of spears"). A remnant of the original African plateau, the Drakensberg mountains are formed from sandstone with a cap of basalt.

Water and wind erosion cut into the plateau, producing an extraordinary and almost unique landscape of distinctive formations and colors, dominated by extremely steep cliffs. Since sandstone is easily eroded, these cliffs contain numerous caves and overhangs.

In the Drakensberg caves are thousands of spectacular rock paintings produced by the Bushmen. This represents the largest collection of rock paintings in Sub-Saharan Africa. The Drakensberg became a World Heritage Site in 2000 acknowledging and preserving these cultural treasures.

Bushmen came to the attention of the contemporary Western world in the 1950s by South African author Laurens van der Post, with his famous book The Lost World of the Kalahari, which was made into a television series. In more popular culture, the 1980 comedy movie The Gods Must Be Crazy portrayed a tribe's first encounter with an artifact from the outside world (a Coca-Cola bottle).

Bushmen are also well-known throughout the world for their spectacular cave paintings, thousands of which can be seen preserved in the Drakensberg caves. These date back thousands of years, although many times the same rocks were used over and over with the result that more recent paintings cover the ancient art. The purpose and understanding of these paintings, although originally not realized by Europeans who first discovered them, has never been lost to the Bushmen.

The Drakensberg caves are home to thousands of rock paintings, the creative outpourings of the Bushmen culture over thousands of years. Originally thought by Europeans to be primitive, crude representations of hunting scenes, lacking perspective and three-dimensionality, these artworks gradually became appreciated for their exquisite color and fine detail.

These ancient paintings often include hunters and animals such as rhinoceros, elephant and a variety of antelope species, particularly the eland which remains a contemporary inhabitant of the region. For decades Europeans believed that though beautiful, these paintings were no more than simple portrayals of hunter-gatherer life.

Finally, however, the spiritual side of these paintings was revealed. Paintings were discovered that showed how hunters gained power from the animals that they killed. Anthropologists decided to interview current Bushmen who confirmed that these paintings represented evocation of a spiritual power.

Contemporary Bushmen have confirmed that a number of paintings represent shamanistic practices. They show shamans stretching out their arms over a fire in a fashion believed to open a portal to the spirit world and evoke power for the hunt.

• San Rock Art - Website about Drakensberg
• San Rock Art of South Africa - The San Bushmen of southern Africa on Bradshaw Foundation website