Frogs or people: Dorothea Bleek and a genealogy of ideas in rock art research

Abstract

ABSTRACTSocial status and experience both play a role in the history of rock art research. The weight of such influence has led to the questionable identification of certain images. Following her belief that much San (Bushman) rock art illustrated myths, Dorothea Bleek suggested that two copies made by Helen Tongue depict /Xam San narratives concerning the ‘New Maiden and the Rain’. Bleek argued that they show people transformed, or transforming, into frogs. More recent research shows that Tongue’s copies refer not to mythical narratives of humans transforming into frogs, but to the central religious ritual of San life.