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Rock art incorporated : an archaeological and interdisciplinary study of certain human figures in San art
Bibliography: p. 206-228.
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| Main Author: | |
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| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
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Department of Archaeology
2016
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| _version_ | 1867613847007789056 |
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| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author | Solomon, Anne Catherine |
| author2 | Hall, Martin |
| author_browse | Hall, Martin Solomon, Anne Catherine |
| author_facet | Hall, Martin Solomon, Anne Catherine |
| author_sort | Solomon, Anne Catherine |
| collection | Thesis |
| description | Bibliography: p. 206-228. |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/21817 |
| institution | University of Cape Town (South Africa) |
| language | eng |
| last_indexed | 2026-06-10T12:42:38.856Z |
| license_str | Not specified — see source repository |
| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| publishDate | 2016 |
| publishDateRange | 2016 |
| publishDateSort | 2016 |
| publisher | Department of Archaeology |
| publisherStr | Department of Archaeology |
| record_format | dspace |
| source_str | UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| spelling | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/21817 Rock art incorporated : an archaeological and interdisciplinary study of certain human figures in San art Solomon, Anne Catherine Hall, Martin Rock paintings - Africa, Southern. Art, San Archaeology Bibliography: p. 206-228. Understanding a widespread motif in San rock art - a human figure depicted in frontal perspective with distinctive bodily characteristics - is the aim of this study. A concentration of these figures in north eastern Zimbabwe was first described by researchers in the 1930s and subsequently, when one researcher, Elizabeth Goodall, described them as 'mythic women'. Markedly similar figures in the South African art have received little attention. On the basis of fieldwork in the KwaZulu-Natal Drakensberg, the south western Cape (South Africa) and Zimbabwe, and an extensive literature survey, a spectrum of these figures is described. In order to further understanding of the motif, existing interpretive methods and the traditions which inform them are examined, with a view to outlining a number of areas in need of attention. It is argued that analysis of rock art remains dependent on a range of dualistic notions which may be linked to retained structuralist ideas. It is suggested that the dominant model in rock art research, in which the rock art is seen as essentially shamanistic, perpetuates distinctions between mind and body, myth and ritual, and sacred and profane, while in its search for general truths concerning the rock art, and its central focus on iconography, the model retains traces of linguistic structuralism. It is proposed that the 'mythic woman' motif, with its gendered and sexual characteristics, is not well accounted for by reference to southern San ritual and religious practice alone. Drawing on contemporary theories concerning temporality and embodiment, it is argued that the motif is better understood in relation to recurrent themes of death and regeneration in San mythology and oral narratives, with shamanistic practice enacting related themes. The motif may be seen as representing San history in terms of culturally specific temporal schemes arising from San experience of the world. The 'ethnographic method', by means of which San accounts are used to illuminate features of the art, is reassessed and extended. Hermeneutic theories are drawn upon in order to address questions regarding the way in which ethnographies and art may be mutually illuminating, and to account for the inevitability of multiple interpretations arising from the situated process of reading or viewing. Prominent themes, images and devices in San myth and oral narrative are discussed in an attempt to move beyond a narrowly iconography-centred approach and in order to account for devices and stylistic features of San arts which are evident in both verbal and visual media. Implications of the research for investigating an archaeology of gender, and the writing of San history, are discussed. 2016-09-20T12:30:19Z 2016-09-20T12:30:19Z 1995 Doctoral Thesis Doctoral PhD http://hdl.handle.net/11427/21817 eng application/pdf Department of Archaeology Faculty of Science University of Cape Town |
| spellingShingle | Rock paintings - Africa, Southern. Art, San Archaeology Solomon, Anne Catherine Rock art incorporated : an archaeological and interdisciplinary study of certain human figures in San art |
| thesis_degree_str | Doctoral |
| title | Rock art incorporated : an archaeological and interdisciplinary study of certain human figures in San art |
| title_full | Rock art incorporated : an archaeological and interdisciplinary study of certain human figures in San art |
| title_fullStr | Rock art incorporated : an archaeological and interdisciplinary study of certain human figures in San art |
| title_full_unstemmed | Rock art incorporated : an archaeological and interdisciplinary study of certain human figures in San art |
| title_short | Rock art incorporated : an archaeological and interdisciplinary study of certain human figures in San art |
| title_sort | rock art incorporated an archaeological and interdisciplinary study of certain human figures in san art |
| topic | Rock paintings - Africa, Southern. Art, San Archaeology |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/11427/21817 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT solomonannecatherine rockartincorporatedanarchaeologicalandinterdisciplinarystudyofcertainhumanfiguresinsanart |