Item NASMUS-RSA-BCK1-2.jpg - NASMUS RSA BCK1 2

Brief description of site: The rock is Ventersdorp diabase - also known as andesite or brown dolerite- which occurs as both prominences and ridge-lines. The site has a good view of the surrounding countryside and is one of the very few rock ridges for some considerable distance.
The site is an isolated high point in an otherwise flat landscape in which there are numerous pans.

There are numerous lithics (stone tools) located on the surface of the site. These stone tools are mostly made from crypto-crystalline slilicate rock (also called opalines) that formed in volcanic pipes and which occur as nodules in the dolerite rocks. These rocks have a very fine grain and make excellent cutting tools. There are many 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 RSA- BCK1 was a favoured home or living site of the San 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. There are at least 30 large rocks at the site that have been smoothed by rhinoceros, hippopotamus and elephant over the centuries. These large animals wallow in the mud of the pans before walking up to a large rock and rubbing themselves vigorously against it to get rid of ectoparasites. Over time, these rubbed rocks become smooth and shiny. Many of these rubbed rocks have had flakes removed from them to make stone tools.
Brief description of art: The RSA-BCK1 rock-engravings have a varied subject matter that includes at least 4 eland (Tragelaphus oryx), over 12 indeterminate antelope, 4 human figures, 8 ostrich, 1 zebra (Equus quagga burchelli), 1 buffalo, 3 wildebeest (Connochaetes gnu), 1 hippopotamus, 7 rhino (Diceros bicornis & Ceratotherium simum) and 5 geometric motifs. There are also some large, unidentifiable animals. The rock-engravings have been executed in a pecked outline and pecked infill technique. One very exciting find was of a pecked outline rhinoceros that had then been rubbed smooth. So smooth had this rhinoceros been rubbed that it became invisible unless wet. We happened to be at the site in the rain and were able to see this engraving, which is totally invisible once the rock has dried out.