First, the south-eastern mountains, the Drakensberg and the Malutis, contain the most variation in artistic 'styles', but at the same time, it is also in this region that diversity of animal depictions is not as marked as elsewhere. Eland and rhebuck are by far the most frequently painted animals. The limiting of animal diversity in the paintings of this region was one result of a new interest in projecting a social identity and a social unity during changing social conditions, that is, competition between hunter-gatherers and farmers. The Bushmen of the area spoke of themselves as being 'of the eland'.40
Figure 1. Rock painting of a trance dance from the Ladybrand District, Free State. These human figures lack facial features, and are all treated in much the same way.
Another feature of the art in this south-eastern part of South Africa is that artists began painting human figures with details never, or very seldom, used before or in other regions. These details include facial features, a change from the stick-like figures to more fully rounded figures and more numerous body adornments. This trend towards greater detail in the paintings can be explained by style becoming personalised as individual identities were developing as a result of increasing competition between individual shamans and other influential members of the group. In one small area of the Drakensberg, paintings of human activities show the rise of personal identities in an unprecedented manner. In all other areas, paintings of individual human figures are very similarly executed (Figures 1 and 2). In this one small area, paintings of human activity scenes show a marked differentiation between one large human figure and the others (Figure 3). This prominent figure is unequivocally a shaman, always much bigger, painted in a different colour, and often executed with more elaborate body adornments. Formal attributes were thus manipulated by shaman-artists to make social and political statements.41
Figure 2. Rock painting of a trance dance from the Mooi River District, KwaZulu-Natal. Like the human figures in Figure 1 the human figures here lack facial features and are painted in much the same way.
Figure 3. Rock painting of a trance dance with an apparent emphasis on rain-making – the large spotted animal is a rain animal. In this dance one man, a transformed shaman with antelope hooves instead of human feet, is painted in such a way as to stand out from the other figures (see Lewis Williams and Dowson, Images of Power, 68–70). He is a different colour, his 'infibulation' is more elaborate than others, and his head is more detailed. The shaman-artist thus manipulated these formal characteristics to make a statement about this shaman's position of power and influence in the band. Note, too, that the human figures have distinct facial features, unlike those in Figure 1 and Figure 2. As Bushman groups were becoming more stratified and power was becoming concentrated in individuals, human figures in the art were also becoming more personalised, and some figures – shamans – stand out from the rest.
These, then, were a few ways in which Bushmen used their art to negotiate changes brought about by contact with black farmers. It was, moreover, in comparable yet distinctive ways that the events towards the end of the eighteenth century and the early nineteenth century, commonly referred to as the 'mfecane', were negotiated in their art.
Bushmen in the 'Mfecane' Period
Cobbing's plausible construction of events at the end of the eighteenth and the start of the nineteenth century has many implications. It not only allows for a reintegration of black and white history, but, if we adopt the approach I have briefly outlined above, we can reintegrate Bushman history into southern African history. It is highly improbable that Bushman groups in the south-eastern mountains were not affected by the upheavals in other areas: the Cape, where Dutch and British settlers were seizing land and labour from neighbouring African groups; Delagoa Bay, where, at much the same time an export trade in ivory, cattle, and slaves was burgeoning; and the middle Orange River and lower Vaal River areas, where in the 1810s Griqua and other bands of armed horsemen were beginning to raid across the highveld.
Jürg Richner's evidence shows that the Bushmen were as affected by European slaving as other groups and that this is significant in considering events at the end of the eighteenth century and the start of the nineteenth century.42 That the Bushmen were taken as slaves is not, however, a sufficient account of the Bushman people's role in the history of this period: we need to explore the social implications of slavery for the Bushmen. Not only were the Bushmen, mainly women and children, being used as slaves, but the men were being exterminated; Bushmen were also reported to be selling their children.43 Survival of the Bushman social band with its own set of beliefs and values – albeit affected by contact – was thus placed under great threat.
Besides slaving, an important source of conflict was the export of ivory and cattle from Delagoa Bay. The role of the Bushmen in the ivory trade has been overlooked in recent discussions because the 'mfecane' is seen as an event brought about by and affecting only black South Africans. Moreover, the stereotypes outlined above have reduced the importance of the Bushmen in trade relations.
One of the reasons for early traders tending to concentrate their efforts on the farmers could have been that the Bushmen lacked central political institutions. Settled farming communities were probably in a better position to organise the ivory trade. This does not mean, however, that Bushman groups were always passive observers of these events. For instance, in 1829 Andrew Bain was trading cattle for ivory directly with Bushmen in what became the Transkei, and he reports that he was not the first.44 And later, in 1846, Jacobus Uys traded ammunition for 50 elephant tusks.45 It is also likely that Bushman hunters were implicated in the trade networks with Nhlangwini groups acting as middlemen.46 By the middle of the nineteenth century Bushmen were actively involved in the ivory trade, and this may, albeit indirectly, have started in the eighteenth century, or even earlier, when the Portuguese were collecting ivory from the south–east.47
The skill of the hunters in lifting livestock (Figure 4) also enabled them to forge
Figure 4. Rock painting showing Bushmen herding cattle. Cattle not only became a source of food but keeping cattle for trade purposes had very important political implications.
Figure 5. Rock painting of an elephant hunt with the hunters on horseback (near Taung). This is executed in the so-called finger tradition which is believed to be late. Elephants were last seen in the area in the 1850s, and horses were introduced in the area towards the end of the 18th century (T.A. Dowson, G. Blundell and S. Hall 'Finger Paintings in the Harts River Valley, Northern Cape Province, South Africa', Southern African Field Archaeology, 1 (1992) 27–32).
Figure 6. Rock painting of