Item NASMUS-RSA-CLO1-23.jpg - NASMUS RSA CLO1 23

Brief description of site: RSA CLOI is a small, 10 m long and shallow (<2 m) south-south-west facing shelter in Clarens Formation sandstone (c. 240 million years old) on a boulder stack with a rock floor on the 1 700 m contour. The curved back wall that bears the Bushman rock paintings is quite flaky and has little case-hardening. The site is relatively free of vegetation, though must get flooded on occasion.

Because of flooding and the site's rock floor, there is no visible associated archaeology in the form of stone tools, bone, walling, ostrich eggshell or any other human-made artefacts. There are also no obvious grinding patches within site. The Bushman rock paintings are the only evidence of human activity and these date to the Later Stone Age (c. 25 000 years ago - Historic times).
Brief description of art: Snakes and Fish.

RSA-CLO1 is an exceptionally interesting Bushman rock painting site with over 90 well-preserved paintings that express a variety of Bushman symbolic and religious themes and metaphors. Four major themes present are

Eland: The site is dominated by over 30 eland (Tragelaphus oryx) paintings in a variety if poses. For example, there is an excellent example of an eland as viewed from the rear. Another particularly fine shaded polychrome eland is shown lying down and looking into the rock face. Two massive bull eland are shown butting heads in a rare display of dominance posturing. Other eland are shown striding and so forth, mostly very finely painted.

Therianthropes: 'Therianthropes' are part-human and part-animal figures. At RSA-CLO1 there are a number of these such as the eland-headed human figure with hooves touching the rump of one of the head-butting eland. Then there are the antelope headed and karos (cloak) wearing figures associated with fish (see 'Spirit World' category, below).

Spirit World: At the left side of the site is a remarkable image cluster that consists of at least 4 therianthropes with hartbeest-like heads associated with a procession of at least 12 very detailed human figures (with body decoration, tassels, facial features etc) and also 13 fish, 2 turtles and two serpents, plus a bag, eland and at least 10 flywhisks.

Thin red line: At the right of the site is a 3 m + thin red line with some large white dots fringing it at its northern end. The line appears to connect a number of eland and human figures and at one point a human figures is shown holding two ends of this line, which is shown as though entering and leaving a number of cracks and step in the rock face.