The Easten Free Sate has some of South Africa’s most valued San (Bushman) Rock Art. The art is thousands of years old and there are varied subjects including paintings of eland, shamans (intermediaries between the physical and spiritual world), therianthropes (part-human, part-animal beings) and rain animals.
The oldest San Rock Art is 73000 years old! (The Blombos Cave in the Western Cape) Researchers used a technique called accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) to analyze paint chips from cave paintings and were able to more accurately date the paintings across the country. In the Maloti Drakensberg area the paintings are from 3000 years old and some were painted in the 1800s.
Rock art represents one of the earliest forms of creativity in humans. It is the first evidence of humans being able to document storytelling and helps us better understand the culture of early hunter-gatherer society.
To make sense of what you are seeing, read our article on the meanings of the paintings before you set out, here. The San believe in a universe with spiritual realms above and below the level on which people live. Decades of research has shown that the rock art is deeply religious and situated conceptually in the same multilevel universe.
Visiting the art sites is an enriching experience. These are sites that are easily accessible:
Clarens, Free State, South Afr...
Le Roux Street & Bester Street...
491 Villiers Street, Clarens, ...
