Three-Dimensional Puzzles: Southern African and Upper Palaeolithic Rock Art

Abstract

The history of anthropology is a growing field of study within the discipline itself. Our series 'Key Informants on the History of Anthropology' contributes to the discussion of how anthropology, as it is understood and practised today, evolved and took shape. In the following invited contribution, David Lewis-Williams reflects on the major reinterpretation of southern African rock art and Upper Palaeolithic art that took place in the 1970s and 1980s. An earlier interpretation of the rock art as representing hunters' impressions of their prey was replaced by sophisticated interpretations of the cosmology of the first inhabitants of South Africa. Lewis-Williams's work was crucial in bringing about this shift. David Lewis-Williams is Professor Emeritus of Archaeology and founder of the Rock Art Research Institute of the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa, which promotes studies of the more than 15,000 sites within the country.