Return to ‘africanity’ in interpreting the South African rock art and its theoretical implications

Abstract

The South African rock art related to Bushmen (San) tradition is today one of the best understood rock arts all over the world. This situation results from theoretical advances proposed and elaborated by David Lewis-Williams, who was a founder of new school in rock art research. Careful analyses of ethnographic data of the !Xam Bushmen, in particular of the curing dance and the beliefs related to this ritual, have opened new ways of insight into semantics of the South African rock paintings. A key aspect of the new way of reading rock art concerned the decipherment of San metaphors of trance experience which transcended rock art, myths, and rituals. These concepts came also to be important stimulus for rethinking rock art in other parts of the world, like in the case of European Palaeolithic cave art, rock art in North America or Central Asia. Finally it became inspiration for rethinking of fundamental questions in human history, like origins of art and Neolithic revolution. All in all, theoretical advances in interpreting rock art as developed in the South Africa became crucial not only for African rock art, but they marked new area in global rock art research.