عنوان

Fishing in the Rain:

Number

LA113699

.Language of Text, Soundtrack etc

انگلیسی

Title Proper

Fishing in the Rain:

General Material Designation

[Article]

Other Title Information

Control of Rain-Making and Aquatic Resources at a Previously Undescribed Rock Art Site in Highland Lesotho

First Statement of Responsibility

Sam Challis, Peter Mitchell, Jayson Orton, et al.

Place of Publication, Distribution, etc.

Leiden

Name of Publisher, Distributor, etc.

Brill

Text of Note

This paper describes a previously unrecorded rock art site in the highlands of Lesotho, southern Africa. It then explores the significance of the paintings at this site, which adds to the still small number of locations in the wider Maloti-Drakensberg region at which fishing scenes are depicted. Unusually, paintings of fish at this site are closely associated with that of a rain-animal and with other images, including dying eland and clapping and dancing human figures, that have clear shamanistic references. Drawing also on the local excavated archaeological record, we argue that these images may collectively refer to the power of Bushman shamans to harness and make rain, using that power to produce socially desirable benefits, including perhaps opportunities for group aggregation around seasonally restricted spawning runs of fish. This paper describes a previously unrecorded rock art site in the highlands of Lesotho, southern Africa. It then explores the significance of the paintings at this site, which adds to the still small number of locations in the wider Maloti-Drakensberg region at which fishing scenes are depicted. Unusually, paintings of fish at this site are closely associated with that of a rain-animal and with other images, including dying eland and clapping and dancing human figures, that have clear shamanistic references. Drawing also on the local excavated archaeological record, we argue that these images may collectively refer to the power of Bushman shamans to harness and make rain, using that power to produce socially desirable benefits, including perhaps opportunities for group aggregation around seasonally restricted spawning runs of fish.

Date of Publication

2008

Physical description

203-218

Title

Journal of African Archaeology

Volume Number

6/2

International Standard Serial Number

2191-5784

Subject Term

Bushman rock art

Subject Term

fishing

Subject Term

Lesotho

Subject Term

Maloti-Drakensberg region

Subject Term

rainmaking

Subject Term

shamanism

Jayson Orton

Peter Mitchell

Sam Challis

Call Number

10.3213/1612-1651-10111

Electronic name

p

[Article]

275578

a

Y