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Brief description of site: The overhang is 8 m long, between 1.5 m - 1.9 m high and affords good shelter with a rock and sand floor. The shelter faces WNW and has a deeper cavity at its northern and lowest part.

Though close to the river, the deposit in the shelter is dry and more than 0.5 m thick in places. There is very little surface scatter but some crypto-crystalline silicate (opaline) lithics (stone tools) are visible. No bone was visible or pottery or charcoal. No grinding patches were observed.
Brief description of art: Finger dots.

The RSA-LOL1 rock-paintings number approximately 125 individual paintings that extend the length of the shelter. Many of these rock-paintings are of great interest. There are at least 24 eland (Tragelaphus oryx) as well as some smaller antelope and a possible feline. There is also a serpent painted in red with a buck head. Over 40 human figures are painted both in procession and participating in a Medicine or Trance Dance. At least 9 of the human figures wear very nice karoses. A semicircular thick red line encloses part of a small, intimate private healing ceremony depiction - complete with patient, 4 people clapping and 1 healing -. This vignette is notable for its bright and unusual colours - red, light red, yellow and black. . There are also 11 human figures painted in black, 2 of which shoot arrows at each other, though one group of 6 arrows appears to be coming from the wrong side of this 'battle'. There is one large and fat female figure with very thin legs. At least 12 of the human figures are in postures such as bending forward from the waist, holding a hand to their nose and holding their arms behind their back that are diagnostic of the attainment of altered states of consciousness. One of the most interesting panels in the site is located at the juncture between wall and ceiling in the southern end of the shelter:

'Elver' paintings: There are 11 rock-paintings (in groups of 9 and 2) of barrel-chested fish-like creatures that Dr. Paul Skelton of the J.L.B. Smith Institute of Ichthyology has tentatively identified as 'engorged elvers' - baby eels that have eaten too much. These paintings are large with the largest being 310 mm long. They are all painted in an unusual brownish pigment, with some having a black (once white) dorsal line and fin. One 'elver' appears to have 2 sets of 'wings' but these are, in fact, an accidental superimposition on top of the Medicine Dance painted below, that has human figures transforming into winged creatures.

Khoe rock-paintings: Over a distance of over 3.5 m are rows of Khoe herder fingerdots. Interestingly, it is often the case that a row of large, fat fingerdots is accompanied by a parallel row of smaller, more closely-spaced fingerdots.

Brief description of site: This 25 m long, high and commodious protruding rock shelter - one in a concatenation of sites along the same contour. Considerable waterborne sand has been deposited in the cave from flooding, covering some of the rock-paintings on the lower levels. The sandstone has a lot of hard quartzite admixture and the site has an upper ledge level on which most of the rock-paintings occur.

The waterborne sand has covered most of the primary archaeological deposit. Surface scatters of lydiante (hornfels) and crypto-crystalline silicates (opalines) are present in some numbers. There are cores, chips and chunks as well as finished artefacts such as flakes, scrapers and burins, suggesting that this was a large and important centre for the San or Bushmen who lived there. Together with the many rock-paintings, this richness of material culture suggests that Stow's Cave was a asocial and ritual aggregation centre for different San groups who periodically came together for purposes of trade, visiting, arranging marriages, gift exchange, intensified ritual and symbolic activity and so on. Because of the regular flooding of the site the preservation of inorganic remains such as bone, ostrich eggshell, leather and fibre is unlikely. There are also at lest 6 grinding patches on the rocks suggesting the grinding of plant food and perhaps pigment such as ochre.
Brief description of art: Finger dots.

There are in excess of 350 individual rock-paintings that fall into two different types:

San or Bushman rock-paintings: These make up over 80% of the surviving paintings. Most of these paintings are painted exclusively or in combinations of red, black, white and varying shades of yellow or orange paint. Subjects depicted include depictions of baboon, cattle, eland (Tragelaphus oryx), felines, indeterminate antelope, human figures - some with spears - also human figures bending forward covered in karoses, many bags and quivers a large coiled serpent, and some large animals, some of which may represent the rain-animal. Significantly, at least 6 of the human figures have both animal and human physical attributes and are known as therianthropes - part-human, part-animal transformed medicine people or shamans. There is a great deal of activity in the art, which runs for over 20 m and a great deal of material culture in the form of bows, arrows, sticks, spears, clothing, bags and so forth is shown. These rock-paintings range in size from 25 mm to just over a metre for the large serpent.

Khoe rock-paintings: On close inspection, it can be seen that some of RSA LOR1 rock-paintings are non-representational and take the form of finger-drawn lines and dots - often placed in rows. This schematic art is distinct from the San art. It is not applied with a brush and it does not represent animals or human figures. They occur both on top of and underneath the San art, suggesting the makers of this art inhabited the same landscape as the San. These makers were the Khoe (Khoi) - a society of herders who had stock but who did not plant. The Khoe moved into the Cathcart area between 1 200 - 16 00 years ago, following the river courses that they may have water and feed for their stock.

Brief description of site: The rock floor of this bilobial shelter has only a few opaline flakes; the San probably swept off the rest of the artefacts on a regular basis onto the slope below. On this slope there are more stone artefacts; principally flakes. River flooding prevents the preservation of organic materials - the bone that is visible on the surface being of recent date.
Brief description of art: There are approximately 65 individual rock-paintings; mostly of San authorship with a few Khoe fingerdots. There are eland, human figures including 17 red human figures in a rows. At least four of these figures are identifiably male, possible cattle and a snake-like figure that may be a creature-of-the-water similar to the rain animal. What makes this site special is its detailed and very well-preserved Medicine Dance.

The Medicine Dance: In a natural rock hollow there are 32 red human figures in a variety of postures. The Dance is dominated by a large, bending forward human figures. 3 figures assume the arms-back posture diagnostic of the Medicine Dance. 1 interesting figure appears to have a 'broken' back while 2 other figures are depicted upside-down. 10 of the dancers have jackal heads and are thus therianthropes or transformed shamans. There is a central human figure in black with a shield-like motif. There is also a red and white human figure. 4 figures have 2 different kinds of karos and 2 seated figures have buck-like horns.

The rock floor of this bilobial shelter has only a few opaline flakes; the San probably swept off the rest of the artefacts on a regular basis onto the slope below. On this slope there are more stone artefacts; principally flakes. River flooding prevents the preservation of organic materials - the bone that is visible on the surface being of recent date.