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(Updated by Bob Forrester, December 2005)
Nsangwini Rock Paintings
The Nsangwini Rock Art Shelter is the largest in the country and is one of two sites open to the public. The shelter is currently being upgraded for visitors. A floor has been installed, access improved and guides are being trained. All profits from the project will be put back into the community to help support AIDS orphans.
The following descriptions of paintings at Nsangwini and Sandlane are taken from, "The Lost People of Swaziland" by JR Masson. The book is being published in 2005 and will be widely available in Swaziland.
"Nsangwini shelter provides the most comprehensive display of Bushman rock paintings in Swaziland. However it has been accessible to the public for about fifty years, and human interference has caused severe deterioration to some of the paintings - by chipping and by using water to 'highlight' the fainter figures.
Nsangwini is the only major rock painting site which has no eland. This is unusual because eland is the most common animal in Bushman paintings and mythology. Instead, there are two blue wildebeest, with an elongated human figure between them, this combination is unique to Swaziland. All three figures are in dark red monochrome. Low down in the panel is another wildebeest which appears to be emerging from a crack in the rock. The only other animals with which these wildebeest might conceivably be confused are the black wildebeest and the buffalo, but the former has distinctively curved horns, while the latter has a much heavier body and head with a horned boss. From the set of their heads and their body profiles they are certainly not black wildebeest, and are far more likely to be blue wildebeest than buffaloes.
Although blue wildebeest are not found in Drakensberg rock art, they are present in Zimbabwe, where they are painted in red outline. There is possibly a link between the Zimbabwe and Swaziland paintings. Also in red outline at Nsangwini are an elephant as well as half-animal / half-human figures known as therianthropes.
The next painting depicts the headless upper body of a human, outlined in dark red. It has arms but the head has been obscured by a later animal figure. The body and arms are hatched in red. The body ends at a horizontal crack in the rock. It appears to be a shaman emerging from or disappearing into the crack. This is a well-known feature of Bushman belief and ritual. In this case the shaman has been, or is, engaging in an out-of-body experience, otherwise known as an altered state of consciousness. The crack in the rock represents the entrance to the spirit world.
The most publicized paintings at Nsangwini (which have appeared on Swaziland stamps) are two winged figures, these are part human and part bird or insect. The right-facing figure is floating as if airborne, while the other may be hovering, so light is the painter's touch. The significance of the half-completed animal on their left is not apparent, but the procession of four male figures towards a crack in the rock evokes a response similar to that of the 'body in the crack'.
This view seems to be supported by the fact that all four figures have infibulated penises, or have penis ornaments which have some unknown ritual significance. Bushmen had permanently semi-erect penises. The foreskin was perforated and a plug was inserted and worn at all times except when men were sexually active. Each figure is brandishing a branch or a handful of plants. This is similar to those being carried by two (of four) men in a much publicized painting at Sehonghong in Lesotho. This portrays a captive rain animal being led by four shamans in order to attract rain. These branches or bunches could be of aromatic or even hallucinogenic plants, which also had ritual significance. They may have been used to pacify the rain animal, which could be a hippopotamus or a look-a-like mythical animal from the river.
There is another group of six smaller figures in procession lower down the panel, but they appear to be carrying sticks instead of branches. There are also small figures with branches instead of arms which may have an association with the mythology of the winged figures.
It is likely that these figures are associated with rain making. This interpretation may be strengthened by another major group of figures on the roof of the shelter, which comprises a group of three men in shaded black with traces of red outline and without penis attachments. They are looking towards a red shaded animal which could be a bovine bull or cow, but is more likely to be a composite animal in the form of a rain bull or cow.
Just above the men are two animals in black, again with traces of red outline, which are thought to be fat-tailed sheep. These figures are part of a roof panel which contains other human and animal figures, but the combination of the black figures, the fat-tailed sheep and the rain animal suggests a visit by Bantu-speaking agro-pastoralists to promote rain-making, or more probably to obtain rain making medicines. These are the only paintings of probable non-Bushman peoples that have been recorded in Swaziland rock art.
There is also symbolic significance in the red horizontal lines on which two copulating animals, or perhaps therianthropes are standing. These lines are interpreted as pathways of progress towards the spirit world, which may be in the sky or underground, by way of a crack. It must be emphasized that every figure or non-figurative subject is a ritual icon, the significance of which may be hard to relate to ethnographic records.
The final painting which deserves to be mentioned is a dancing figure, perhaps female, low down on the painted surface, at one time described as 'the Can Can Dancer'. Today it is possible to be more discriminating in recognizing an important ingredient in Bushman paintings, namely gender symbolism. One recurring image is that of the "Mythic Woman", which appears in various forms, but depicts the reproductive posture - raised arms, spread legs and genital emission. The Nsangwini figure is rather faded, but is sufficiently diagnostic to bring it within this category of paintings. It may relate to creation mythology, or to some other aspect of sexuality and reproduction."
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| Nsangwini |
Nsangwini |
Sandlane |
Sandlane Rock Paintings
These are about 1 km from the Sandlane border post. There is a signpost about a hundred meters on the Swazi side of the border that shows which road to go down. The dirt road passes through a homestead belonging to the Mntjali family. The site is a few metres beyond the huts. The paintings are in reasonably good condition. Mrs Mntjali looks after them on a voluntary basis.
"The paintings are faded because of the number of visitors who have thrown water over them to make them clearer for photographing. The senior woman of the homestead used to provide and apply the water. When they were first photographed in 1958 there was a dark red 'sunburst' about 5 cms in diameter at the junction of the two panels, but this has since disappeared.
There are both animal and human figures in dark red monochrome. The former are a variety of small to medium sized buck, including vaal rhebok or other smaller buck, facing in both directions. The only 'problem' animal has a head like a donkey, which has caused some confusion in interpretation. At the time when the paintings were executed, several hundred years or more ago, there were no domestic animals in this part of south-eastern Africa. The 'donkey' could be a zebra or a quaqqa, though these are animals rarely portrayed in Bushman paintings. It is more likely to be a poorly painted red hartebeest, which was second only in symbolic importance to the eland.
There are numerous human figures, but apart from the 'males in procession' they are not easy to identify. These have a definite symbolic content, representing a trance or initiation dance."
A video documentary, funded by UNESCO, documented some of the better known rock art sites.
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