South African Archaeological Society

Rock Paintings of the Drakensberg by A. R. WillcoxReview by: A. J. H. G.The South African Archaeological Bulletin, Vol. 11, No. 44 (Dec., 1956), pp. 113-114Published by: South African Archaeological SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3886592 .

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THE EROSIVE CROCODILE

The other day I was handed some worn stone implements by Mr. R. Schultheiss of Windhoek. The implements are of Magosian type and come from Mohembo on the lower Okavango in Bechuanaland Protectorate. There is nothing peculiar about them and, as we already know the occurrence of that industry from Sambio (B. D. Malan, S.A. J. Sci., 1949), they would not perhaps be worth mentioning in the Bulletin were it not for the unusual circum- stances under which they had been acquired. They were found in the stomach of a crocodile that was shot in the presence of Mr. R. Schultheiss. There are no stones either on the bank nor in the river for fifty miles around.

As the Okavango is still unexplored as far as pre- history is concerned, future field-workers should be warned in fixing a 'site' where implements are found. Crocodiles need stones to help their digestion and seem to be apt to obtain them from considerable distances. The crocodile hunter told Mr. R. Schult- heiss that he thinks that crocodiles get their stones from as far as Andara or even Angola.

Dr. G. J. Fock. Windhoek.

ARCHAEOLOGICAL SURVEY

In my article 'Archaeological Survey in Southern Rhodesia' published in the last number of the Bulletin, I inadvertently overlooked the use made of distribution maps by Prof. A. J. H. Goodwin in his paper 'The Bored Stones of South Africa' (Ann. S. Afr. Mus., vol. xxxvii, 1947) and I must express my regret to members and my apology to Prof. Goodwin for omitting to refer to it.

Bored stones, like rock-art or ruined buildings, are a form of antiquity which attracts popular attention. Consequently it is far safer to draw deductions from maps of their distribution than it is from maps of implement sites, which, if used uncritically, are often little more than indications of the areas of activity of prehistorians.

Roger Summers. National Museum, Bulawayo.

REVIEWS

Willcox, A. R. Rock Paintings of the Drakensberg. Max Parrish, London. 80s.

We welcome what is certainly a great advance both in photography and in the reproduction of our South African cave art. Mr. Willcox has presented us with no less than seventy-six reproductions of murals and their environmental setting. The two areas he has chosen lie in the mountains west of Ladysmith and Estcourt, and those about Matatiele, areas imme- diately north and south of the great Basutoland massifs. The plates have been reproduced by roto- gravure in Holland, and the letterpress and binding have been added in Britain, yielding a very pleasant result. The green-blue range of colouring is a little too intense, but, whether this is a fault in the film employed or an attempt to bring the dull greens of Africa into line with the more intense greens of Europe, the effect is by no means unpleasant, nor does it detract from an excellent piece of work.

One can see vividly the texture and softness of colouring so typical of our painted galleries, the almost pastel shades painted upon equally delicately tinted rocks. The effects of the palimpsest, differences in sequences of style, the variety of artistry and of aim, the unclarified and uninterpreted paintings as they really are, are all truthfully reproduced in this excellent series of plates.

The first attempt at a true-coloured reproduction of a painting was the Zaamenkomst slab, printed

from a most accurately tinted photograph made in the South African Museum, and issued as volume XIV, part iii (1927), of the Transactions of the Royal Society of South Africa. It is still available. This suffered from a slight 'chalkiness' in the colour of reproduction. In 1948 Walter Battiss produced a fine volume, con- taining perfect colour reproductions of a few original paintings and several copies made by the brush of an outstanding artist. With the new facilities provided by colour photography Mr. and Mrs. Willcox have taken their cameras into the towering mountains of the Drakensberg, and have captured the spirit and actuality of the art of our cave-dwellers. The task has been by no means easy. Quite apart from the arduous effort of transporting the essential equipment for photography and camping up these immense ranges, the selection of a suitable exposure for an unevenly lit painted shelter, and the high proportion of rejects that must necessarily have resulted, make the result as seen in this volume a very great achievement.

Following an appropriate introduction by the late Professor C. van Riet Lowe, the text covers such subjects as terrain and task, the origins and history of the Bushmen, the history and archaeology of the Natal Drakensberg, terms and techniques, sites, the age of the paintings, the possible presence of foreign figures, the relationship between the paintings and both primitive and child art. In all the author has made a very good job of this comprehensive field; in a

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pleasant style, devoid of overmuch technicality and trimmed of much of the jargon of artistry, he has covered the ground pleasantly and readably.

There are certain criticisms that should be made in this Bulletin, where we expect an open forum, but they do not detract from the work as a whole. The name Kahlamba has no intrusive t.

The story of the coming of the Bantu is the popular one, resting upon certain incorrect deductions based in part upon reasonably correct historical fact. The dating of the coming of the Bantu is fairly certainly considerably earlier than many would like to think, though the density of population before the appearance of American crops was certainly low. Local tribal movements have too frequently been accepted as dating the first appearance of the Bantu in our land. The description of a handful of stone implements is inadequate and in a jargon difficult for even a prehistorian to understand. This might well have been left out, or undertaken more thoroughly and conventionally. Implements and paintings are of little interest in themselves, it is the evidence linking them that has a real value.

Apart from such technical criticisms as we have enumerated, this book can be recommended as a part of our true South Africa, representative, clear, lovely and in all a most workmanlike production. The price works out at about a shilling or so for each reproduction; hardly a high price for such exquisite plates.

A.J.H.G.

Grollenberg, Rev. Fr. L. H. Atlas of the Bible. Nelson, 1956. 70s.

The Middle East lies at the very heart of the great trefoil of Old World continents; an area never free from wars, the focus of the clash of three great divergent traditions, the birthplace of three great language families and of civilizations since the Neolithic Revolution. The constant physical and cultural turbulence that belongs to this area has always demanded relief in some real philosophy of life, a philosophy of death and a philosophy of co- existence. It is therefore hardly surprising that the Middle East gave rise to three great religions, Judaism, Christianity and Islam, together with a few minor ones, such as Parseeism, that have hardly shaken the world. Each of these was in part a product of its time and its harsh environment. The story of Abraham is deeply bedded in droves of she-asses,

camels, goats and cattle. The Mosaic period begins with the angry destruction of the old emblem of a cattle-cult, the golden calf, then continues as a religion of corn, oil and wine, Christianity arose to meet the simple needs of town-dwellers, fishermen and small-farmers. Islam grew out of the philosophy of the nomadic austerities of the horse- and camel- keeper with its focus in rich trading cities; a harsh philosophy of power, riches, brigandage, trade and commercial rivalry. All three arose in a single environmental area, the edges of the desert, and each grasped the appropriate aspect of that austere yet fundamentally kind ecology.

Father Grollenberg has succeeded in bringing out this interplay of civilizations, languages and cultures in a most amazing atlas. Whether we happen to approach the Bible story with the pride of Judaism, the complacency of Christianity, the disinterest of agnosticism or the deeply religious proselytizing spirit of atheism, there is much profit in this atlas. Illustrated by 407 photogravure reproductions and 37 delicately tinted maps, the pattern of biblical archaeology is astonishingly clarified. Obviously the illustrations have been chosen as perfect examples of the realization of stark, naked, clear-cut truth. The barren wilderness, the Tel that marks the fallen city, the pathos of an isolated tree that supplies a landmark for miles around, the deep descent to the Dead Sea, the loneliness and dispiriting isolation that allowed time and space for theological brooding, are all re-created here. Where Egypt, Hellenism or Rome impinged upon the scene the story is told in scenes of grandeur, cold architecture and power, stressing the formidable weight of great civilizations lying athwart the simpler pattern of life in the Middle East.

The clear and pleasantly designed maps are chronological. Two basic maps, the modem states and the journey of St. Paul, provide end-pages. Printed clearly over the pastel tints of each map are fascinating notes telling what happened at each spot in the appropriate period. Helpful cross-references from picture to picture and from these to the maps and the Bible, an excellent expose of the Bible story, and useful prefaces, introductions and forewords by men of outstanding scholarship, make this English trans- lation of the Dutch original into an indispensable work of reference. Clearly expressed in word, map and picture, pleasant to the eye and strongly bound in cream linen, this book provides a mine of useful information from the beginning of the Bible story to the finding of the Dead Sea scrolls.

A.J.H.G.

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