Rethinking San rock paintings through relationships

Across the sandstone cliffs and shelters of the Maloti-Drakensberg and Stormberg mountains, San fine-line paintings have survived for generations. They portray humans and animals, but for University of Cape Town (UCT) PhD graduate Dawn Green, they are far more than remnants of the past. 

Dawn, who will graduate with a PhD in Archaeology on 8 September, argues that the paintings themselves are persons, embedded in relationships with humans, animals, plants, weather, earth, spirit, celestials, rock faces and mountains. 

“I analyse and compare a selection of fine-line ‘San’ rock paintings from the Maloti-Drakensberg and Stormberg mountains. I assess how paintings are evidence for understanding human, animal and other persons and the differing relationships between these persons,” she explained. 

“I felt it essential to investigate the entanglement of all persons and how it challenges current assumptions about the past and present.” 

It is an approach that moves beyond some long-held interpretations of San rock paintings, as previous research has focused on ritual and symbolism, and on distinctions between nature and culture, and spirit and material. 

“My research shows that paintings are both flesh and paint.” 

“These are academic devices to explain rock art to a Western audience,” Dawn said. “I do not believe these devices are necessary as they can skew the materiality and reality of San lived experience.” 

Instead, she argues that the paintings should be understood on their own material terms. 

“My research shows that paintings are both flesh and paint. They are the actual persons – not representations and not necessarily symbolic of something or ‘depicting’ rituals.” 

Their painted relationship-making practices with other persons are “particular and of the rock face, place and mountain”. 

Paintings as persons 

Central to Dawn’s research is the idea of “human and more-than-human persons”. 

“Previous research has privileged the ‘human’ and places humans at the apex of understanding and agency,” she said. 

“‘More-than-human’ refers to animals, plants, weather, earth, spirit and celestials that can influence others and enter into relationships with them.” 

In this understanding, painted animals are not simply objects used for human purposes, nor are they symbols or metaphors for human experience. 

They are, Dawn noted, “agentive persons that have experience and knowledge that is useful for human and other animal, plant, weather etc persons”. 

The same thinking extends to the landscapes in which the paintings are found. “Mountains are living things and persons,” Dawn said. “Each valley and ridge is different and are agentive on the weather, plants, animals and earths that live in each particular place.” 

Rock faces have agency too, she noted. “The same is true for rock faces in shelters that are agentive on where paintings occur and how pigment, paint ingredients, paintings and image-maker relate to the rock face. 

“Nature is culture and does not need humans to make it so.” 

For Dawn, recognising these relationships changes how we understand the past and present. 

“When we start recognising that our world is deeply interconnected, we can begin to understand the impacts of the types of relationships we have with others – both past and present.” 

Understanding the interconnectedness 

Dawn examined nearly 5 000 individual paintings, undertaking fieldwork in difficult terrain. 

“The mountain terrain is steep, high altitude and there are no foot paths. Fitness and strength are a prerequisite because all equipment needs to be carried.” 

She added: “Weather changes all the time, thunderstorms are electrifying and it can get very cold.” 

Recording the paintings was slow and meticulous, while the quantitative method Dawn used required her to accurately upload every bit of paint recorded and then check and re-check. 

But being physically present in the landscape was essential to her understanding of the paintings. 

“Fieldwork is central to archaeology,” she explained. “Rock art is not separate from the places where it is found and knowledge of the geology, botany, zoology etc form important parts of our knowledge-making practices and the way we approach, explain and interpret our material evidence.” 

Her time in the mountains, she said, was essential for understanding the interconnectedness of persons. This interconnectedness also changes the way she thinks about knowledge-sharing. 

“The paintings do not communicate – they are.” 

They are specific persons engaged in knowledge sharing or not – carrying knowledge of specific persons and places, and of the correct procedures and processes to follow to enter into relationships with others. 

“These relationships can fail. Places and persons are changing all the time, so acquiring knowledge through knowing others is ongoing and new knowledge is necessary all the time. Thus, each painted cluster differs.” 

The relationships between people and animals 

“The San are pragmatic and their practices relate to knowing others which have material effects,” Dawn said. 

Relationships with animals could provide knowledge about their behaviour and how to interact with them, but also about the wider landscape. 

“Through knowing the animal, further understanding is acquired about the place: water sources, plant and herb sources, weather etc, and how to behave of that place.” 

The sex of painted animals may also hold important clues. 

Eland antelope are often painted in male and female groups, while Dawn has recorded fewer male and female groups among rhebok antelope, with females appearing on their own or in female groups. 

“These groupings may focus on the knowledge of female antelope in establishing relationships with other female antelope and other persons, the correct collaborative behaviours necessary and caring for their young.” 

Paintings of female felines or lions are also more often recorded than male lions with manes. “This may emphasise females’ hunting expertise and knowledge of how to behave with others both in offense and defence.” 

For Dawn, this makes the sex of painted animals an important area for further investigation. 

“It may extend our understanding of animal persons, their relationships with others and the importance of this knowledge for other persons.” 

Reconsidering language and frameworks 

Dawn hopes her research will encourage archaeologists to reconsider the language and frameworks they use when investigating rock art. 

“I hope that more researchers use quantitative methods. I hope that we move beyond treating the paintings and engravings as ‘pictures’, representations and symbols but as flesh and material.” 

She also hopes that posthuman approaches are used by archaeologists working with excavated evidence. 

“All rock art is effective and affective no matter the preservation. The privilege of studying rock art has fundamentally changed my world view,” Dawn said. 

“My research shows that paintings are both flesh and paint.”  

“I hope that [people who visit the sites] will experience the paintings as living and an active, vital part of the relationships of image-makers, painted persons, rock faces and mountains. 

“I hope it will help them to realise that in both past and present, we are entangled with all things in our world which need to be treated respectfully.” 

What is next? 

Dawn said she came to study archaeology late, which has been a challenging journey. “Through a few personal misfortunes, I could not study full-time and had to support my children.” 

She also believes mature students can face particular barriers and said more care should be given to women in science because of the multiple challenges they face. 

Her motivation is ultimately rooted in what she can contribute through the discipline. 

“This academic and material impact is my primary motivation because I can share my knowledge.” 

“This academic and material impact is my primary motivation because I can share my knowledge and perhaps beneficially influence both my professional and local communities.” 

Among the most rewarding parts of the journey, she noted, has been the privilege of learning through studying rock art and the research of others in archaeology and many other disciplines. 

She acknowledges her supervisors, Professor Judith Sealy and Dr Sven Ouzman, who have provided many learning opportunities and supported her goals “so generously”. 

“And, of course, receiving a positive response from the examiners and the degree!” 

Now, as she prepares to graduate from UCT in September, Dawn is already looking to what comes next. 

“I hope to do postdoctoral research,” she concluded.