Namibia is rich in hunter-gatherer rock art from the Later Stone Age. This is a tradition of which well-executed engravings of animal tracks in large numbers are characteristic. Research into rock art usually groups these motifs together with geometric signs; at best, therefore, it may provide summary lists of them. To date, the field has completely disregarded the fact that tracks and trackways are a rich medium of information for hunter-gatherers, alongside their deeper, culture-specific connotations. New research has attempted to fill this gap; it entailed indigenous tracking experts from the Kalahari desert analyzing engraved animal tracks and human footprints in the Doro! nawas Mountains, a rock art region in central Western Namibia. The experts were able to define the species, sex, age group and exact leg of the specific animal or human depicted in more than 90% of the engravings they analyzed. Their work further demonstrates that the variety of fauna is much richer in engraved tracks than in depictions of animals in the same engraving tradition.
Stone Age depictions of human footprints and animal tracks in Doro! nawas mountains, Namibia. Image credit: Andreas Pastoors.
Engravings of animal tracks and human footprints appear in numerous traditions of prehistoric rock art around the world.
Namibia is especially rich in hunter-gatherer rock art from the Later Stone Age with many well-executed engravings of animal and human tracks.
Most research into prehistoric rock art has grouped these engravings with geometric shapes, however, leaving them badly under-researched despite being common throughout the world.
In a new study, Dr. Andreas Pastoors from Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg and colleagues enlisted the help of Indigenous tracking experts from the Kalahari desert to analyze animal and human footprints in rock art in the Doro! nawas Mountains in central Western Namibia.
The experts were able to define the species, sex, age group and even the exact leg of the animal or human print in more than 90% of the 513 engravings they analyzed.
Their work showed the rock art had much more diversity in the animals represented by tracks than the engravings of the animals themselves.
Engravers also showed a clear preference for certain species and were more likely to depict adult animals than juveniles, and male footprints compared to female footprints.
The findings reveal patterns that likely arise from culturally determined preferences, but the meaning of these patterns is still unknown.
“Namibia’s rock faces contain numerous Stone Age depictions of animals and humans, as well as human footprints and animal tracks,” the researchers said.
“Until now, the latter have received little attention because researchers lacked the knowledge to interpret them.”
“We examined several hundred of the tracks in more detail and discovered surprising details: the tracks cover a wider range of animal species than in conventional animal depictions and differentiated cultural patterns emerge in the representation of the various species.”
The findings were published in the journal PLoS ONE.
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T. Lenssen-Erz et al. 2023. Animal tracks and human footprints in prehistoric hunter-gatherer rock art of the Doro! nawas mountains (Namibia), analysed by present-day indigenous tracking experts. PLoS ONE 18 (9): e0289560; doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0289560
