Overview

This title presents a survey of the virtually unknown rock art of the Central Limpopo Basin. It comes from the belief held by some traditional Bantu-speakers that the San can 'capture' animal spoor and bewitch it in order to ensure hunting success. Infused with the passion, this is the first book of its kind to discuss the rock art of cultural groups other than the San. It carries the story of the rock engravings and rock paintings of Limpopo, northernmost South Africa, into the present by describing the work of four distinct cultural groups: the San, Khoekhoen, Venda and Northern Sotho, and, most recently, people of European descent. It is the first substantial body of work from South Africa to focus on an area outside the Drakensberg, which has become synonymous with 'southern African rock art'. Although the book focuses on a specific region, it introduces anthropological information from the Cape to the greater Kalahari region. The text is interspersed with first-hand accounts of Kalahari and Okavango San beliefs and rites, and discussions with traditional Bantu-speaking peoples. A distillation of 14 years of field surveying and research in the Central Limpopo Basin, the book targets the general reader who would like to know more.

Full Product Details

9780864866790

Table of Contents

Reviews

In the night, on the hill, while the grown-ups slept and the children lay listening to the sounds that only darkness brings, the leopard ran quiet as a secret, down the stone path through the wooden gateposts that gave off the sharp odour of bitumen, and between the rows of lettuces and spinach where a vegetable garden grew neatly in the damp soil and the air held the fragrance of mint and parsley. Passing the boundaries of the garden she followed a footpath that lead through a thicket of poplars and wild wattles, and upwards towards the top of the hill. Beyond that, the mountain rose through the mists, the back of a sleeping monolith turned against the night sky and the moon. From a granite ledge on the mountain she had a wide view of the farmlands and the gum tree forests, the white house on the hill and the green valley they called Ezulwini, the Place of Heaven.

Author Information

The foreword by Dr Janette Deacon, rock art researcher, author, and former head of archaeology National Monuments Council.

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