Contested Histories: A Critique of Rock Art in the Drakensberg Mountains

Author: Francis, Michael

Source: Visual Anthropology, Volume 22, Number 4, July 2009 , pp. 327-343(17)

Publisher: Routledge, part of the Taylor & Francis Group

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Abstract:

The Drakensberg Mountains which stretch across the eastern part of South Africa offer us a legacy of beautiful rock art. These images are often used to show the disappearance and ultimate destruction of the Southern San. In this article I argue that these images also show a continuity with contemporary Zulu-speaking people of the region, and I challenge the assumed ethnic or cultural boundaries represented in the historical and archaeological record of the ancient peoples of the Drakensberg Mountains. I also criticize the dominant interpretations of rock art as essentially religious and more importantly as essentially “San.”

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/08949460903004995

Publication date: 2009-07-01