What Events Do South Africas Famous Rock Paintings Depict?
Unlike the rock art of Europe, which concentrates on aspects of the hunt, the African artists showed great interest in man and recorded his activities of daily life—some tragic, others humorous. The Bushmen engaged in hunting, fishing and dancing, and played primitive musical instruments. They held religious ceremonies and, yes, they got drunk, too. Although the artists’ observations of animal and insect life were outstanding, they excelled in portraying human activity. Hunting scenes are numerous, since the search for food took up most of a family man’s working day. The women usually are depicted carrying the digging sticks with which they searched for food. But occasionally they also joined in the dance. At times the artist treated his subject in a somewhat light-hearted way, and one such scene shows the elated hunter giving a sign of victory as he flings his arms wide open and presents to his fat wife the rewards of his working day—three dead buck. Another picture depicts a successf
