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Twyfelfontein Rock Engravings
Engraved Petroglyphs - Pétroglyphe
San Rock Art
Twyfelfontein
Twyfelfontein Namibia is a remote location about 100 kilometres inland from the sea where the Namib Desert, 'the oldest desert in the world', turns to grassland in Damaraland. A broad valley cuts across a sandstone plateau rich in Feldspar that contains iron. Desert winds, heat and cold caused them to deep grooves to develop in the stone. Further erosion caused them to break away from the cliff face and tumble down. Therein, gigantic boulders placed near one another, form a maze of towering passages. The fallen rock oxidized to form a reddish crust. Early visitors were taken by surprise to discover fascinating engraved sections of stone. Flat smooth surfaces had provided an ideal workface for ancient San artists. Their artworks are called petroglyphs or rock engravings, which were created by removing part of a rock surface by abrading, carving, incising or pecking.
Twyfelfontein Valley by Satellite - Damaraland
Rock Engravings
Reinhardt Maack - 1892 / 1969
The rock engravings were discovered at Twyfelfontein by topographer Reinhardt Maack prior to 1914. In 1921 he published a report that brought the site to the attention of a far wider audience. Maack is the same person who together with cartographer Alfred Hoffman, later discovered the so-called White Lady painting at Brandberg Mountain in 1917.
Twyfelfontein Farm House
Twyfelfontein's petroglyphs are found behind this abandoned farmhouse. In 1947, Lithuanian Jew - D. Levin, built the house near a well-known ancient spring. The Khoekhoe or Khoi Bushmen, who had been relocated (removed) from the land by the government for Levin, called the spring /Ui-//Ais, which meant ‘permanent spring'. Levin was not so satisfied as the Khoi had been with the water volume. He dug down into the spring in an attempt to get more and more. When that failed, he named the farm ‘Twyfelfontein", an Afrikaans meaning for "uncertain spring". In 1952, Levin managed to get the farm declared a national monument. In 1965 he sold it back to the government 'who had given it to him in the first place', after his farming and tourist ventures failed. Though sold, he stayed on two more years before abandoning it.
Twyfelfontein
Rock engravings are found all over the world and they are often associated with prehistoric peoples. In Southern Africa, hunter-gatherer San Bushman made rock engravings. At Twyfelfontein the San created the largest and most important rock art concentration to be found in Africa. The area has over 200 sandstone blocks that contain over 2500 petro glyphs of different styles.
Rock engravings are mostly found in the open air, on hillsides and valley floors, whereas San paintings were generally found in rock shelters. Ancient paintings may have been made where the sun passes, but would have faded away over time.
Depending on who is giving the lecture, the artworks at Twyfelfontein are thought to date between 2000 and 10000 years. A variety of archaeological tools have been discovered. One actual settlement has been dated to 6000 years and thus - many of the engravings as well.
Elephant petroglyph at Twyfelfontein
Prehistoric San cut through the outer red-crusted layer of rock with tools made from harder rock, exposing an underlying yellow shade. Over time, the engravings themselves oxidized, sealing the artworks surface.
Twyfelfontein Engravings
The great importance of Twyfelfontein is that petroglyphs in all stages of wear and of various styles are found, making it more possible to date the engravings. There appears to be a second group of of petroglyphs dating to between 1000 to 2000 years old. Cattle appear in these, so pastoral Khoi Khoi nomads may have been present or even involved in the making of them.
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Twyfelfontein Engravings
Engravings at Twyfelfontein include depictions of human and animal tracks, as well as full-bodied antelopes, eland, elephants, kudu, gemsbok, giraffes, lion, ostrich, penguin, rhinoceroses, seal and zebra. The inclusion of penguins and seals suggests the San travelled to the coast to hunt for meat, pelts and fats to perhaps make oil. In addition, there are engravings that may represent transformation from man to animal, such as the 'Lion Man'. (bullocks we say)
The Lion-Man
The Lion Man is said to have five toed feet, with a hand at the end of its tail, 'but we don't buy-it'.
Controversy!
The Dancing-Kudu with Glyphs
'Experts' and as a result 'tour guides', repetitiously state African engravings were 'ritual based' and made by 'shaman'. What we see is human art, as a natural human form of expression.
Glyphs or strange circles appear sporadically throughout Twyfelfontein. (above / below) They may represent nearby or distant waterholes, be personalized signatures, but more likely, they are artistic expressions made by artists.
As per the 'Dancing Kudu' above, academics puppet it to be representative of a shaman, who in a state of ritual trance, has taken on the spirit of the animal. (look at it and give us a break)
Twyfelfontein Glyphs
Argument
Petroglyphs are found the world over, (as are humans and human art). Why then are African petroglyphs not explained as an early form of writing recorded by artistically inclined humans? Why do the 'experts' in other regions of the world explain their petroglyphs as astronomical markers, maps, symbols communicating time and distances travelled, local terrain as in rivers, landforms and geographic features? Why are African examples treated to this seemingly endless 'shaman' rhetoric? Why are African cultural engravings always "ancestral, cult or sprit world based'? (Shamanism) Do these experts not realize that if you tell a falsehood often enough it becomes truth? Are academics so absorbed with their personal 'discoveries' and 'delusions of grandeur' for the purpose of 'instant self-serving sensationalized fame', that they cannot see what they are looking at? For an example of exactly this, visit our Brandberg page. Check how the so-called White Lady obtained its incorrect name.
Rock Paintings at Twyfelfontein
Twyfelfontein
Twyfelfontein contains six rock shelters with San paintings. Unlike engravings, humans are represented in the paintings and are the focus therein. (The human form is difficult to achieve in petroglyphs).
Controversy!
As with engravings, academics say rock painting is 'ritual based'. Once you discard their 'observations', it becomes clear the communal based Southern African rock art depicts details of everyday cultural life and the celebrations of a people now gone.
Argument
We see no need to turn San artists into a bunch of nose bleeding idiots suffering from a white man's 'trance', when all they were ever doing was celebrating, sweating and or singing with their own type of rock and roll band... Think about it!
Twyfelfontein Wind Erosion
Adding to the engravings, far older impressive rock formations have been formed by erosion. In places, desert wind has blasted holes through the stone blocks.
No Shaman this!. It's Twyfelfontein Rock Art Fun - ☺
Twyfelfontein Visitor Centre
When the sun sets at Twyfelfontein, the colour of the stone turns blood red.
To end... Did you know that many San paintings and petroglyphs were made millenniums before the rise of the ancient Egyptian Pharaohs?
We hope you have enjoyed the page.
Click these thumbs to visit our other Namibian and Southern African Art Pages
South African Art Herero Genocide - Nama Genocide The White Lady of Brandberg
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