Birds are commonly depicted in rock art. Some of the depictions of birds are shown swooping down on animals or standing next to dead antelope. In San mythology, flight is a wide spread metaphor for trance experience due to the sensations of rising up and floating that are part of some altered states of consciousness produced by the universal human nervous system.
Junction Shelter I
A tight composition of a gathering of people. Two of the karrosed figures hold up a long line with small dots attached to it. Above the figures lie bags, bows, quivers and unidentified oval objects. The latter have red bands on both ends and a handle in the centre. Below the human figures lie arrows and a container with flywhisks. Left and right of the scene are two sets of digging sticks, three of them with carrying straps attached. This is the last of the paintings at Junction Shelter. P122 pager F343.
Bushman beliefs suggest that bags had a special significance beyond everyday use. Their relation to trance metaphors is illustrated in San mythology, where parallels were drawn between getting into a skin bag and getting into an animal- that is, taking on its potency. Therefore, bags painted next to a dance or by themselves, are probably an indication of a trance experience.
Quivers are usually made of bark and are used to store arrows. The quiver, bow and other pieces of equipment were carried on a hunting bag, which is wider at one end than the other and which has a thong running its length so that it can be slung over a shoulder.
RARI
RSA JUN1 is at the junction of the Ndedema Gorge with the valley of the Umhlwasine River, is a heavily painted shelter, which was obviously occupied for a considerable period of time. The paintings range over a variety of style but the great many of them are the elongated figures so beloved of the Bushmen.
These figures are not 'matchstick men'-each is an individual and each is worthy of detailed scrutiny.
Among the paintings in the sheet you will find men with bows, a man carrying a stick across his shoulders, the delightful 'wide striding' running figures and, unusual for this area, fat-tailed sheep. The Hottentots probably brought the fat-tailed sheep into South Africa but these may have been captured by a Bushmen raiding party and driven away to the hills. Forays of this kind were timed to coincide with an impending rainstorm, which would substantially hinder any pursuit and make retaliation difficult. P119 pager F337-338.
Pager, Harald