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These engravings, estimated to be between 1,000
and 2,000 years old, are thought to be part of a
sophisticated religious art associated with ritual
specialists in Bushman or San society called
medicine people or shamans.
 These
shaman were believed to use the power they received
through controlled use of trance to heal the sick
and make rain. It is suggested that many of the
engravings were inspired by visions experienced
during trance, and were depicted on the rocks so
that others could share and draw inspiration from
them.
 It
is believed that the engravings showing only part of
an animal on a broken stone, were originally calved
like that at the edge of a stone, as if the animal
is emerging from or departing to the spirit world.
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 Sites
chosen by the artists for their engravings
were probably significant places in local
beliefs. The andesite rock surfaces at
Wildebeest Kuil may have been, to the
artists, a kind of interface with the spirit
world.
 The
engravings were made using the 'pecking'
technique whereby a hard pointed stone is
used to chisel away the outer crust of the
rock, exposing the lighter coloured rock
beneath. With time, the exposed portions
have become as dark as the original outer
crust.
When Wildebeest Kuil was documented in
1968, 178 individual engravings were
recorded. A detailed survey has since
revealed over 700 markings (including
smoothed surfaces), more than 400 of which
are engravings.
| Directions: Take the Barkly West
road out of Kimberley, just after the turn
to Homevale on your right, the Wildebeest
Kuil Rock Art Centre is immediately on your
left. |
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