Item NMN-WEW-01-1118.jpg - NMN WEW 01 1118

Brief description of site: RSA CUL1 is an isolated, domed rock shelter at the eastern terminal end of a ridge above a small col to the north and overlooking and localised valley to the west, less than 1 km form the main dirt road to the east. The site is very exposed but has a commanding view. The site is 8 m long, up to 2 m high and up to 2.5 m deep with a hard, gritty floor with a low rock stack in the centre of the floor. The view is magnificent and the acoustics noticeable. The site is bilobial with two circular, domed recesses, ,most rock paintings in the large lobe. Vegetation minimal.

The deposit is hard, gritty and thin with no depth anywhere. There are some stone tools made from hornfels (indurated shale) and opaline (crypto-crystalline silicate) belonging to the Later Stone Age (c. 25 000 years ago - Historic times). There are isolated fragments of bone, probably related to herding activities.
Brief description of art: There are between 250 - 300 individual Bushman rock paintings that survived. The imagery is dominantly in white and red and has a grotesque, bizarre and immensely interesting character. There is a thin red line, occasionally fringed with pinhead-sized white dots and that runs horizontally across 4 m of rock face. There are also over 100 bees painted in white near concentric red and white rings that probably represent the hive. There are over 30 human figures painted in white, red and black; many of which have detailed facial features and which stand on or touch the thin red line. Interspersed are 20 + grotesque human-animal creatures with red stripes on body and face; also a toothed monster with long legs. 1 red, white and black, aardvark-like monster with a nosebleed. There are a number of beautiful rhebuck and also some eland in the lower panels. There is a peculiar being painted in red outline with white body infill. A few human figures are shown running at full tilt; including one with a distinctive headdress/hairdo and scrotum and penis. To the right of the vertical crack/tear in the rock there is a greater concentration of bizarre figures than to the left. There are some apparently 'normal' human figures in red paint; some of which hold sticks over their shoulders. Many figures have distinctive body postures such as holding their arms behind their backs; hands to their noses and bending forward at the waist.