- Wildebeest Kuil Rock Art Centre
(Photo by Richard Jones)
The engravings at Wildebeest Kuil (18km from The Solomon on the west side of Kimberley) were made between 1,000 and 2,000 years ago using the 'pecking' technique: a hard, pointed stone was used to chip away the outer crust of the rock, exposing the lighter-coloured rock beneath. With time, the exposed portions become as dark as the outer crust through weathering and the build-up of desert varnish.
The San and Khoe people, researchers, and other stakeholders have joined together to conserve the engravings here, which are more than 200 in number and spread over a small hill. A visit here can be a profoundly moving and informative experience for school groups. The site, surrounded by land owned by the! Xun and Khwe San people are on a servitude set aside for rock art conservation and public access.
The rock art custodians and guides will help make your visit a memorable experience. The experience begins at a visitor centre, where there are displays and an auditorium with a twenty-minute introductory film. The 800m walkway weaves up and over the hill via several information boards. Your guides will provide commentary and answer any questions you may have. On your return, the shop at the Centre has art and craftwork from the !Xun and Khwe communities. Rock art and related books are also available.
In South Africa, there are approximately 15,000 recorded rock art sites, with many more yet to be discovered and recorded. The art occurs in two forms: engravings and paintings. Engravings are primarily found on the dry inland plateau of South Africa, while paintings are most commonly located in the mountainous areas, such as the Drakensberg and the Cederberg.
Most of the rock art in Southern Africa was made by Later Stone Age people, ancestors of the historical San. People who identified themselves as/Xam from the northern Karoo and the Postmasburg District, interviewed in the 1870s, reported that their fathers had made engravings of animals. Some of South Africa’s rock art has been linked with Khoekhoe herders and with Bantu-speaking farmers.
The exact age of the engravings at Wildebeest Kuil is unknown, but it is estimated that they were created between 1,000 and 2,000 years ago. Engraved stones have been found at Wonderwerk Cave near Kuruman in levels dating between 2,000 and 10,000 years ago, and rock paintings have been dated in southern Namibia to about 27,000 years ago, indicating that the tradition of Southern African art is an exceptionally long one. An engraved piece of ochre from Blombos Cave on the southern Cape coast is dated to 77,000 years ago.
Research indicates that the engravings are not the products of idle doodling, nor are they straightforward narratives; instead, they comprise a sophisticated form of religious art associated with rituals in San society, mediated by medicine people or shamans. It was believed that power received through controlled use of trance could be harnessed to heal the sick, control animals, and make rain. It is suggested that many of the engravings were inspired by visions experienced during trance, and were depicted on the rocks so that others could share and draw inspiration from them. They may relate particularly to rain-making rituals.
Sites chosen by the artists for their engravings were significant places in local beliefs. The andesite rock surfaces at Wildebeest Kuil may have been, to the artists, a kind of interface with the spirit world. Several curious “unfinished” images of animals at Wildebeest Kuil may represent the “luring” of the power of these animals from the spirit world behind the rock. The magical expanses of smooth, glaciated rock surfaces at Driekopseiland and Nooitgedacht may have been marked with rock art because they were considered special places in local religious beliefs.
Some engravings from Wildebeest Kuil were removed and exhibited at the Colonial and Indian Exhibition in London in 1886, and are currently in the collection of the British Museum. Others are on display in Kimberley at the William Humphreys Art Gallery and the McGregor Museum. Early removals of the art were often rationalised in terms of preserving the art in museum contexts. We now know that the placement of the art within a site was significant, and its removal thus destroys part of its meaning.
(Text courtesy of David Morris and the McGregor Museum)
(Photo by Richard Jones)
Map to the Wildebeest Kuil Rock Art Centre
In South Africa, there are approximately 15,000 recorded rock art sites, with many more yet to be discovered and recorded. The art occurs in two forms: engravings and paintings. Engravings are primarily found on the dry inland plateau of South Africa, while paintings are most commonly located in the mountainous areas, such as the Drakensberg and the Cederberg.
Most of the rock art in Southern Africa was made by Later Stone Age people, ancestors of the historical San. People who identified themselves as/Xam from the northern Karoo and the Postmasburg District, interviewed in the 1870s, reported that their fathers had made engravings of animals. Some of South Africa’s rock art has been linked with Khoekhoe herders and with Bantu-speaking farmers.
The exact age of the engravings at Wildebeest Kuil is unknown, but it is estimated that they were created between 1,000 and 2,000 years ago. Engraved stones have been found at Wonderwerk Cave near Kuruman in levels dating between 2,000 and 10,000 years ago, and rock paintings have been dated in southern Namibia to about 27,000 years ago, indicating that the tradition of Southern African art is an exceptionally long one. An engraved piece of ochre from Blombos Cave on the southern Cape coast is dated to 77,000 years ago.
Research indicates that the engravings are not the products of idle doodling, nor are they straightforward narratives; instead, they comprise a sophisticated form of religious art associated with rituals in San society, mediated by medicine people or shamans. It was believed that power received through controlled use of trance could be harnessed to heal the sick, control animals, and make rain. It is suggested that many of the engravings were inspired by visions experienced during trance, and were depicted on the rocks so that others could share and draw inspiration from them. They may relate particularly to rain-making rituals.
Sites chosen by the artists for their engravings were significant places in local beliefs. The andesite rock surfaces at Wildebeest Kuil may have been, to the artists, a kind of interface with the spirit world. Several curious “unfinished” images of animals at Wildebeest Kuil may represent the “luring” of the power of these animals from the spirit world behind the rock. The magical expanses of smooth, glaciated rock surfaces at Driekopseiland and Nooitgedacht may have been marked with rock art because they were considered special places in local religious beliefs.
Some engravings from Wildebeest Kuil were removed and exhibited at the Colonial and Indian Exhibition in London in 1886, and are currently in the collection of the British Museum. Others are on display in Kimberley at the William Humphreys Art Gallery and the McGregor Museum. Early removals of the art were often rationalised in terms of preserving the art in museum contexts. We now know that the placement of the art within a site was significant, and its removal thus destroys part of its meaning.
(Text courtesy of David Morris and the McGregor Museum)
(Photo by Richard Jones)
Map to the Wildebeest Kuil Rock Art Centre
