What Was the First Period of the African Rock Art
/Ui-//aes Twyfelfontein Earth Heritage Site
Painting and engraving traditions in Africa adult over the final 30,000 years into a highly sophisticated way of expressing complex beliefs about the supernatural world. The painted stones from Apollo xi in Namibia date to roughly 27,500 years. However, there are no dates between Apollo 11 and the next oldest - around 10,000 years. It is estimated that the great bulk of animal and human being figures in southern African rock art were made inside the last 7,000 years. The engagement for the fine art at Twyfelfontein is estimated to exist effectually v,000 years agone co-ordinate to John Kinahan ('Spirit Rocks: the ancient fine art of /Ui-//aes' 2011) and the World Heritage dossier.
Apollo 11 Cave
The oldest dated rock art in Africa was discovered in the Apollo 11 Cavern in the Huns Mountains in s-western Namibia.
Seven grey-brown quartzite slabs, each smaller than an developed manus, were found with images drawn in charcoal and ochre during excavations in the cave in 1969 past High german archaeologist W.E. Wendt. The discovery occurred at the time of the Apollo xi mission to the moon, and the shelter was given the aforementioned name to gloat the momentous event. The stones, buried on the floor of the cave past layers of sediment and debris, were of a different rock from the cavern walls and had been brought into the site past the people living there. Red and white paintings on the walls are in a unlike style and technique from those on the small-scale slabs and are likely to be younger.
The painted stones were establish in an archaeological layer with Centre Stone Age artefact. Iii samples of charcoal and ostrich eggshell plant in the same layer were radiocarbon dated to betwixt 27,500 and 25,500 years BP (Wendt 1976). More than recent excavations have confirmed the dating of this layer and its Middle Rock Age associations.
1 of the decorated tablets had been broken earlier burial and the 2 pieces underwent different patination, as the epitome shows, before existence recovered in separate earthworks seasons. Drawn in charcoal, it resembles a feline, merely with human hind legs. Images on other slabs could include a zebra because it has stripes (just the legs are unusually long), and a possible rhinoceros.
Blombos Cavern
Clockwise (left): Piece of ochre decorated with a frail geometric pattern; Chris Henshilwood; Blombos Cave; Snail Shell.
In 2002, news of an important discovery in Blombos Cave on the southern Cape coast was fabricated; Chris Henshilwood announced the uncovering of a slice of ochre decorated with a delicate geometric pattern. He dated the piece conservatively at 77,000 years old. At that place are claims that it could exist as much as 100,000 years quondam.
This has been supported past further discoveries by Chris Henshilwood in 2008. He and his squad have uncovered what they believe is a 100,000-year-sometime paint workshop in Blombos Cave. The discovery indicates that, in terms of art, our ancestors had a bones knowledge of chemistry every bit well as the ability to plan.
The recovery of these toolkits adds evidence for early technological and behavioral developments. It demonstrates their deliberate planning, production, and curation of a pigmented compound and the use of containers. The research team found two sea snail shells - abalone shells - that probably served equally containers to store a red concoction of ochre, bone and charcoal. Paint residue on ane of the bones suggests it was used for stirring and transferring the mixture out of the beat out. At that place is evidence that this mixture had been heated; possibly liquefied bone marrow was used every bit a paste. Urine or water was also probably added to arrive more fluid.
Source: https://www.bradshawfoundation.com/africa/oldest_art/index.php
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