Ancient drawings by the San (Bushman) people can be found all over Southern Africa. The bushman or San paintings are one of the Drakensberg's and South Africa's greatest cultural treasures. The oldest paintings are approximately 26,000 years old, amongst which master-pieces can be seen, and are about the same age as cave drawings in southern Europe. Some of the interpretations are disputed.
Researchers claim that some of the rock paintings probably depict shaman of the San calling for rain, attracting herds of antelope or revealing enemies. In this ecstatic state, they believed that they are transformed into another being, probably an eland antelope (a holy animal) or the mysterious rainmaker animal. When shamans painted an eland, they didn’t just pay homage to a sacred animal; they also harnessed its essence. They put paint to rock and opened portals to the spirit world.
Subjects of the bushman and San paintings range from animals (mainly eland) to humans, therianthropes to ox-wagons and mounted men with rifles. The San people lived in the Drakensberg area for thousands of years before being exterminated in clashes with the Zulus and white settlers.
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| Eland painting by the San |
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