ZIMBABWE'S ATTRACTIONS

Bushman Rock Paintings

We must accept certain basic premises to understand Zimbabwe's art: that like all art, the prehistoric art of Zimbabwe (Late Stone Age) is a reflection of the society that created it; that, however simple its economy and technology may be, a society may still have extremely complex systems of thought, belief and symbolism; that all art is a manifestation of the perceptions, values and beliefs of society, a reflection of its social, economic, mental and spiritual life; that the meaning of art may not be readily accessible; and that all art may be a complex phenomenon, rich in symbolic meaning and content.

If there is a single fundamental statement to be made about Zimbabwe's prehistoric art, it is that nothing that we see today on the cave walls is likely to represent quite what it seems. No representation, no group, no scene is to be taken absolutely literally. Each is part of a symbolic system, part of a coded message. We will not be able to penetrate the symbolic system or understand the art until we understand the society of the artists. To do this, we can only turn to recent hunter-gatherer societies which share as near as possible the same technology, economy and environment as the artists' society and learn from them.

If we find evidence of historical continuity and detailed parallels in cultural practices between such societies, we may draw on their beliefs and practices to provide some insight into the meaning of the art. Fortunately both historical continuity and cultural parallels do to some extent exist. The prehistoric art of Zimbabwe is part of an artistic tradition that also encompasses the rock art of South Africa which continued into comparatively recent times, so that the culture and beliefs of the South African artists could be recorded and studied at least to some extent before they vanished. The artists of South Africa were indeed Bushmen or, as most anthropologists now prefer to call them, San.

Prehistoric paintings can be found wherever there are granite outcrops. A favourite surface for the painters were unweathered vertical faces of granite sheltered under a shallow horizontal overhang. The granite country of Zimbabwe provides surroundings of extraordinary variety and splendour. This landscape was the setting of the paintings.