Archaeological mitigation efforts in advance of Lesotho’s Metolong Dam involved comprehensive doc... more Archaeological mitigation efforts in advance of Lesotho’s Metolong Dam involved comprehensive documentation of rock paintings in the area threatened with inundation, as well as pigment characterisation and direct dating. This paper gives an overview of the rock arts found and their key features. Four traditions are present. Most paintings belong to the fine-line San tradition, but there are also examples of Type 3 images previously only recognised in South Africa’s Eastern Cape Province. Two other traditions are identified as being made by local Basotho communities. Contextual evidence suggests that they relate to male identity and, in the case of ochre smears and handprints, specifically to male initiation rituals. Some of the rock art sites identified are, in fact, used today by male and female initiation schools. The importance of comprehensively documenting rock art in other locations where it is at risk of being lost via development projects is stressed. Metolong sets a standard for rock art recording in cultural resource management work in the wider region.
A rare, painted depiction of a bushbuck (Tragelaphus scriptus) is reported from the Drakensberg M... more A rare, painted depiction of a bushbuck (Tragelaphus scriptus) is reported from the Drakensberg Mountains of the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa. The painting is located outside the known distribution range of the species. It is identified based on the close correlation between details of the painting and the colouration of the animal. Differences between the painting and animal are noted. These differences are discussed in terms of San views on anomalous individual animals. How depictions of such animals may act as symbols is also discussed.
RÉSUMÉ Une rare représentation peinte d'un bushbuck (Tragelaphus scriptus) située dans les montagnes Drakensberg du Cap-Oriental en Afrique du Sud est présentée. La peinture est localisée en dehors de la zone de répartition connue de l'espèce. Elle est identifiée à partir de la corrélation étroite faite entre des détails de la peinture et la robe de l'animal. Des différences entre la peinture et l'animal sont notées. Ces différences sont discutées du point de vue des perceptions San des animaux anormaux. La manière dont les représentations de ces animaux peuvent agir comme symboles est également discutée.
Recent research on Later Stone Age (LSA) San rock art in southern Africa has unveiled some of the... more Recent research on Later Stone Age (LSA) San rock art in southern Africa has unveiled some of the paint recipes the artists employed. However, these discoveries still need to be linked to human activities in or near the rock shelters where the paintings were made. In this paper, we report characterization and dating results from the catchment of the Metolong Dam, Phuthiatsana Valley, Lesotho. A total of 92 rock painting samples, six grindstones with traces of colouring materials from an excavated context, and 17 potential raw colouring materials were studied. We identified three previously unreported ingredients used by the artists: manganese oxides, calcined bones, and soot. Grindstones are stained with the same raw materials that the painters used. We propose that one of them may have served to prepare the red pigment used to make a human figure and a bichrome eland at Ha Makotoko, but direct links remain difficult to establish with certainty. The potential colouring materials in the valley are red clays, white clays (kaolinite and illite-or-montmorillonite), and gypsum, three compounds used as paints by the artists. Tests conducted to verify their suitability for paintings show these materials may have been ground, but settling (after pre-grinding) offers a quicker and easier way to obtain a fine powder as observed in the paints. Finally, 12 AMS dates provide an initial framework for studying the changing use of paint recipes in the Phuthiatsana Valley over time. Charcoal appears to have been employed over a period of at least 3000 years and carbon black for at least 2000 years, with soot seemingly used only before 2000 cal. BP. This study is currently the largest characterization and dating study of LSA rock art in southern Africa and shows the potential that such combined investigations offer for linking excavated and parietal components of the region's huntergatherer archaeological record.
This paper reports on the steps taken to mitigate the impact of the Metolong Dam (Lesotho) on the... more This paper reports on the steps taken to mitigate the impact of the Metolong Dam (Lesotho) on the rock art present within the catchment of its associated reservoir. Mitigation took four major forms: comprehensive survey and documentation, including both photography and tracing; pigment characterization and radiocarbon dating; exploration of the ongoing significance of rock art as a form of living heritage for people
living in the vicinity; and removal of selected panels for permanent safekeeping. These steps are placed within the wider context of other cultural heritage management projects in Africa and their success evaluated. Recommendations are made for how similar work should be undertaken in future.
Recovering the agency, skill and innovation of archaeological field assistants from historical en... more Recovering the agency, skill and innovation of archaeological field assistants from historical encounters is essential to interrogating processes of knowledge production, but is often hampered by access to appropriate archival sources and methods. We detail a field project from early twentieth-century Basutoland (modern-day Lesotho) that is unique both for its aim to salvage details of rock-art production as a dying craft and for its archive chronicling the project's intellectual journey from experiment to draft manuscripts to published work over more than three decades. We argue that critical historiographic attention to this archive offers a guide for examining the intimate dynamics of fieldwork and the effects of these micropolitics on the archaeological canon. We demonstrate how sustained attention to long processes of knowledge production can pinpoint multiple instances in which the usability of field assistants’ scientific knowledge is qualified, validated, or rejected, an...
Recent work on a well-known San rock art panel from South Africa shows that continued movement be... more Recent work on a well-known San rock art panel from South Africa shows that continued movement between, on the one hand, San beliefs and rituals and, on the other, the images themselves allows us to move from general statements about San rock art to specific understandings. We demonstrate that continuing field research, combined with the revisiting of painted panels, is uncovering diverse ways in which San rock painters deployed and, at the same time, individually transmuted abstract ideas and experiences into material images, often in easily missed details. One of these instances, hitherto unknown, is described. By following-up the heuristic potential of this approach researchers are able to explore the ways in which San imagery played a social role at different times and in different places in San history.
Rock art in the Mpumalanga highlands of South Africa has received little research attention, and ... more Rock art in the Mpumalanga highlands of South Africa has received little research attention, and few sites are recorded. Within the context of a paucity of site data, this paper describes two newly recorded rock painting sites in the Carolina District. Overall, the paintings at these sites are poorly preserved, although some retain fine details executed in white paint. The poor preservation relates to the nature of the sites: near-vertical cliffs that afford little protection from weather and water which is typical of the region. Based on work at these sites, we suggest that poor preservation may skew perceptions of both the number of sites, and the quality of the art in the region.
New dates for Spanish rock art open up the possibility that Neanderthals were artists, but furthe... more New dates for Spanish rock art open up the possibility that Neanderthals were artists, but further evidence is required before we can be certain.
Worldwide, dating rock art is difficult to achieve because of the frequent lack of datable materi... more Worldwide, dating rock art is difficult to achieve because of the frequent lack of datable material and the difficulty of removing contamination from samples. Our research aimed to select the paints that would be the most likely to be successfully radiocarbon dated and to estimate the quantity of paint needed depending on the nature of the paint and the weathering and alteration products associated with it. To achieve this aim, a two-step sampling strategy, coupled with a multi-instrument characterization (including SEM-EDS, Raman spectroscopy, and FTIR spectroscopy analysis) and a modified acid-base-acid (ABA) pretreatment, was created. In total, 41 samples were dated from 14 sites in three separate regions of southern Africa. These novel protocols ensure that the 14 C chronology produced was robust and could also be subsequently applied to different regions with possible variations in paint preparation, geology, weathering conditions, and contaminants.
Rock art worldwide has proved extremely difficult to date directly. Here, the first radio-carbon ... more Rock art worldwide has proved extremely difficult to date directly. Here, the first radio-carbon dates for rock paintings in Botswana and Lesotho are presented, along with additional dates for Later Stone Age rock art in South Africa. The samples selected for dating were identified as carbon-blacks from short-lived organic materials, meaning that the sampled pigments and the paintings that they were used to produce must be of similar age. The results reveal that southern African hunter-gatherers were creating paintings on rockshelter walls as long ago as 5723–4420 cal BP in southeastern Botswana: the oldest such evidence yet found in southern Africa.
Since 1981 and the first absolute date obtained on a charcoal painting at Sonia’s Cave Upper, Boo... more Since 1981 and the first absolute date obtained on a charcoal painting at Sonia’s Cave Upper, Boontjieskloof, different methods were applied to try to absolute date San rock art : radiocarbon on calcite paintings, on fibres in paintings, on calcium oxalates crusts, radiocarbon and thermoluminescence on archaeological layers where fallen painted rock face flakes were found. In 2010, the identification of carbon-based pigments in black paintings of San rock art traditions offers the possibility to radiocarbon date rock art sites. To make it possible a precise characterization and sampling methodology was developed to select best samples for radiocarbon dating. Using it, dates were obtained on San rock art in South Africa, Lesotho and Botswana, offering the possibility to improve our understandings of rock art in these areas and thanks to the characterization of the paint, to discuss the evolution of painting techniques and materials.
Worldwide, dating rock art is difficult to achieve because of the frequent lack of datable materi... more Worldwide, dating rock art is difficult to achieve because of the frequent lack of datable material and the difficulty of removing contamination from samples. Our research aimed to select the paints that would be the most likely to be successfully radiocarbon dated and to estimate the quantity of paint needed depending on the nature of the paint and the weathering and alteration products associated with it. To achieve this aim, a two-step sampling strategy, coupled with a multi-instrument characterization (including SEM-EDS, Raman spectroscopy, and FTIR spectroscopy analysis) and a modified acid-base-acid (ABA) pretreatment, was created. In total, 41 samples were dated from 14 sites in three separate regions of southern Africa. These novel protocols ensure that the 14C chronology produced was robust and could also be subsequently applied to different regions with possible variations in paint preparation, geology, weathering conditions, and contaminants.
Actes du colloque « Micro-analyses et datations de l'art préhistorique dans son contexte archéologique », MADAPCA - Paris, 16-18 novembre 2011 PALEO, numéro spécial,, 2014
South African rock art provides a window into the Bushman worldview. For a better understanding o... more South African rock art provides a window into the Bushman worldview. For a better understanding of Bushman history and beliefs and the conservation of rock art sites, a better knowledge of the materials making up the paints, the mineral accretions and their alterations is required. A conjunction of imaging techniques (optical microscopy, SEM–EDX, Raman spectromicroscopy and synchrotron FT–IR) allowed us to describe the complex layered fabric that evidences a history of accretion, painting and alteration in eight samples of painted rock. Two types of paints are identified and the distribution of calcium oxalates is discussed in terms of conservation and dating potential.
Archaeological mitigation efforts in advance of Lesotho’s Metolong Dam involved comprehensive doc... more Archaeological mitigation efforts in advance of Lesotho’s Metolong Dam involved comprehensive documentation of rock paintings in the area threatened with inundation, as well as pigment characterisation and direct dating. This paper gives an overview of the rock arts found and their key features. Four traditions are present. Most paintings belong to the fine-line San tradition, but there are also examples of Type 3 images previously only recognised in South Africa’s Eastern Cape Province. Two other traditions are identified as being made by local Basotho communities. Contextual evidence suggests that they relate to male identity and, in the case of ochre smears and handprints, specifically to male initiation rituals. Some of the rock art sites identified are, in fact, used today by male and female initiation schools. The importance of comprehensively documenting rock art in other locations where it is at risk of being lost via development projects is stressed. Metolong sets a standard for rock art recording in cultural resource management work in the wider region.
A rare, painted depiction of a bushbuck (Tragelaphus scriptus) is reported from the Drakensberg M... more A rare, painted depiction of a bushbuck (Tragelaphus scriptus) is reported from the Drakensberg Mountains of the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa. The painting is located outside the known distribution range of the species. It is identified based on the close correlation between details of the painting and the colouration of the animal. Differences between the painting and animal are noted. These differences are discussed in terms of San views on anomalous individual animals. How depictions of such animals may act as symbols is also discussed.
RÉSUMÉ Une rare représentation peinte d'un bushbuck (Tragelaphus scriptus) située dans les montagnes Drakensberg du Cap-Oriental en Afrique du Sud est présentée. La peinture est localisée en dehors de la zone de répartition connue de l'espèce. Elle est identifiée à partir de la corrélation étroite faite entre des détails de la peinture et la robe de l'animal. Des différences entre la peinture et l'animal sont notées. Ces différences sont discutées du point de vue des perceptions San des animaux anormaux. La manière dont les représentations de ces animaux peuvent agir comme symboles est également discutée.
Recent research on Later Stone Age (LSA) San rock art in southern Africa has unveiled some of the... more Recent research on Later Stone Age (LSA) San rock art in southern Africa has unveiled some of the paint recipes the artists employed. However, these discoveries still need to be linked to human activities in or near the rock shelters where the paintings were made. In this paper, we report characterization and dating results from the catchment of the Metolong Dam, Phuthiatsana Valley, Lesotho. A total of 92 rock painting samples, six grindstones with traces of colouring materials from an excavated context, and 17 potential raw colouring materials were studied. We identified three previously unreported ingredients used by the artists: manganese oxides, calcined bones, and soot. Grindstones are stained with the same raw materials that the painters used. We propose that one of them may have served to prepare the red pigment used to make a human figure and a bichrome eland at Ha Makotoko, but direct links remain difficult to establish with certainty. The potential colouring materials in the valley are red clays, white clays (kaolinite and illite-or-montmorillonite), and gypsum, three compounds used as paints by the artists. Tests conducted to verify their suitability for paintings show these materials may have been ground, but settling (after pre-grinding) offers a quicker and easier way to obtain a fine powder as observed in the paints. Finally, 12 AMS dates provide an initial framework for studying the changing use of paint recipes in the Phuthiatsana Valley over time. Charcoal appears to have been employed over a period of at least 3000 years and carbon black for at least 2000 years, with soot seemingly used only before 2000 cal. BP. This study is currently the largest characterization and dating study of LSA rock art in southern Africa and shows the potential that such combined investigations offer for linking excavated and parietal components of the region's huntergatherer archaeological record.
This paper reports on the steps taken to mitigate the impact of the Metolong Dam (Lesotho) on the... more This paper reports on the steps taken to mitigate the impact of the Metolong Dam (Lesotho) on the rock art present within the catchment of its associated reservoir. Mitigation took four major forms: comprehensive survey and documentation, including both photography and tracing; pigment characterization and radiocarbon dating; exploration of the ongoing significance of rock art as a form of living heritage for people
living in the vicinity; and removal of selected panels for permanent safekeeping. These steps are placed within the wider context of other cultural heritage management projects in Africa and their success evaluated. Recommendations are made for how similar work should be undertaken in future.
Recovering the agency, skill and innovation of archaeological field assistants from historical en... more Recovering the agency, skill and innovation of archaeological field assistants from historical encounters is essential to interrogating processes of knowledge production, but is often hampered by access to appropriate archival sources and methods. We detail a field project from early twentieth-century Basutoland (modern-day Lesotho) that is unique both for its aim to salvage details of rock-art production as a dying craft and for its archive chronicling the project's intellectual journey from experiment to draft manuscripts to published work over more than three decades. We argue that critical historiographic attention to this archive offers a guide for examining the intimate dynamics of fieldwork and the effects of these micropolitics on the archaeological canon. We demonstrate how sustained attention to long processes of knowledge production can pinpoint multiple instances in which the usability of field assistants’ scientific knowledge is qualified, validated, or rejected, an...
Recent work on a well-known San rock art panel from South Africa shows that continued movement be... more Recent work on a well-known San rock art panel from South Africa shows that continued movement between, on the one hand, San beliefs and rituals and, on the other, the images themselves allows us to move from general statements about San rock art to specific understandings. We demonstrate that continuing field research, combined with the revisiting of painted panels, is uncovering diverse ways in which San rock painters deployed and, at the same time, individually transmuted abstract ideas and experiences into material images, often in easily missed details. One of these instances, hitherto unknown, is described. By following-up the heuristic potential of this approach researchers are able to explore the ways in which San imagery played a social role at different times and in different places in San history.
Rock art in the Mpumalanga highlands of South Africa has received little research attention, and ... more Rock art in the Mpumalanga highlands of South Africa has received little research attention, and few sites are recorded. Within the context of a paucity of site data, this paper describes two newly recorded rock painting sites in the Carolina District. Overall, the paintings at these sites are poorly preserved, although some retain fine details executed in white paint. The poor preservation relates to the nature of the sites: near-vertical cliffs that afford little protection from weather and water which is typical of the region. Based on work at these sites, we suggest that poor preservation may skew perceptions of both the number of sites, and the quality of the art in the region.
New dates for Spanish rock art open up the possibility that Neanderthals were artists, but furthe... more New dates for Spanish rock art open up the possibility that Neanderthals were artists, but further evidence is required before we can be certain.
Worldwide, dating rock art is difficult to achieve because of the frequent lack of datable materi... more Worldwide, dating rock art is difficult to achieve because of the frequent lack of datable material and the difficulty of removing contamination from samples. Our research aimed to select the paints that would be the most likely to be successfully radiocarbon dated and to estimate the quantity of paint needed depending on the nature of the paint and the weathering and alteration products associated with it. To achieve this aim, a two-step sampling strategy, coupled with a multi-instrument characterization (including SEM-EDS, Raman spectroscopy, and FTIR spectroscopy analysis) and a modified acid-base-acid (ABA) pretreatment, was created. In total, 41 samples were dated from 14 sites in three separate regions of southern Africa. These novel protocols ensure that the 14 C chronology produced was robust and could also be subsequently applied to different regions with possible variations in paint preparation, geology, weathering conditions, and contaminants.
Rock art worldwide has proved extremely difficult to date directly. Here, the first radio-carbon ... more Rock art worldwide has proved extremely difficult to date directly. Here, the first radio-carbon dates for rock paintings in Botswana and Lesotho are presented, along with additional dates for Later Stone Age rock art in South Africa. The samples selected for dating were identified as carbon-blacks from short-lived organic materials, meaning that the sampled pigments and the paintings that they were used to produce must be of similar age. The results reveal that southern African hunter-gatherers were creating paintings on rockshelter walls as long ago as 5723–4420 cal BP in southeastern Botswana: the oldest such evidence yet found in southern Africa.
Since 1981 and the first absolute date obtained on a charcoal painting at Sonia’s Cave Upper, Boo... more Since 1981 and the first absolute date obtained on a charcoal painting at Sonia’s Cave Upper, Boontjieskloof, different methods were applied to try to absolute date San rock art : radiocarbon on calcite paintings, on fibres in paintings, on calcium oxalates crusts, radiocarbon and thermoluminescence on archaeological layers where fallen painted rock face flakes were found. In 2010, the identification of carbon-based pigments in black paintings of San rock art traditions offers the possibility to radiocarbon date rock art sites. To make it possible a precise characterization and sampling methodology was developed to select best samples for radiocarbon dating. Using it, dates were obtained on San rock art in South Africa, Lesotho and Botswana, offering the possibility to improve our understandings of rock art in these areas and thanks to the characterization of the paint, to discuss the evolution of painting techniques and materials.
Worldwide, dating rock art is difficult to achieve because of the frequent lack of datable materi... more Worldwide, dating rock art is difficult to achieve because of the frequent lack of datable material and the difficulty of removing contamination from samples. Our research aimed to select the paints that would be the most likely to be successfully radiocarbon dated and to estimate the quantity of paint needed depending on the nature of the paint and the weathering and alteration products associated with it. To achieve this aim, a two-step sampling strategy, coupled with a multi-instrument characterization (including SEM-EDS, Raman spectroscopy, and FTIR spectroscopy analysis) and a modified acid-base-acid (ABA) pretreatment, was created. In total, 41 samples were dated from 14 sites in three separate regions of southern Africa. These novel protocols ensure that the 14C chronology produced was robust and could also be subsequently applied to different regions with possible variations in paint preparation, geology, weathering conditions, and contaminants.
Actes du colloque « Micro-analyses et datations de l'art préhistorique dans son contexte archéologique », MADAPCA - Paris, 16-18 novembre 2011 PALEO, numéro spécial,, 2014
South African rock art provides a window into the Bushman worldview. For a better understanding o... more South African rock art provides a window into the Bushman worldview. For a better understanding of Bushman history and beliefs and the conservation of rock art sites, a better knowledge of the materials making up the paints, the mineral accretions and their alterations is required. A conjunction of imaging techniques (optical microscopy, SEM–EDX, Raman spectromicroscopy and synchrotron FT–IR) allowed us to describe the complex layered fabric that evidences a history of accretion, painting and alteration in eight samples of painted rock. Two types of paints are identified and the distribution of calcium oxalates is discussed in terms of conservation and dating potential.
Whether or not a ‘trance-dance’ akin to that of today’s Kalahari San (Bushmen) was performed by s... more Whether or not a ‘trance-dance’ akin to that of today’s Kalahari San (Bushmen) was performed by southern /Xam San in the nineteenth century has long been the subject of intense debate. Here the authors point to parallels between nineteenth-century records of San life and beliefs and twentieth-century San ethnography from the Kalahari Desert in order to argue that this cultural practice was shared by these two geographically and chronologically distant groups. More significantly, it is suggested that these ethnographic parallels allow a clearer understanding of the religious and ritual practices depicted in the southern San rock art images.
The well-known South African artist Walter Battiss (1906–1982) was influenced and inspired by the... more The well-known South African artist Walter Battiss (1906–1982) was influenced and inspired by the form and colouring of the San rock art of South Africa. To study these paintings, Battiss travelled widely around South Africa, keeping detailed notes and recording paintings from numerous rock shelters, painting-in the colours of the images on cellophane as he went along. Many of these copies he subsequently redrew in pencil, ink or watercolour.
Uploads
Books by David Pearce
Papers by David Pearce
RÉSUMÉ Une rare représentation peinte d'un bushbuck (Tragelaphus scriptus) située dans les montagnes Drakensberg du Cap-Oriental en Afrique du Sud est présentée. La peinture est localisée en dehors de la zone de répartition connue de l'espèce. Elle est identifiée à partir de la corrélation étroite faite entre des détails de la peinture et la robe de l'animal. Des différences entre la peinture et l'animal sont notées. Ces différences sont discutées du point de vue des perceptions San des animaux anormaux. La manière dont les représentations de ces animaux peuvent agir comme symboles est également discutée.
living in the vicinity; and removal of selected panels for permanent safekeeping. These steps are placed within the wider context of other cultural heritage management projects in Africa and their success evaluated. Recommendations are made for how similar work should be undertaken in future.
One of these instances, hitherto unknown, is described. By
following-up the heuristic potential of this approach researchers
are able to explore the ways in which San imagery played a social
role at different times and in different places in San history.
In 2010, the identification of carbon-based pigments in black paintings of San rock art traditions offers the possibility to radiocarbon date rock art sites. To make it possible a precise characterization and sampling methodology was developed to select best samples for radiocarbon dating.
Using it, dates were obtained on San rock art in South Africa, Lesotho and Botswana, offering the possibility to improve our understandings of rock art in these areas and thanks to the characterization of the paint, to discuss the evolution of painting techniques and materials.
RÉSUMÉ Une rare représentation peinte d'un bushbuck (Tragelaphus scriptus) située dans les montagnes Drakensberg du Cap-Oriental en Afrique du Sud est présentée. La peinture est localisée en dehors de la zone de répartition connue de l'espèce. Elle est identifiée à partir de la corrélation étroite faite entre des détails de la peinture et la robe de l'animal. Des différences entre la peinture et l'animal sont notées. Ces différences sont discutées du point de vue des perceptions San des animaux anormaux. La manière dont les représentations de ces animaux peuvent agir comme symboles est également discutée.
living in the vicinity; and removal of selected panels for permanent safekeeping. These steps are placed within the wider context of other cultural heritage management projects in Africa and their success evaluated. Recommendations are made for how similar work should be undertaken in future.
One of these instances, hitherto unknown, is described. By
following-up the heuristic potential of this approach researchers
are able to explore the ways in which San imagery played a social
role at different times and in different places in San history.
In 2010, the identification of carbon-based pigments in black paintings of San rock art traditions offers the possibility to radiocarbon date rock art sites. To make it possible a precise characterization and sampling methodology was developed to select best samples for radiocarbon dating.
Using it, dates were obtained on San rock art in South Africa, Lesotho and Botswana, offering the possibility to improve our understandings of rock art in these areas and thanks to the characterization of the paint, to discuss the evolution of painting techniques and materials.