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Site and People records
Skirbeek I 73 MT
Site

Brief description of site: This site consists of a very large NNE facing split sandstone boulder with a low inner tunnel and alcove and large rock in the centre of the site. The site has a sloping rock floor with small pockets of archaeological deposits immediately within the alcove and tunnel. The site is on the 540m contour and has a good view of the surrounding localised countryside. The immediate landscape is intricate and offers a variety of ecotonal niches and ecological resources.

The site is immediately adjacent to a hilltop stone-walled Iron Age settlement that was occupied into historic times. The large central rock has abraded patches and 11 grinding hollows - probably of Iron Age origin - that measure from 20.5 mm in diameter to 60.5 mm and from 1 mm in depth to 10 mm. There are a few lithics (stone tools) located on the surface of the site including flakes - general purpose tools; scrapers - used to work leather and adzes - used to work wood. There are also chips and chunks left from the manufacturing process and which tell us that Skirbeek I was a favoured home or living site of the San (Bushmen) and Khoe (Khoi) in times past. There is no bone preserved and no ostrich eggshell was observed. There may be pockets of archaeological deposit among the rocks but generally not.
Brief description of art: Giraffes.

The RSA TSH1 rock-paintings fall into two major rock-art traditions - that of the San and that of the Khoe:

San rock-paintings: The dominant San rock-paintings are two giraffe painted in red outline with an internal body pattern made of red finger dots. These painted giraffe measure 450 mm x 370 mm and 470 mm x 410 mm. These paintings exhibit fine detail in the form of ears, hair brush as the end of the tails and horns.

Khoe rock-paintings: The Khoe rock-painting tradition consists of finger-painted geometric and rare representational images. At Skirbeek in the alcove on the ceiling is a 690 mm long twin, parallel line of red finger painted lines, each 80 mm thick. There are also red fingerdots. There are further red and one white paint smudges.

Skirbeek II 73 MT
Site

Brief description of site: Cupule Cave is less than 2 km from RSA TSH1. The site is a 5.5m wide, 6.8 m deep and between 1.4 m - 1.8 m high ocular or eye-shaped cave. Within the cave there is an inner aperture or opening to the outside in the wall. The has up to 200 mm of archaeological deposit on top of a rock floor. There are many small rocks and stone on and in this archaeological deposit. The landscape beyond the cave is flat and the cave is relatively hidden and private. The cave faces South.

There are very few lithics (stone tools) in the cave and very few on the apron outside the cave. There is no bone preserved and no ostrich eggshell was observed. There is little in the way of archaeological deposit. 60 m to the west is RSA TSH3 but the relationship between the two sites is not clear.
Brief description of art: RSA TSH2 contains both Khoe finger-paintings as well as 394 enigmatic 'cupules', an engraved groove and an engraved antelope spoor.

Khoe finger-paintings: On the ceiling of the cave are white finger-painted lines in groups of 3, 4 and 5. These lines extend up to 340 mm in length. The pigment is very thick and granular - like a clay.

2Cupules: Cupules are an enigmatic form of 'rock-marking' and comprise small, humanly-made semi-hemispherical hollows - like half a ping-pong ball - ground out of a rock surface. Cupules should not be confused with grinding or nut-breaking hollows for at least two reasons. First, at RSA TSH2 many of the cupules are on steeply sloping and even vertical surfaces - which would make it impossible to use as a grinding hollows. Secondly, many of the RSA TSH2 cupules are very close to the cave ceiling and in very uncomfortable locations, which would make grinding impractical. In any event, there are grinding hollows in nearby sites and these grinding hollows are larger, fewer and located on loose, practical boulders. The RSA TSH cupules have a diameter of between 11.5 mm to 51 mm and are between 2 mm - 17 mm deep.

3Rock-engravings: There is a single engraved groove 88.5 mm long, 19 mm deep and 4 mm deep. There is also and engraved antelope spoor (?Tsessebe) among the cupules. There is an odd wiggly line also engraved.