The Sunday News
Phineas Chauke
THE San people are the earliest known inhabitants of Southern Africa. They were nomadic hunter-gatherers who were famed for, among other things, making incredible, age-defying impression on rock surfaces depicting their daily lives and the things they interacted with or used within their environment.
Wild animals, however, dominate San rock art and this seems to suggest that the animals were a highly significant resource in their lives. Not every member of the San community would participate in creating these impressions on rock but it was the prerogative of skilled artistes.
Some of the figurines in some of the art, however, are complicated and may not have an obvious interpretation. Such figurines are suspected to have been painted by the spiritually sensitive members who would be in a trance and artistically presenting what they would be seeing in the spiritual realm.
In Zimbabwe, rock art is mostly on granite rock inside caves, boulder faces, overhangs and rare rock slabs. It is important to note that rock art is not necessarily paintings but rock engravings or a combination. For the paintings, a variety of pigments were used resulting in the fine images that have outlived many human generations and provided a very important window to peek into the past. Some of the pigments were derived from blood, ochre, tree bark and sap, eggs, urine and soil. The pigments used, however, tend to differ from place to place, probably on the basis of what was available. Some of the paintings are monochrome (one colour), some bi-chromes (two colours) and yet others are poly-chromes (with multiple pigments applied).
Apart from learning about the things that were happening in the past, rock art has inspired conservation efforts and aided identification of suitable animal habitats in restocking exercises through observing the animals represented in each area. It is also very significant for tourism. The Matobo Hills have one of the highest concentrations of rock art in Southern Africa, with about
4 000 to 5 000 rock art sites, 20 000 paintings and about 100 000 individual figures according to Paul Hubbard, a renowned local archaeologist.
Rock art is vulnerable heritage resource that needs to be preserved. However, there is a myriad of challenges and threats to its conservation. Those rock art sites situated outside protected areas are even more endangered. Unscrupulous people vandalise rock art through graffiti while some start fires within rock art sites. Heat speeds up weathering and also burns pigments while the smoke will obscure the visibility of the art. Dust is another serious problem, since it accumulates over time on the rock surfaces, covering the art. Mass tourism and archaeological excavations have been fingered as among the chief culprits when it comes to raising the dust in rock art sites.
Mass tourism and research have also been blamed for depleting rock art through over exposing it to harsh photographic light deforestation has diminished the windbreaks at some rock art sites and this has left rock art exposed to the raging winds which also deposit dust on the painted surfaces. Biological factors that negatively impact on rock art include birds and bats droppings over the art, especially inside rock shelters, algae, wasp houses and sweat. Rock weathering and salt encrustation are some of the geological processes threatening the continued existence of these ancient images. It is everybody’s obligation to conduct themselves responsibly around rock art. This heritage existed for centuries before us and it would be a grave vice against humanity if we were to be the generation to vanquish it from the face of the rocks.
Phineas Chauke is a Tourism Consultant, Marketer and Tour Guide. Contact him on mobile +263776058523, email: [email protected]
