Conflict on the Frontier: San Rock Art, Spirituality, and Historical Narrative in the Free State Province, South Africa

Abstract

A San rock art site near the town of Wepener (Free State Province, South Africa) is considered by local inhabitants to depict specific historical events of the nineteenth century. This chapter describes the paintings and—using ethnographic evidence—dispels romantic myths: the site is not a mere “narrative” of actual events but rather a manifestation of the cosmological belief systems of the San.