The Diversity of the Common. The Significance of Spatial Motif Variation in Studying Cultural Variability using Rock Art in Zimbabwe Ancila Nhamo

The Diversity of the Common

The Signicance of Spatial Motif Variation in Studying Cultural Variability using Rock Art in Zimbabwe

Ancila Nhamo

Ancila Nhamo is currently a Research Specialist in Humanities and Social Sciences in the Research and Innovation Directorate at the University of Zimbabwe. Her job involves working with researchers, students and other interested individuals to conceptualize and accelerate research into usable products and services. She is also a senior lecturer of Archaeology and Heritage Studies in the Department of History. Ancila has several publications in peer reviewed local, regional and international journals, book chapters and conference proceedings. Her interests are in rock art, management, conservation and sustainable usage. She is also interested in archaeological heritage management in general. across space should, therefore, be taken to reflect

Introduction

R e s e a r c h e r s i n s o u t h e r n A f r i c a h av e w i d e l y acknowledged the existence of motif variation in the rock art of the region. However, little has been done to use the cultural rock art diversity to understand the social and economic structure of the prehistoric hunter-gatherers. culture of the Late Stone Age period.

The question is why were artists from different areas choosing different symbols? This paper examines case studies from Zimbabwe to illustrate ways in which variation in rock art motifs can allude to the social and economic dynamics among Late Stone Age huntergatherers. The fact that similar cultural diversity has been noted among contemporary hunter-gatherers from the Kalahari, whose culture is often used as for analogy with the prehistoric societies buttresses the argument for their existence in Late Stone Age communities. collective programming of the mind that distinguishes the members of one group from another”. Rock art, like other art forms, is a product of artists who, as members of their communities, are informed by the thought processes of the whole culture. Artists do not operate in a vacuum; rather, they draw their symbols from the shared, learned, and collective knowledge and expected patterns of behaviour (see Lewis-Williams, 1982, p. 429). As such, a r t i s t s a re i n f o r m e d a n d i n t u r n , i n f o r m o t h e r components of culture. The variation in rock art motifs differences, though minute at times, in the cultures of the artists. It is, therefore, not only proper but imperative for archaeologists to research both commonalities and differences that exist in the art. Due to established shared underlying cognitive system among the hunter-gatherers all over most of Southern Africa (Lewis-Williams, 1982), most researchers in the last few decades have focused on the commonalities (e.g. Lewis-Williams, 1983; Walker, 1996; Garlake, 1995; Mguni, 2015; Eastwood and Eastwood, 2006; Nhamo, 2007). Although studying commonalities in the art has helped to explicate the culture of southern African hunter-gatherers in general, it has not delved into the differences that are obvious in the art and other material

Hofstede (1980, p. 21-23) defined culture as “the Previous researchers who have worked on southern African rock ar t have obser ved the occurrence of variations of motifs across space (e.g. Burkitt, 1928; Lewis-Williams, 1983; Hampson et al., 2002; Bleek, 1932; Rudner and Rudner, 1970). Zimbabwean rock art is usually argued to be distinct to that from Namibia, Drakensberg/Maluti Mountains, Western Cape, etc. In spite of the problems of demarcating them, these geographic regions are implied in most of the studies on

southern African rock art (e.g. Lewis-Williams, 1983; Mguni, 2002, 2015). This paper posits that the spatial differences in rock art motifs emanated from minute social and economic differences that existed among smaller groupings across space.

Diversity in the rock art of Zimbabwe

Detailed research conducted by the author in three different par ts of Zimbabwe clearly ar ticulates the diversity in art has managed to illustrate the spatial variation of the rock art motifs (Nhamo, 2014). This is supported by reports by other Zimbabwean researchers over the years (Garlake, 1995; Walker, 1996; Nhamo, 2007). A comparative analysis was conducted for motifs from Northern Nyanga, Harare, and Chivi. The results showed that the case studies had several motifs similarities which leave no doubt that the rock art was produced by related hunter-gather groups (Nhamo, 2014). These include the general dominance of human and kudu images (Garlake, 1995; Nhamo, 2007, 2014), occurrences of depictions with human-animal conflation. Nevertheless, these motifs differ from one area to the other in ter ms of occur rence and frequenc y. The differences are in, for example, the occurrence in dominant animals in the art was noted as in the case of the giraffe which has been recorded mainly from Chivi, where it is the second most frequently depicted animal after kudu. However, there were no giraffe depictions recorded in Northern Nyanga whilst only two images were found in Harare (see Table 1). On the other hand, elephants are the second most frequent in Northern Nyanga with a high frequency in Harare as well; yet, there are extremely rare in Chivi. In addition, differences were obser ved in the expression of the common motifs among the case study areas. For instance, the human-animal conflations occur in all three areas but they vary in their form. In Northern Nyanga, the most common conflation is that of the snakehead motif, which shows a combination of human torso with snake-like heads (Figure 1). In Chivi, the conflation of humans with baboon-like facial features (baboon-face) is more common whilst in Harare humans with reptilian body features – that have been termed crocodile men – are found (Goodall, 1959; Nhamo, 2014). Of the three conflations observed among the case studies, only the

1a)

Figure 1: Human-animal conflations: 1a) snake-head motif from Northern Nyanga; 1b) reptilian conflation from Harare and 1c) baboon-face conflation from Chivi (photograph Ancila Nhamo).

baboon-face has been repor ted in other par ts of Zimbabwe such as Gwanda and Rusape. The crocodile men and snake-head motifs are circumscribed in Harare and Nyanga respectively.

There is also variation in the technique of executing images in the rock art of Zimbabwe. In Northern Nyanga, there is a very distinct technique of executing images using stripes rather than solid paints. Of the images recorded, 67% are striped whereas 18% are solids. This is in contrast to Harare where 93.5% solids, very few are striped and the rest are just outlines. In Chivi, there are no stripped images, rather 97.2% are solids and the rest are outlines. Therefore, there seems to be a deliberate choice of depicting images in stripes in Northern Nyanga, even for those subjects that are common to other parts of the

Motif

Human figures

Conflated figures

Human postures

Animals

Conflated animals

Geometric figures Northern Nyanga

Mostly male

Human-snake conflations with rare humanantelope ones

Bending figures are peculiar to this area

Dominated by kudu and elephant. Klipspringer is unique

No reports

Chivi Harare

Mostly male but with a higher number of female

Mostly humanbaboon conflations with rare human- antelope ones

Groups with women seated whilst men are dancing Mostly male with a few occurrence of children

Dominated by humancrocodile and humanantelope conflations. A few other animal-human conflations occur

Reclining figures are common

More occurrences of giraffe. A few elephants. No bird depictions Larger repertoire of animals including aquatic animals, tsessebe, aardvark and birds

Snake -antelope conflation Snake-antelope conflation

Dots and lines Dots and lines Flecks, dots, lines and formlings

Other parts of Zimbabwe

Mostly male but higher occurrence of females reported from Beitbridge area

Human-antelope conflations occur in many other areas, human baboon found in some areas but no human snake or humancrocodile

Reclining figures are found in other areas such as Rusape, Wedza, Mutoko

Many of the animals found in case study areas occur in other parts of the country but vary in frequency from place to place. Klipspringer has not been reported elsewhere

Snake antelope conflation in reported around the country. Snake-antelope-human conflations also occur

Elaborately depicted formlings have been reported in northern Zimbabwe and Matopo Hills

Plants

Extremely few pods and leaves No plants Several depictions of trees, grass, and tubers Different types of plant reported in some parts of the country

Colour

Mostly monochrome Monochrome, bichrome and few shaded bi-chrome Mostly monochrome Mostly monochrome but bi-chrome and polychrome also found in northern Zimbabwe, Mutoko and Matopo Hills

Technique of execution

Mostly striped and solids Mostly solids Mostly solids with a few outlines

Mostly solids, striped art is rare for example at White Rhino in Matopo Hills

Table 1: Summary of variation in frequency and occurrence of motifs in Northern Nyanga, Chivi, Harare, and other parts of Zimbabwe. (Table by Ancila Nhamo)

the rock art of the hunter-gatherers in southern africa

Figure 2: A panel from Northern Nyanga with figures executed in stripes (photograph credited to Plan Shenjere).

countr y. Although Nor ther n Nyanga shares many c o m m o n m o t i f s w i t h i t s n e i g h b o u r i n g M u t o ko, 60 kilometers to the northwest, they differ distinctly on the use and frequency of striped. In Northern Nyanga, entire panels are depicted in stripes (Figure 2) while very few images are depicted as such in Mutoko (personal observation). In Mutoko, zebras are usually executed in this manner to show their striped coat.

Diversity in the social and economic organisation of LSA communities

The examples above show the variation in the choice of motifs by different artists. The differences are most likely as a result of the differences in social and economic needs. Studies in the Kalahari have shown that some aspects of cultural variation are influenced by environmental factors such as the availability or non-availability of water and other food resources (Barnard, 1980, 1992; Lee, 1972; Lee and Daly, 1999). Differences in the structure of social relations such as kinship also impact the nature of cultural variation between two communities (Barnard, 1992; Heinz, 1972).

Therefore, variations in animal symbols chosen for rock art may emanate from the fact that the characteristics of a certain animal might be aptly symbolising the social and economic requirements of one group than it does to another. Giraffes, for example, are not overly water dependent (Smithers and Skinner, 1990); thus, their resilience in that regard could have influenced their preference as symbols in the rock art of Chivi and other areas in the Lowveld of Zimbabwe where the environment is drier. Research in other parts of southern Zimbabwe has shown higher occurrences of giraffes. In Matobo, they are depicted with colourful coats which reflect their emphasis in the art (Walker, 1996; Nhamo and Bourdier, 2019). The same would not apply to the well-watered region. Giraffes are rare in the art from Zimunya (Nhamo, 2007) and much of the Zimbabwean watershed (Garlake, 1995).

Although the common feature of human-animal conflations reflects common beliefs in human-animal relationships, the variation in the animal symbols and manner of conflation possibly alludes to social and economic differences that informed the motif selection. The spatial variation probably relates to par ticular groupings such as bands, band clusters, or language groups, which are difficult to ascertain at the present moment. However, the differences in the human-animal c o n f l at i o n s h ow t h at c e r t a i n a n i m a l s h a d c l o s e r relationships with particular circumscribed groups on the landscape (Nhamo, 2014).

The distinct manner of executing images as seen in Northern Nyanga is a possible indicator of the need to emphasize group identity and differentiate themselves from their neighbours. Rock art would have worked in the same ways as other material culture such as dress and projectiles, as observed among hunter-gatherer groups in the Kalahari (Wiessner, 1983, 1984). The need for such a distinct manner of depicting the motifs could have emanated from aspects of social and economic factors

such as territoriality and control of access to resources (see Barnard, 1992; Heinz, 1972).

Concluding remarks

The above examples show the need for a detailed analysis of rock art to elucidate the variation in motifs and their possible data about the social and economic organisation of the artists. The variation in rock art should be studied in conjunction with aspects of variation found in other archaeological materials from the Later Stone Age. As Mitchell (2005, p. 68) noted, “there is no doubt that a richer view of the hunter-gatherer past will emerge if and where rock art’s wealth of reference to social relations can be integrated with ‘dirt’ archaeology”. The work that has been (Walker, 1995) and is currently being conducted in the Matobo (Nhamo and Bourdier, 2019) is essential in achieving this goal.

Acknowledgements

The other major area of research which will strengthen the study of hunter-gatherer cultural variability is c hronology and dating roc k ar t. Establishing the chronology of rock art is vital in distinguishing between spatial and temporal variation. The sequence will enable the comparison of rock art that dates to the same time period thereby reflecting the spatial and group differences among contemporary communities. Chronolog ical sequences also allow for the contextualization of motif variation into the cultural complexities known from excavated archaeological material such as stone tools, and eggshell beads whose var iation may assist in the understanding of the social and economic organisation among LSA communities. The MATOBART project being carried out in the Matobo is striving to address chronological issues as well. In the future, there is a need

to expand to other parts of Zimbabwe.

The author would like to acknowledge the nancial assistance provided by the Norwegian Programme for Development, Research, and Education (NUFU) towards the PhD research conducted in Zimbabwe. The University of Zimbabwe provided nancial and institutional support towards the study of rock art used as case studies in this paper. Several other individuals who are too many to mention by name have also assisted at various stages of the PhD research, on which many of the ideas in this paper are based. They are all greatly acknowledged. The author also acknowledges support from the French Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs and IFAS-Research towards the publication of this paper.

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