Ten Interesting Facts about San or Bushman Rock Art
1. The San or Bushmen are considered to be the "First Peoples" of southern Africa.
2. Their rock art in the Drakensberg in South Africa and Lesotho is particularly well known for its beauty and vibrancy and for the sheer quantity of it.
3. One of the paintings in Blombos Cave, 300 kms east of Cape Town on the southern Cape coast, is thought to be the oldest instance of human art, and has been dated at about 73 000 years old.
4. Their art represents the daily happenings in their lives, as well as depictions containing numerous religious beliefs and symbols.
5. The "paints" were made from different coloured ochre, ground to a fine powder and then mixed with animal fat and sometimes blood.
6. They made brushes from animal hair or a small single feather.
7. Eland and other antelope like Hartebeest and Reybuck feature in Bushman art, but plants are not commonly depicted.
8. South African Rock Art Digital Archive (SARADA) has some 250 000 images of rock art in its archives.
9. The region's rock art is amongst the finest in the world.
10. Rock engravings or petroglyphs are found in the interior of southern Africa and, unlike paintings which occur in caves and overhangs, are found on rocky outcrops or, indeed, on rocks in the open veld.
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