People have speculated on the meaning of the art and wondered what it reveals about the lives, thoughts and histories of its makers. Mistaken ideas about the mental capabilities of so-called 'primitive people' and a lack of close attention to the art itself are the basic ingredients of a recipe for misunderstanding.

One of the misconceptions was that the artists made depictions of animals prior to a hunt in the belief that the act of depiction or of shooting arrows at the depictions would ensure success. This explanation was never as widely held in southern Africa as it was in Europe because there is no evidence that the Bushmen believed in sympathetic magic.

Another misconception is that the Bushmen painted whatever caught their fancy: hunting escapades, fights, dances, amusing incidents, meat-providing animals and occasional mythical figure.

People have also suggested that the art served for more mundane functions - perhaps 'signposts' for the hunter, or as a sign for ownership of a waterhole.

There are numerous reasons why such comments distort Bushmen rock art. Perhaps the most telling reason is that they result from viewing the art through Western eyes. For example a snake has an association with evil in a Western society, but in ancient Egypt the cobra represented the goddess Wedjet, the preserver of royal authority.

Researchers now accept that Bushmen beliefs and rituals illuminate the art and afford a far more detailed understanding than before. The artists are now accorded their true dignity and worth, and, in sharp contrast to the older interpretations, the art is recognised as an astonishing intellectual and aesthetic achievement.

Because of the difficulties involved in finding the underlying connections between Bushman thought and art, many writers relied on their intuition. There were many theories and were lead to believe that we would never know as the artists had died a long time ago.

This is no longer the case. We now know a great deal about the Bushmen's beliefs and rituals. This enables us to see the links between the art and their religious beliefs, and not distorted through a Westerners view.

Beliefs and Rituals

Today, an explanation that derives from the most important Bushman ritual is widely accepted as the general framework in which the rock art should be understood. This explanation is that both paintings and engravings were closely associated with Bushmen medicine people, or shamans.

A shaman is someone who enters a trance in order to heal people, foretell the future, control the weather, ensure good hunting etc. See Shamans and Medicine People for more information.

In a Bushmen society, shamanism is practised at a trance dance. See Trance dance for more information.

The visions that are seen by the shamans in a trance, is where they get their inspiration to paint.

Because so many of the paintings depict trance visions, many researchers believe that all the artists were shamans. It seems impossible that shamans made the paintings and engravings while they were in a trance. It is more probable that they remembered or experienced after-images and then depicted these experiences. It is also entirely possible that anybody familiar with the mythology about the spirit world and beliefs about the healing ritual, and who possessed artistic skill and imagination, may have been an artist.

Next: Other rock art