Bushman Rock Art: An Interpretive Guide by Forssman Tim Gutteridge Lee

Bushman Rock Art: An Interpretive Guide by Forssman Tim Gutteridge Lee

Author:Forssman, Tim,Gutteridge, Lee
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: 30 Degrees South Publishers
Published: 2013-11-20T16:00:00+00:00


Eland

Description

The eland is the largest of the antelopes, weighing nearly a ton and with a shoulder height just short of two metres. They have short stocky legs, a bulky body and both male and females have short, spiralled horns. Mature males have a large dewlap (a fold of loose skin below the throat that is used to cool the body) and a large neuchal hump on top of the shoulders. These prominent animals are often painted in association with human figures and shamans. Groups of elands might appear to be moving together or in opposite directions. Sometimes they are depicted entering or exiting cracks or hollows, which is often associated with entering or leaving the spirit world behind the walls. Elands are usually painted elaborately and with great attention to detail. For example, in some images eyelashes are present or the animal may be using its hindleg to scratch itself. Images are often polychromatic and sometimes these multiple colours fade into one another. This is a unique feature of Bushman art and is not found anywhere else in world prehistory. Paintings of elands dying show them on one knee, with head bowed and often with blood streaming from the nose.

Explanation

Both the /Xam and Kalahari Bushmen believed the eland was the most powerful animal of all and is thus closely linked to n/om. This power, or potency, was harnessed by shamans in order to enter the spirit world where they would perform various tasks including healing, protecting the community or controlling the rain. The eland is a very powerful creature and central to many Bushman beliefs. As such, it has many different meanings and when painted, more than one is invoked.

Like kudus, elands are associated with n!ao, which links hunting and childbirth to the weather. N!ao is acquired at birth and is divided into two categories: rain/cold (lucky) and dry/hot. When the fluids from childbirth spill onto the floor, the mother and her child connect and cause the weather to change. Similarly, when a hunted animal’s blood touches the ground, the animal’s n!ao and the hunter connect, causing a change in the weather. Depending on the type of n!ao, this can be either a good or bad thing and will affect the Bushmen accordingly.

When hunters refer to an eland while they are on a hunt they use a word that is translated as ‘dance’. The trance or medicine dance is the most important ritual in Bushman society. It is believed that hunters may refer to elands by this word to convey the creatures importance and because immediately after an eland has been killed, a dance is performed. As an informant told Pieter Jolly and David Lewis-Williams, both respected rock art researchers, elands were sometimes herded into an area near a rockshelter where the blood would be used in an artist’s paint. Later, dancers would turn to the images on these walls to draw out the eland’s potency and enhance the power of the dance.

Elands are thought of as so powerful that the hunter would not remove the animal’s heart but would leave that up to his companions.



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