South Africa
Ancient rock art heritage is most visible in the uKhahlamba-Drakensberg Park, which is a monument to the San hunter-gatherers, who lived there from the Stone Age until the late 19th century - a 4 000-year occupation.
San artists used red, orange, yellow, black and white, derived from mixing clay, burnt wood and ochre oxides.
Living in the sandstone caves and rock shelters of the Drakensberg's valleys, the San made paintings that Unesco describes as "world famous and widely considered one of the supreme achievements of humankind … outstanding in quality and diversity of subject and in their depiction of animals and human beings … which throws much light on their way of life and their beliefs.
"The rock art of the Drakensberg is the largest and most concentrated group of rock paintings in Africa south of the Sahara, and is outstanding both in quality and diversity of subject."
Originally roaming freely throughout southern Africa, the San were forced to take refuge in the mountains with the 13th-century migration of Bantu-speaking people into the region and, later, European colonisation. San culture disappeared from the Drakensberg at the end of the 19th century.
The artists used red, orange, yellow, black and white, derived from mixing clay, burnt wood and ochre oxides. The paintings have a documentary aspect, showing the San interacting with one other and their environment. Hunting scenes are common. The subject-matter changed with the arrival of the settlers from the north and the colonisers from Europe.
The oldest painting on a rock shelter wall in the Drakensberg dates back about 2 400 years, but paint chips at least a thousand years older have also been found. |
