Swazi rock paintings by Bushmen

(Guest writer)

They lived in the country for thousands of years, however, when cattle owning people first came into southern Africa about 1 600 years ago they were gradually pushed into the areas not suitable for cattle grazing and growing crops, like the Highveld in Swaziland, the Drakensburg in Natal and the Kalahari desert where this photo of a Bushman was taken. Their way of life involved hunting and gathering, paintings were made to record trips to the spirit world. This photo is from a travelling exhibition of African rock art heritage at the Swaziland National Museum which is open every day from 9am to 4pm until the middle of March. The exhibition is sponsored by the Alliance Francaise and was seen by over 50 000 people in the first four countries it visited.

There are painting sites from all over Africa, these people here are known as the Roundhead culture and are from Algeria. Some people believe that the large heads are in fact turbans, much like the head wrappings that people use today to protect them from the heat in the fierce north African sun where temperatures can go above 50 degrees. Sometimes the paintings were up to four metres tall. They are painted in red ochre, a form of rusted iron found throughout the continent.

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