Post by L Roebuck on Sept 23, 2005 5:15:57 GMT -5
Rock paintings evoke memories
MANYANA - You just have to visit some places to get in touch with history and experience their serenity.
Kolobeng hill in Manyana is one such place. The pre-historic artwork painted by Basarwa brings to life a society swept away by change.
Standing by the hill, one is bound to create images of the ancient artists at work on the rock fces.
How long did it take one to draw one piece? Was it a group work or an individuals creation? Was it a man or woman who did most of the paintings? What was their age? These are just some of the questions one might ponder while admiring the rock paintings which are now fading due to wear and tear and other factors.
The Manyana rock art site is reported to be one of the rarest in south-eastern Botswana. The highest concentration of rock art is found in Tsodilo.
At an elevation of 3 800 ft, the hill, which is very close to the villages main kgotla, is also historic because according to oral traditions, it offered asylum to Mma Sechele - Kgosi Secheles third wife - during Tswana-Boer War of the 1850s.
The guide at the site Sinah Marumo said the area is popular with visitors who come mostly for pleasure and educational reasons.
The two registers kept by the guide show that visitors have come from as far as Russia, Belgium, Holland, the UK and US.
The books indicate that locally, it is mostly institutions of learning which send their students to tour the site, which is fenced.
The guide showed BOPA the various rock paintings, which are found in five sites in the hill along approximately .75km of rock outcrops.
To the eastern side of the hill, the table-top rock harbours the face of rock containing different paintings which include an elephant, gemsbok which is painted in red and four giraffes which are yellow/orange in colour.
Other paintings include a faded black outline of what looks like the face of a feline, a stick-man and an oblong design painted in black with associated rows of black dots inside the shape.
Marumo explained that historic research has shown that in Basarwa paintings, of a two-legged figure resembled a female while the three legged, which is at the site, depicts a male figure.
She said it was not very clear what the oblong figure symbolised, adding that some researchers believe that the artist must have been in a trance-transformed and entered the spirit world - at the time of painting.
The rock art paintings also include letter P which to the Basarwa traditions symbolises a snake. According to scientists, it is difficult to assess when these ancient artists inhabited the area, however it is generally assumed that it was thousands of years ago.
About Mma-Secheles cave, not much is documented. The National Museum has advised people not to enter the cave as no excavation has been carried out.
She said according to those who have peeped through, the cave is huge inside, and has two routes going separate ways.
A museum official in Gaborone said they are yet to carry out some excavation at the site However, the story behind the cave is that in 1852 during the war between the Boers and some Batswana tribes- during the Battle of Dimawe- Kgosi Sechele I of Bakwena hid his third wife, Mma-Sechele in the cave.
Riding on horseback, oral traditions say, Kgosi Sechele came to collect his wife when he realised that the Boers were approaching the hill. .The historic sites, situated about 35km East of Gaborone, can be visited any day of the week . Entry is free. BOPA
www.gov.bw/cgi-bin/news.cgi?d=20050923&i=Rock_paintings_evoke_memories
MANYANA - You just have to visit some places to get in touch with history and experience their serenity.
Kolobeng hill in Manyana is one such place. The pre-historic artwork painted by Basarwa brings to life a society swept away by change.
Standing by the hill, one is bound to create images of the ancient artists at work on the rock fces.
How long did it take one to draw one piece? Was it a group work or an individuals creation? Was it a man or woman who did most of the paintings? What was their age? These are just some of the questions one might ponder while admiring the rock paintings which are now fading due to wear and tear and other factors.
The Manyana rock art site is reported to be one of the rarest in south-eastern Botswana. The highest concentration of rock art is found in Tsodilo.
At an elevation of 3 800 ft, the hill, which is very close to the villages main kgotla, is also historic because according to oral traditions, it offered asylum to Mma Sechele - Kgosi Secheles third wife - during Tswana-Boer War of the 1850s.
The guide at the site Sinah Marumo said the area is popular with visitors who come mostly for pleasure and educational reasons.
The two registers kept by the guide show that visitors have come from as far as Russia, Belgium, Holland, the UK and US.
The books indicate that locally, it is mostly institutions of learning which send their students to tour the site, which is fenced.
The guide showed BOPA the various rock paintings, which are found in five sites in the hill along approximately .75km of rock outcrops.
To the eastern side of the hill, the table-top rock harbours the face of rock containing different paintings which include an elephant, gemsbok which is painted in red and four giraffes which are yellow/orange in colour.
Other paintings include a faded black outline of what looks like the face of a feline, a stick-man and an oblong design painted in black with associated rows of black dots inside the shape.
Marumo explained that historic research has shown that in Basarwa paintings, of a two-legged figure resembled a female while the three legged, which is at the site, depicts a male figure.
She said it was not very clear what the oblong figure symbolised, adding that some researchers believe that the artist must have been in a trance-transformed and entered the spirit world - at the time of painting.
The rock art paintings also include letter P which to the Basarwa traditions symbolises a snake. According to scientists, it is difficult to assess when these ancient artists inhabited the area, however it is generally assumed that it was thousands of years ago.
About Mma-Secheles cave, not much is documented. The National Museum has advised people not to enter the cave as no excavation has been carried out.
She said according to those who have peeped through, the cave is huge inside, and has two routes going separate ways.
A museum official in Gaborone said they are yet to carry out some excavation at the site However, the story behind the cave is that in 1852 during the war between the Boers and some Batswana tribes- during the Battle of Dimawe- Kgosi Sechele I of Bakwena hid his third wife, Mma-Sechele in the cave.
Riding on horseback, oral traditions say, Kgosi Sechele came to collect his wife when he realised that the Boers were approaching the hill. .The historic sites, situated about 35km East of Gaborone, can be visited any day of the week . Entry is free. BOPA
www.gov.bw/cgi-bin/news.cgi?d=20050923&i=Rock_paintings_evoke_memories
