found in eastern and southern Africa and were the work of
the San, sometimes called the Bushmen, who still populate
parts of southern Africa. Th eir ancient paintings are found in
caves and areas sheltered by tall rocks. Th e ancient San had a
rich assortment of mineral pigments: white, black, red ocher,
blue, yellow, and green.
Th eir paintings seem to have been mostly for ritual pur-
poses, especially for coming-of-age rituals for youngsters in
early puberty. Th e youngsters would be shown illustrations of
their history, religious beliefs, and duties, and they would be
told what behavior was expected of them as men or as wom-
en. Th e paintings oft en feature depictions of the eland, a large
antelope, which was held sacred by the San. Outstanding
examples of ancient San art are found in caves in Namibia,
where the oldest paintings are found, and in Zimbabwe and
South Africa.
In Namibia paintings probably accumulated over thou-
sands of years, with styles varying from full-bodied depic-
tions of people to impossibly thin, knobby characterizations.
Both men and women and boys and girls are represented.
Th ey carry spears and bows and are usually unclad but some-
times wear belts and possibly loincloths. Th e modern Afri-
can passion for body ornaments seems to date back to these
earliest paintings, because portrayals of people wearing body
paint, bangles on the arms, and bracelets are common. Th e
fi gures sometimes wear masks. In paintings found in Kwa-
Zulu-Natal, South Africa, the elands are huge, dwarfi ng the
human fi gures. Th e humans vary in form from stick fi gures
to broad-chested men and wide-hipped women. More recent
rock paintings, perhaps from the early years of the Christian
era, show a profusion of plants as well as humans and ani-
mals. Oft en the paintings are high off the ground—too high
for a San adult to reach—but archaeologists do not know what
the San used to help them reach so high.
Rock etchings and paintings of abstract designs, per-
haps dating from 5590 to 2280 b.c.e., are found in Malawi
and Zambia, but they do not appear to be San paintings and
at present archaeologists have no idea who created them.
Th ere are ancient rock paintings of people and wildlife in
Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Mali, Nigeria, and elsewhere in Af-
rica south of the Sahara, but the cultures that painted them
have yet to be identifi ed. Th e best-known rock art in Africa
probably is found in the Sahara, dating from 8000 to 3000
b.c.e. Th e art is found throughout the Sahara, from the west
coast to the Nile River. It seems as though no large rock was
left untouched by the ancient artists, and more than 40,000
etchings and paintings have been found. Th e art can be di-
vided into periods based on style, subject matter, and carbon
dating: Hunter Period (pre-6122 b.c.e.), Roundhead Period
(6122–5095 b.c.e.), Herdsmen Period (5095–2780 b.c.e.),
Horse Period (2780–600 b.c.e.), Camel Period (600 b.c.e. and
later). Some datings put the end of the Herdsmen Period and
the start of the Horse Period at 1500 b.c.e.
Many people are captivated by the Saharan rock etch-
ings and paintings because they depict a Saharan environ-
ment that is very diff erent from today’s ever-growing desert.
Th e painters lived in a Sahara that had many rivers and
streams and much rain and was therefore lush with life.
Animals fl ourished. Th e paintings show both dark-skinned
and light-skinned people, oft en mixing together. Mineral
pigments, charcoal, and burned bone were used to create
such colors as white, black, red, yellow, purple, and green.
Th e paintings show rituals, community activities, hunting,
wars, and dancing. People usually are portrayed realistically,
although during the Roundhead Period fi gures with circular
or oval heads were common; they may have been wearing a
kind of headdress that held hair in a net, or they may have
been wearing masks. By about 6500 b.c.e. the wet era of the
Saharan regions had peaked and thereaft er declined. Lush
wetlands became grasslands. By 3000 b.c.e. the Saharan
peoples were being forced out of their lands by desertifi ca-
tion, and the Egyptians fought fi erce wars against peoples
from the west called Libyans, who were seeking to occupy
the farmlands of Egypt.
It is unclear how much the rock art of the Sahara in-
fl uenced African art south of the Sahara. Th e spiral image
common in African art appeared in the Sahara in about 6000
b.c.e. and may have spread from there. Th e spiral usually
consists of a dark line twisting out from a central point. It
also shows up in jewelry as wound wires. Sometimes, espe-
cially when carved or represented in ceramics, its outward
end is given the head of a snake. In some African cultures the
spiral signifi es eternal life. When worn as a pendant, it can
represent the wish for a long life for the wearer. It also may
represent the eternal existence of the soul when included in
burial objects.
Many of the problems in tracing infl uences of the early
Saharan artists stem from the climate of Africa and its cul-
tural history. Outside of the Sahara and some areas in the
south, Africa is wet. Most African art has been rendered
in wood, but in tropical Africa wooden objects rot in fewer
than 50 years; some African cultures have made it a regu-
lar part of their lives to replace wooden objects every few
decades. Moreover, few ancient Africans had written lan-
guages, and for the few that did have writing, the writing
has not yet been interpreted. In addition, many African cul-
tures have migrated oft en during the past 5,000 years, and
only recently have anthropologists started reconstructing
the paths of those migrations.
Given Africans’ ancient passion for jewelry, it would be
reasonable to assume that gold, which does not corrupt like
most other metals, would preserve some of the history of
their art. But Africans have a long tradition of melting old
gold jewelry to make new gold jewelry, and many of the gold
artifacts left in graves have been looted. Th us historians do
not have a consistent record of art objects to trace the devel-
opment of cultural art traditions; there is little written record
describing the art that no longer exists; and when ancient Af-
rican art objects are found, the people living near the objects
are not necessarily the culture that made them and have littleart: Africa 89