An interpretation of rock art imagery from the Brandberg/Daures, Namibia
Date
2012-08-24
Authors
Turner, Claire
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Abstract
Whilst there has been extensive cataloguing of the rock art of the Brandberg/Dâures Massif in
Namibia there has been comparatively little interpretative work done on the masses of rock art
imagery located there. Many of the images remain unexplained or misunderstood. Some imagery
has been interpreted but without the necessary ethnographic and theoretical frameworks that
should accompany such interpretations.
This dissertation seeks to resolve some of the interpretative problems that exist regarding the art
in the area. It focuses on a particular set of imagery — giraffes and giraffe-snake
conflations— and interprets the significance of these images. In doing so it uses a theoretical
framework rooted in the study of the body and tackles issues relating to the current use of
ethnography in rock art research and the Later Stone Age in general. The conclusions reached
demonstrate that by using this approach different and far more applicable interpretations can be
reached, particularly with regard to the set imagery central to this dissertation.
Description
M.A. University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Humanities, 2012