Mythological Creatures

The numerals show a variety of mythological creatures. These include a strange winged creature, a horned snake as well as birdmen and men with the heads of bulls. The double-headed snake is a massive painting, measuring almost 7 foot in length. According to mythology, the thrashing of a snake-god to reach the sea resulted in the Fish River Canyon. The rain-bull was supposed to spit out rain over the countryside. This image recurs at several sites.

Animals

Although the painting of people is simplistic and stylised, the same does not hold true for the painting of animals. The detail in the animal paintings is equalled in very few places in the world. A characteristic that is unique to South African rock art is the technique of foreshortening. The animals are painted in profile, 3/4 view and from behind. This technique is executed with great skill. I have included several excellent examples of this. The Eland is an animal that features greatly in the art of the San. So much so, that they are also known as The People of the Eland. This animal was very prevalent in the area at the time, and no doubt formed a major part of the diet of the San.

A peculiarity of the art is that the horns of the animals were always painted as if the animal was viewed from the front. (Very much in the way the ancient Egyptians always painted 2 left legs!) The two wildebeest are excellent examples of this technique. The fat-tailed sheep shows that the San did not only hunt for their meat, but also kept some domestic animals.

A very interesting fact emerges when analysing the animal paintings. If one should ask anybody to draw a profile of an animal e.g. a horse, the horse usually faces left if the artist is right handed and vice versa. The artworks of the San show that more than 60% of the animals face towards the right, indicating that the artists were left-handed. This means that either the San was predominantly a left-handed people as a whole, or that the artists were mostly left-handed. This theory fits nicely with the current thinking that the right hemisphere (that controls the left hand) of the human brain is the artistic hemisphere.

The People

The depiction of people is definitely not as detailed as the animals, but there is such a variety in these images that we can glean a lot about the daily life of these people. Running is depicted by an almost horizontal position of the legs. The human figures are detailed enough that we can see the clothes they wore for example cloaks and headdresses.

Women are not depicted as frequently as men. The images show them at their daily routine, caring for the children, cooking, digging for edible roots. The women all show the large buttocks and thighs so typical of the San, called steatopygia. Obviously this was a physical characteristic that was more likely to ensure survival in times of drought and famine.

A lot of the male figures are shown with a semi-erection. This is a physical trait peculiar to the San, called "penis rectus". This characteristic helped with cooling and heat dissipation in the very hot summers experienced in South Africa. A recurrent image is that of one or more crossbars across the penis. The meaning of this is unclear, but it is theorised that the foreskin was adorned with ornaments like pieces of bone and feathers. The figure shown above is an excellent example. He also displays very elaborate body paint. The current fashion for body piercing is nothing new, it seems!

Several tableaux of hunting scenes are depicted in the rock art. I include one where the hunters are using a trap to catch an unsuspecting duiker. They also used disguises of animal heads and skins.

The weapons they used for hunting and fighting varied. I include examples of knobkieries, assegais, as well as bows and arrows. Wars were waged between adjacent tribes over hunting grounds, as well as between the San and the local black tribes. The above image is taken from a large mural depicting such a war. This image clearly shows a woman trying to restrain her man from joining the fray. The mural shows the fight in detail, including wounded, bleeding and dismembered warriors.

Another frequently depicted theme is that of dancing and making music. is depicted with frequency. It is mostly the males that danced, while the females sat by by, clapping the rhythm.

Of course this font only includes a very small sample of the art as I only used images that leant themselves to be fonted. This art form is rapidly disappearing due to the images being weathered away by the elements and by humans. I hope that this font will go a little way in helping to preserve these images for future generations.

Click here to download this font.

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