Gallery
The San inhabited the Drakensberg and elsewhere in South Africa from the Stone Age until the nineteenth century. Living under sandstone overhangs or in temporary grass shelters, they left some of the finest examples of rock art in the world.
San rock painting in the central Drakensberg, KwaZulu-Natal
San rock art on display at the Constitutional Court
San rock paintings in Bushmanskloof, Cederberg region, Western Cape
San rock painting, KwaZulu-Natal

San rock art paintings at Shelter Cave, Kamberg, KwaZulu-Natal
San rock painting, KwaZulu-Natal
San rock painting, KwaZulu-Natal
San rock paintings in the Cederberg region of the Western Cape

San rock painting, KwaZulu-Natal
Game pass shelter at Bushmans Cave Museum, Giants Castle, Kamber in KwaZulu-Natal
San rock paintings, KwaZulu-Natal
The Coldstream Stone

San rock art at Vanderkloof in the Northern Cape
The Zaamenkomst Panel from the Maclear district of the southern Drakensberg
The Linton painting, a superb example of San rock art from the farm Linton in the Eastern Cape
Detail of the Linton painting

Detail of the Linton painting
San rock art on display at Constitution Hill in Johannesburg
Later rock art by farmer communities in Limpopo
San rock art from the Cederberg region of the Western Cape

San rock art at Silverstreams Farm in the Underberg region of KwaZulu-Natal
San rock paintings near Maclear in the Eastern Cape
Boulder engraving depicting antelopes - the European couple was added later
Dancing women wearing traditional leather aprons and ostrich egg-shell knee bracelets

A band of hunters with weapons
Two superimposed rheboks, the second with its head down
Rock painting of giraffe, from Zimbabwe
San rock painting showing a hunter with bow and arrow and his prey

Photo copyright: We do not hold copyright on these photos. Permission for re-use should be sought from the copyright holder indicated below each photograph.

More about SA rock art:

Gallery compiled by Mary Alexander

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