Because of the conquest of modern civilization and weapons, perhaps the Bushmen do not have a future, and we may be the last generation to know them and understand their spectacular, unparalleled rock paintings.
The Bushmen were originally spread out across the vast southern part of Africa. Until 100 years ago the Bushmen still lived a life very similar to that of the Later Stone Age.
In recent years, the few existing Bushmen who have been scattered along the edge of the desert live like their primitive ancestors did.
The Bushmen found pleasure in painting on rock. These paintings give detailed descriptions of various species of animals found several hundred years ago: which animals are easily hunted, and how and where to hunt them. It's only through these paintings that we can get a glimpse of the living conditions of these hunting people.
These rock paintings are like the diary of hunters which silently record a lost culture and history.
No one knows the precise number of rock paintings the Bushmen left behind, but a museum located in Capetown, South Africa, once did research into this matter, and discovered that there are nearly 3,000 sites where rock paintings can be found.
Most of these rock paintings are concentrated in the Drakensberg mountainous area in the central and southern parts of South Africa. These old sites located in the hollows of cliffs also served as home for the Bushmen. They chose to dwell in caves in high positions which made it easy for them to detect their enemy very early. Moreover, by living in such dwellings they didn't have to fear disastrous floods. The caves also served the function of shielding them from wind and rain.
On the walls of their homes they would paint their culture and outside invaders. Some of these paintings are very realistic while others only depict strange pictures causing many people to ponder over their meaning.
Scenery and vegetation are very seldom seen in their paintings. Animals and men are the main theme of most paintings, including recognizable animals, mysterious creatures, and black and white invaders. From the standard artwork of the Later Stone Age, all the perspective drawings, including some certain three-dimensional paintings, tell us that the culture of that time had already developed to a rather advanced level.
The Bushmen, like other people, feared death. They believed that the soul and the physical body were two separate things and that the soul of the deceased could be reborn into the body of an animal, so this type of animal was a totem feared most by them.
Before the soul could be reborn it had to take to the air. The process was depicted by a small bird flapping its wings, like an angelic animal which has died or was on the verge of death.
From the religious rites in the paintings we can see that they expressed great fear in uncontrollable natural phenomena like wind, rain, thunder, and lightning. The major religious ceremony was the rain prayer and the celebration of the harvest. The offerings often consisted of sacrificing snakes and water buffalos which were considered to possess mysterious powers. The Bushmen believed that the killing of these animals would bring about a short period of rain.
The major material for their paintings consisted of metal oxides, iron oxide being the most commonly used. The use of metal oxides could produce red, blue, and yellow colors, and if heated, the colors would multiply. Black coloring was obtained from charcoal or from bone ashes. Besides, the Bushmen obtained white coloring from clay, bird droppings, or zinc oxide matter.
It's a pity that the last artists of these rock paintings vanished about 100 years ago. Their rich application of colors in painting, their techniques, and their imagination will remain forever in the art galleries protected by rocks for people to admire for a long time to come.(Text and photos by Arthur Cheng/based on material from Panorama magazine and The Drakensberg Bushmen and Their Art/ tr. by Stephen Rabasco)
In a mountainous region in the southern part of Africa there's a tribe of people known as the Bushmen. What we seldom have an opportunity to come in contact with is the unique rock painting art they created during the Later Stone Age in which they lived.
Because of the conquest of modern civilization and weapons, perhaps the Bushmen do not have a future, and we may be the last generation to know them and understand their spectacular, unparalleled rock paintings.
The Bushmen were originally spread out across the vast southern part of Africa. Until 100 years ago the Bushmen still lived a life very similar to that of the Later Stone Age.
In recent years, the few existing Bushmen who have been scattered along the edge of the desert live like their primitive ancestors did.
The major material for their paintings consisted of metal oxides, iron oxide being the most commonly used. The use of metal oxides could produce red, blue, and yellow colors, and if heated, the colors would multiply. Black coloring was obtained from charcoal or from bone ashes. Besides, the Bushmen obtained white coloring from clay, bird droppings, or zinc oxide matter.
It's a pity that the last artists of these rock paintings vanished about 100 years ago. Their rich application of colors in painting, their techniques, and their imagination will remain forever in the art galleries protected by rocks for people to admire for a long time to come.（Text and photos by Arthur Cheng／based on material from Panorama magazine and The Drakensberg Bushmen and Their Art／ tr. by Stephen Rabasco）
