South African Archaeological Society

Using Behavioural Postures and Morphology to Identify Hunter-Gatherer Rock Paintings of

Therianthropes in the Western and Eastern Cape Provinces, South Africa
Author(s): Jeremy C. Hollmann
Source: The South African Archaeological Bulletin, Vol. 60, No. 182 (Dec., 2005), pp. 84-95
Published by: South African Archaeological Society
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84
Research Article
USING BEHAVIOURAL POSTURES AND MORPHOLOGY TO
IDENTIFY HUNTER-GATHERER ROCK PAINTINGS OF
THERIANTHROPES IN THE WESTERN AND EASTERN CAPE
PROVINCES, SOUTH AFRICA
JEREMYC. HOLLMANN*
RockArt Research Institute, University of the Witwatersrand, Private Bag 3, WITS, Johannesburg,2050 South Africa.
E-mail: jhollmann@nmsa.org.za
(Received May 2005. Acccepted August 2005)
ABSTRACT
Most rockart researchers acceptthatsouthernAfricanhunter-gatherer
(Bushman/San)paintersusedanimalimageryto modelbeliefsandcon-
ceptscentralto theircosmology.Theelandis probablythe best-known
model,butspecieschoicevariesaccordingtogeographicalarea.Previous
studieshavetendedtofocuson morphologyin orderto identifypainted
and engravedanimaldepictionsthat thepaintersusedas naturalmod-
els. Morphology,however,is not alwayssufficientto positivelyidentify
a motif's zoologicalaffinities.This is the case with the subjectsof this
paper,therianthropic imagesfrom theWesternCapeProvinceandadja-
centpartsof theEasternCapeProvince,SouthAfrica,popularlyknown
as 'mermaids'.Behaviouraldetailsare crucial to the identificationof
these imagesand to understandingtheir symbolicsignificance.This
study highlights the significanceand practicalapplicationof animal
morphologyand behaviourin rock art researchand thereforehas
implicationsfor understandinganimal groupings and behavioural
posturesin animaldepictionselsewherein southernAfrica.
Key words: hunter-gatherer rock art, animal behaviour, swifts,
therianthropes.
INTRODUCTION
Rock art researchers appreciate the importance that natural
modelling - the symbolic and graphic use of natural phenomena
to communicate ineffable concepts - has for understanding
southern African hunter-gatherer (Bushman/San) rock imag-
ery (e.g. Lewis-Williams 1977,1981, 1987,1990; Lewis-Williams
et al. 1986, 1993; Lenssen-Erz 1994, 1997, 2000; Ouzman 1995,
1996; Eastwood & Cnoops 1999; Eastwood et al. 1999;
Hollmann 2001,2002,2003; Mguni 2001,2004). The artists chose
to paint and engrave a limited range of animal species whose
attributes signify certain values and beliefs. The best-known
southern African animal symbol is the eland, but the faunal
repertoire of hunter-gatherer artists varies across the subconti-
nent and in some parts other large antelope as well as
mega-herbivores predominate.
The use of natural models seems deeply entrenched in
southern African hunter-gatherer symbol systems. Even puta-
tively 'abstract', non-representational imagery, such as the
so-called 'formlings' from Zimbabwe and South Africa's
Limpopo Province draw their potency and significance from
natural counterparts: the underground nests of termites, and
the hives of bees (Mguni 2001, 2004).
Correct identification of the natural model in question is
central to sustaining any argument about the significance of a
given animal image - how else can one bring the relevant
ethnography to bear on the motifs? Morphology is crucial: a
*Addresses for correspondence: University of KwaZulu-Natal, Private Bag X01 Scotts-
ville, 3209 South Africa, and Department of Archaeology, Natal Museum, Private Bag
9070, Pietermaritzburg, 3200.
South African Archaeological Bulletin 60 (182): 84-95, 2005
mistaken identification invalidates the misguided researcher's
interpretations, based as they are on the significance of species
A rather than species B. Yet, although the consideration of mor-
phology is necessary for developing interpretations, it is often
not enough. We are becoming increasingly aware of the
symbolism of depictions of specific animal behaviours. The
dying eland was the first of such metaphors to be 'discovered'
(Lewis-Williams 1981). Many others remain undetected and
unexplored.
MERMAID IMAGERY
In this paper, I show how knowledge of animal behaviour
can play a decisive role in the identification and interpretation
of a hunter-gatherer motif. Miss these details and one misses
references vital to understanding the image. The subjects of
this study are the intriguing figures from the Western and
Eastern Cape Provinces, with human heads, elongated upper
limbs and shorter, tapered lower limbs popularly known as
'mermaids' (Fig. 1). I refer to them here as 'therianthropes' the
term employed by southern African researchers to describe
images that combine human and non-human animal charac-
teristics. I do not attempt to investigate the symbolism of the
therianthropic images in this paper. I deal with this aspect of
the motif in an article in the ninth volume of the South African
Archaeological Society's GoodwinSeries (Hollmann 2005). The
present study is concerned with establishing the affinities of
the motif on the grounds of behavioural attributes.
Just over five years ago Tim Maggs (Maggs 1998) reported
therianthropic paintings from Site 4 in the Mossel Bay District,
Western Cape Province. These are of the same ilk as those that
Sir James Alexander recorded over 150 years ago at the site
called Ezeljagspoort (Figs 1 and 11, hereafter Site 10) in the
George District (Alexander 1837). In 2001, Steven Bassett
published copies of similar examples from a site some 50 km
north of Site 10 (Bassett 2001); shortly afterwards Judy Maguire
and John Begg found another example in a rock overhang on
their farm in the Prince Albert District (Hollmann 2003). My
fieldwork shows that at least sixteen sites feature this therian-
thropic imagery - field workers have subsequently located
additional sites that feature the motif, especially in the
Kammanassie and Kouga Mountains. The sites range from the
Ladismith District in the west to the Joubertina District in the
east (Fig. 2). The motif is therefore locally abundant in this part
of the country, but what does it depict?
MORPHOLOGY
Alexander, the first to describe the therianthropes, suggested
that the Site 10 paintings (Fig. 11) are 'amphibious' but did not
venture any further specification (Alexander 1837). Aquatic
South African Archaeological Bulletin 60 (182): 84-95, 2005
FIG. 1. Photographof the 'mermaids'at Ezeljagspoort(Site 10). Courtesyof the RockArt ResearchInstitute, University of the Witwatersrand.
models proposed for the therianthropes include dugongs
(Willcox 1959), seals (PNringuey 1911; Woodhouse 1974) and
fish (Maggs 1998). Others have suggested that the motif
combines characteristics of human and bird (Van der Riet &
Bleek 1940; Rudner & Rudner 1970; Lewis-Williams 1990;
Lewis-Williams et al. 1993). Some argue for the existence of both
bird and fish motifs at separate sites (Rudner & Rudner 1970)
whilst Judith Stevenson (1995) suggested that there is a single
motif that straddles both categories.
There are thus two broad schools of thought - one that sees
the motif as aquatically inspired, the other that links the motif
to denizens of the air. The question is: can one home in any
closer to the affinities of this therianthropic motif? I begin by
evaluating aquatic morphological models.
The painters are known to have painted fish at a site within
the area (Fig. 3) and it is therefore possible that these creatures
could have served as a natural model for the therianthropes.
For example, the tail fins of fish could provide the model for the
therianthropes' tails, although individual fish paintings appear
to have asymmetrical tail fins.
The upper limbs of the therianthropes would, presumably,
be analogous to the dorsal and ventral fins of fish. In order to
create such a therianthrope, however, the painter must alter
certain attributes of the fish model (Fig. 4). For instance, paint-
ings of fish that depict both dorsal and ventral fins show that
these are not arranged exactly opposite each other; fish fins are
also considerably shorter than the upper limbs of the hybrid
images. Furthermore, some fish paintings include an anal fin, a
feature wholly absent from the therianthropes. Painters would
therefore have had to adapt the piscine body plan by resizing
and repositioning the dorsal and ventral fins, and excluding
the anal fin entirely. Fish are thus a possible, but not ideal,
model for the therianthropes.
Researchers have also suggested that the motif may be
modelled upon seals or dugongs. As possible natural models
85
for the therianthropes, these aquatic mammals have the advan-
tage over fish in that their body plan is closer to humans than
that of fish. Nonetheless, in order to use a seal or a dugong as a
natural model, the painters would have to greatly extend the
length of the animals' flippers before these would resemble the
upper limbs of the therianthropes. Like fish, marine mammals
are a potential, but not perfect, natural model.
What about the possibility that the motif incorporates
avian features? At certain sites the therianthropes have upper
limbs that curve sharply backward from the shoulders and
extend beyond the tips of the far shorter lower limbs, far too
long to be naturalistic depictions of fish fins or mammal flip-
pers (e.g. Figs 5, 6 & 7). It is hard to interpret these appendages
as anything other than bird's wings: the therianthropes at
these sites resemble birds rather than fish.
Proponents of the avian model are unanimous on the affin-
ities of the therianthropes: all suggest that the images
incorporate characteristics of swallows (Van der Riet & Bleek
1940; Rudner & Rudner 1970; Lewis-Williams 1990; Lewis-
Williams et al. 1993).
This then is the current state of debate regarding the
therianthrope's affinities. Those who have proposed an aquatic
model have tended to base their interpretation on images with
shorter, arm-length upper limbs (e.g. Figs 10 & 11), while those
who see an affiliation with birds refer to those sites where the
therianthropes' upper limbs stretch to and beyond the extremi-
ties of the lower limbs (Figs 5, 6 & 7). We have thus reached an
apparent impasse because morphology alone is not sufficient
to settle the identification of the therianthropic motif.
It is at this juncture that the details regarding the arrange-
ment of the therianthropes on the rock face become crucial to
the identification of the motif's affinities. Such details provide a
means of transcending morphological ambiguities and enable
us to base our identification on a wider and more informative
footing - that of behavioural attributes.
86 South African Archaeological Bulletin 60 (182): 84-95, 2005

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BEHAVIOUR The existence of such patterns at several different sites may

As I visited sites that featured these therianthropes I have an even more significant role to play in identifying the
became aware of certain consistencies in the ways that painters
depicted them:
* Some of the images are painted in one of two distinctive
postures - one in which both upper limbs are held above the
body at an acute angle, the other in which both upper limbs
are held below the body in a similar position (Fig. 8).
* Painters at different sites arranged the images in similar,
distinct groupings (Figs 10-15).
These regularities in form and arrangement are suggestive.
In the first place they may imply that, regardless of the varia-
tion between sites in the length of the upper limbs, the
therianthropes are based on a single natural model, not two -
i.e. human/fish at some sites, human/birds at others - as Jalmar
and Ione Rudner suggested (1970).
affinities of the therianthropic motif. The patterning could
refer to postures and behaviours associated with the natural
model that inspired the therianthropic images. If one can link
these painted patterns to empirically verifiable patterns of
behaviour of a species or group then it becomes possible to
identify the natural model far more securely, based on behav-
ioural and morphological characteristics.
A fortuitous meeting with ornithologist Alan Kemp pro-
vided me with the interpretive framework within which I was
able to link painted details of these therianthropes with the
behaviour of a specific taxon. Without hesitation, he identified
the upper limbs of the therianthropes from Site 7 and Site 11.1
(Figs 5 & 6) as wings, and pointed out that the sharply recurved,
tapering characteristics of the upper limbs of these images most
South African Archaeological Bulletin 60 (182): 84-95, 2005 87

FIG. 3. Paintings of fish from Misgund, a site in the UniondaleDistrict. Watercolourcopy by E. Rowley. G 3.3. 124 in: BC 151, University of Cape Town
Libraries.

closely resemble those of swifts (family Apodidae) - not swallows No neck

(Hirundinidae), as rock art researchers have previously
suggested (Table 1). Fortunately there is an accessible literature
on these birds and so I was able to investigate the behaviour Fins not opposite
of swifts in some detail. I found that there were many IL t
each other
correspondences between postures and arrangements of the
Fins different sizes
therianthropes and elements of swift behaviour.
~ jiFins very short
THE BEHAVIOUR OF SWIFTS
In this section I show how aspects of the natural history of
swifts correspond closely with the particular painted postures FIG. 4. Problemswithfish as a naturalmodelforthe therianthropes.Adapted
and arrangements I mentioned earlier.I begin with the attribute from copy by EddieRowley.
characteristic of all the therianthropic images - flight.
Swifts spend most of their lives on the wing (Lack 1973; Fry 3. Whiterumped Swift (A. caffer)
1988; Chantler 1999). So complete is their commitment to an 4. Little Swift (A. affinis)
aerial existence that they cannot in fact perch: they hang 5. Alpine Swift (A. melba)
instead from projecting surfaces for the brief duration that they These species nest in rock crevices in vertical surfaces or in
are stationary (Steyn 1996). Swifts fly at high speeds and excel rock overhangs, locations that allow enough of a drop for ease
at split-second manoeuvring as they hunt airborne insects or of access and departure, as the birds cannot take off horizon-
chase after each other (Chantler 1999). tally (Steyn 1996). Observers have commented on the way that
The five species of swift known to frequent the region swifts approach and enter a nest: the bird arrives at the nest at
where the paintings occur are (Osborne & Little 1999): high speed, checks adroitly, and instantaneously vanishes
1. Common, or European Swift (Apus apus) into the narrow entrance with wings fully closed. Its passage
2. African Black Swift (A. barbatus) is so smooth that it appears to fly in (Fry 1988). Thus if the

Site 7, OudtshoornDistrict. Thereappearto betwo sub-groupings:an uppergroupof twofiguresanda lowergroupof

FIG. 5. Assemblageof therianthropesfrom
three,twoofwhichholdsticks.Lefthandmosttherianthropeat topis about120 mmfromtip of lowerwing to tip ofchin.Paintingsin red.Copy byj.C. Hollmann.
88 South African Archaeological Bulletin 60 (182): 84-95, 2005

FIG. 6. A group of seven therianthropicimagesexcerptedfromSite 11.1, someof whichareelaboratelydecorated.Topmost,earedtherianthropemeasures110 mm

from crown of head to notch in tail. Blackrepresentsredpaint, stippledareasareyellow and areasenclosedwith a line are white. Copyby FE. De Villiers.

therianthropes are based on swifts, then it seems likely that

amongst the reasons that the painters selected these birds as a
model was because they epitomized the mastery of flight and,
possibly too, because of their association with kranses (see
Hollmann 2003, 2005, for discussion).
There are several groupings of therianthropes that could
represent swifts on the wing. At these sites, painters arranged
the therianthropes in clusters of up to seven images (Fig. 6).
Therianthropes in such groupings all face the same way and
their upper limbs curve backward from the shoulder and
extend to the tips of their lower limbs. The length of the upper
limbs suggests that they represent wings, not fins or flippers.
These configurations of therianthropes also look very similar to
groupings of flying swifts.
Convincing as these correspondences maybe, however, we
cannot yet be sure that the painters did indeed draw on swifts
and the power of flight as their model, rather than fish and
their capacity to swim. To argue the case convincingly for swifts
as a model for the therianthropes, one must be able to point out
further close correspondences between swift behaviour as
documented by natural historians and those postures and
arrangements used repeatedly by the painters. If one can
demonstrate such a correspondence then the argument that
the therianthropes model swift behaviour becomes the best
explanation for the therianthropes' affinities.

WING-CLAPPING
The first characteristic posture I point out is 'wing-
clapping'. Recall that I mentioned two postures, one in which
both upper limbs are held above the body at an acute angle and
the other in which both upper limbs are held below the body in
a similar position. These postures may be linked to a poorly
understood swift behaviour termed 'wing-clapping', in which
the wings meet above and below to create a clapping sound
FIG. 7. Paintings of therianthropes,anthropomorphs,and a front-view of an
antelope at top right that has been superimposedon the therianthropes.
Site 11.2, GeorgeDistrict. Therianthropeat top left measures50 mm from
crown of head to tip of uppermostwing. Blackrepresentsred paint, stippled
areasrepresentyellow. Copyby J.C. Hollmannand FE. De Villiers.
SouthAfricanArchaeologicalBulletin60 (182):84-95, 2005 89

Site 7 Site 11 Site 12 Site 14 Site 11 Site 11

assemblage I assemblage2 assemblage2 assemblage3

FIG. 8.Modellingofswift wing-clappingbehaviour.Sometherianthropesareportrayedin twodistinctivepostures.Readingthediagramfromleft to right,thefirst

four imageshave upperlimbspaintedbelowtheirbodies.Theupperlimbsof the remainingtwo imagesareabovetheirbodies.Thetherianthropesmay have been
modelledon the wing-clappingbehaviourof swifts, which looksvery similar.Blackrepresentsredpaint. Lightstipple representsyellow. Imagesare depictedat
varying scales.

(Fry 1988; Chantler 1999). The painters were apparently well

acquainted with this behaviour and incorporated it into the
imagery (Fig. 8). The painted posture is probably symbolically
significant (see discussion in Hollmann 2003, 2005).

CIRCUSING SWIFTS
I now consider other characteristic arrangements of these
therianthropic motifs and how they may relate to the behaviour
of swifts. Painters arranged aggregations of therianthropes in
two distinctive yet, I suggest, conceptually similar patterns at a
number of sites. In the first configuration the images are
grouped in close proximity to each other in an apparently a' ~ ~ -

random fashion in which individual images face in different

directions and are placed in varying orientations. This arrange-
ment is none the less a characteristic pattern that is repeated at
two different sites at least 150 km apart (Figs 10 & 14). The
second way of organizing the therianthropic images has them
in a single row or procession (Figs 11, 12 & 13).
Both of these configurations could have their counterparts
in swift behaviour. Swifts partake in an activity known as
'circusing' or the 'screaming party/display' (Fig. 9). A single bird
initiates this display by flying, screaming, towards the nesting
colony (Fry 1988; Chantler 1999). Other birds join in and they
wheel around in the sky. 'Parties' are often held at dusk; pairs
with eggs or chicks return to their nests, while the younger
birds make a 'night ascent' and spend the entire night aloft
(Lack 1973; Chantler 1999). Little is known about circusing
although certain researchers have suggested that it plays a role
in social cohesion (Lack 1973; Fry 1988); swifts hold 'screaming
parties' more frequently shortly before migration (Lack 1973). I
now compare these descriptions of swifts' circusing behaviour
with the images of therianthropes organized in looser aggrega-
tions, as well as with those arranged in rows.
Comparison of a photograph of circusing swifts (Fig. 9)
with the images from Site 4 (Fig. 10) illustrates the similarity
between these two configurations. In both instances the crea-
tures soar with wings widespread; their close proximity to each
other and their differing orientations show that they are flying
at high speed and simultaneously manoeuvring sharply to
avoid collision. The paintings at Site 4 (Fig. 10) are perhaps
the most naturalistic version of circusing. At least seven
therianthropes are juxtaposed on the rock face. They are placed
in different orientations and face in various directions, and yet
their proximity to each other suggests that they form a whole
and are engaged in some coordinated activity.
The paintings at Site 12.1 (Fig. 14) are also naturalistically
arranged in this manner, although it is perhaps less easy to see
this: they are juxtaposed with sets of zigzag lines which make it
difficult to see the manner in which the painters organized
them on the rock face. Careful inspection, though, reveals the
FIG. 9. Copyof a photographof circusingCommonSwifts (Apus apus). This
behaviourmay haveservedas a naturalmodelforthearrangementon the rock
face of paintings of the therianthropes.After Lack(1973).
same conventions as at Site 4. The images at Site 4 are within a
few centimetres of each other and face in various different
directions. Evidently, and unlike the painters at other sites at
which the therianthropes form the processions I mentioned
above, painters elsewhere elected to emphasize the more
chaotic aspects of screaming parties.
The semi-circular arrangement of the figures at Site 10
(Fig. 11) is the pattern that most clearly captures the wheeling
movement of a group of circusing swifts. Their head-to-tail
arrangement and the convex conformation of the whole could
imply that these images were intended to be seen as moving in
a circular direction, in a pattern similar to the circling of
circusing swifts. The arrangement of therianthropes at Site 12.2
(Fig. 12) strengthens the perception that the painters modelled
them on swifts' screaming parties. The imagery here, like that
at Site 10, is arranged in a horizontal configuration, with the
images closely juxtaposed. At Site 12.2 the painters incorpo-
rated something of the random, swirling flight patterns of
individual birds; the images do not all face in the same direc-
tion. One still has the impression, though, that the images are
all involved in the same group activity.
Painters at certain sites placed individual therianthropic
images one after the other in single file (Figs 11, 12 & 13); with
90 South African Archaeological Bulletin 60 (182): 84-95, 2005

TABLE 1. Comparisonof swifts (familyApodidae)with swallowsand martins(Hirundinidae)afterNewman (1990: 238-239). Thewings and tail are the most
importantcharacteristicsto examinefor the purposesof identifying the affinitiesof the paintedavimorphs.In addition to theseformal similaritiesbetweenthe
paintings and swifts, the avimorphsare also arrangedin behaviouralposturesunique to swifts.

Characteristics compared Swifts Swallows & martins

Wings Wings are slender and scimitar-like. Wings sweep straight
back from the body with minimal bending at the carple joint.
Tail Swift species either have square, or forked tails (the palm
swift is the only species in South Africa with tail streamers).
Colour Dark grey-brown, blackish or ash-brown. Appear dark in
flight. May have whitish throats and white rumps, but no
bright colours.
Flight pattern Fly rapidly with only brief interludes of gliding. Sometimes
fly with wings angled steeply upwards.
Ability to perch Cannot perch (non-passerine)
Wings are comparatively wider and more round than swifts.
Swallows have forked tails, often with long streamers on the
outer feathers. Martins have squarish tails.
Swallows have blue, white or orange upperparts. Martins are
brown, with paler underparts.
Glide frequently between bouts of flapping.
Can perch (passerine).

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Pianthoinmges(intedCoyb taF. e Vinldifersn.ietosTi aprnl admyaragmneebe
South African Archaeological Bulletin 60 (182): 84-95, 2005 91

FIG. 11. TherianthropesfromEzeljagspoort(Site 10), GeorgeDistrict. Notice the convex,semi-circularprocessionof imagesbelowthe long, right-facingfigure.
Theirarrangementhead-to-tailmay modelswift behaviourknownas 'circusing'.Imagethatfacesrightand holdsshortobjectmeasures70 mmfromcrownof head
to righthandmosttail tip. Paintings in red. Copy by TA. Dowson and A. Holliday.

the exception of a few images at one site (Fig. 12), the images all
face in the same direction. The orientation of the rows
themselves varies from site to site. At Site 10 (Fig. 11) the row is
semi-circular and concave, at Site 11.3 (Fig. 13) it is vertical with
the therianthropic images facing upward, at Site 15 (Fig.13) it is
vertical with the therianthropic images facing downwards,
while at Site 12.2, (Fig. 12) the row is roughly horizontal with
most of the images facing in one direction.
Without the visual clues gleaned from sites 10 and 12.2
(Figs 11 & 12), it would be difficult to argue that the vertical
arrangements of therianthropes at Site 11.3 and Site 15 (Fig. 13)
model swift behaviour. There is no indication of the circular
wheeling that characterizes circusing. We merely see a unidi-
rectional row of therianthropes arranged head-to-tail. It is only
possible to hazard an interpretation because similar head-to-
tail arrangements at Site 10 and Site 12.2 incorporate more
naturalistic detail about circusing. Nevertheless I argue that
these vertical arrangements too derive from circusing - the key
attributes in these two cases are the head-to-tail arrangement
of the images and their uniform direction. Native viewers of

41

FIG. 12. Most of the therianthropes

at Site 12.2, GeorgeDistrict, arearrangedin a rowand mostface in thesamedirection.Therianthropicimageselsewherein the
regionoccurin similararrangementsand may be modelledon swift 'circusing'behaviour.Notice the pigment patchabovethefigures and the row of 34 objects
belownaturallyoccurringholes in the rockface, representedhereby dashedlines. Lefthandmosttherianthropemeasures65 mmfromcrownof headto tip of lower
wing. Paintings in red.Copyby J.C. Hollmann.
92 South African Archaeological Bulletin 60 (182): 84-95, 2005

FIG. 13. Therianthropesfrom Site 11.3, GeorgeDistrict (left) and Site 'circusing'15, JoubertinaDistrict (right) presentedhere at varying scales. At both
sites therianthropesappearin columns. The imagesat Site 15fly abovea paintedline. Twonon-therianthropicimages, one of which resemblesa carnivoreare
incorporatedinto the columnat Site 15. Imagespaintedin red. Copiesby J.C.Hollmannand FE. De Villiers.

the paintings would no doubt have been aware of the model
without it needing to be realistically depicted in great detail.
Such vertical and strongly directional arrangements of
therianthropes may therefore reflect characteristic formations
associated with swifts' circusing; in addition, the configura-
tions may also allude to aspects of hunter-gatherer rituals,
especially the Great Dance, in which dance participants orga-
nize themselves into single file (Hollmann 2003, 2005). There
are therefore similarities between swift behaviour during
screaming parties and the ways in which the painters arranged
the therianthropic motif in rows.
SWIFTMATING BEHAVIOUR
There is another close correspondence between the ways
that painters arranged the therianthropic images and how
swifts behave: mating behaviour. Swifts engage in a number of
aerial displays that include steep dives, correspondingly rapid
ascents, and rapid chases in which the female often leads the
male (Lack 1973; Chantler 1999). Some observers report that
swifts can actually copulate in mid-flight (Lack 1973), but
others are sceptical (Chantler 1999). One natural historian has
observed that at the beginning of the summer mating season
Chimney Swifts form loose associations of 4-7 individuals from
which pairs of swifts would fly off (Fischer 1958 in Chantler
1999). Later in the season, the swifts begin 'trio-flying', a behav-
iour in which two males pursue a rapidly flying female
(Chantler 1999). These distinctive behaviours are characteristic
of several swift species (Chantler 1999).
Most interestingly, we may see these behaviours modelled
at certain sites. At Site 11.1 (Fig. 15), for example, a group of
seven therianthropes 'flies' across the rock face. Below them is a
pair of therianthropes, the topmost of which has a large head
and holds its arms backward in a 'V' position. This wing
posture may recall what observers of swifts call 'V-ing', a
behaviour that is part of the swifts' repertoire of courtship
acrobatics (Chantler 1999).
Pairs of therianthropic images occur at other sites too: at
Site 12.1, the painters placed such a duo some 300 mm above a
grouping of about 15 therianthropes (Fig. 14). The distance
between the two clusters of paintings may not be random: the
arrangement could depict a group of circusing swifts from
which a pair has split off. As we have seen, this behaviour is
characteristic of swifts. At Site 10 (Fig. 11), a line of therian-
thropes incorporates a pair of images. Again, given what we
know of swift behaviour, it seems unlikely that this association
between pairs and larger groupings of images is coincidental.
South African Archaeological Bulletin 60 (182): 84-95, 2005
FIG. 14. Therianthropicimageryfrom Site 12.1, GeorgeDistrict. Note the pairedwavy lines and what appearsto bea humanfigure with one arm raised,at the
right. Topmostimage measures110 mmfrom crown of headto righthandmosttail tip. Imagesarepainted in red.CopybyJ.C. Hollmann
Painters did not always juxtapose pairs of therianthropes
with larger groupings of therianthropic images, however. At
Site 13 (Fig. 16), a pair of therianthropes is painted without any
accompanying images. One of the figures is painted with its
head pointing down to the floor of the overhang; the other is
painted immediately below it in a horizontal position so that
their heads are within a few centimetres of each other. This pair
may model aspects of courtship acrobatics.
Other paintings reinforce the link between the arrange-
ment of the therianthropic images and swift mating behaviour.
At Site 7 (Figs 5 & 16), painters arranged paintings of five
therianthropes in two groups: a lower group of three images,
and an upper group of two. The trio of therianthropes suggests
the 'trio-flying' I mentioned earlier, in which two males
compete for a single female, while the top duo models the
characteristic swift 'couples' just discussed. Site 11.1 (Fig. 15)
also features an arrangement of three therianthropes. In view
of what we know of swift mating behaviour it may be signifi-
cant that this trio, of which one is only partially preserved,
occurs some 0.5 m to the right of a larger group of therian-
93
thropes. Below and to their left is the pair of therianthropes I
mentioned earlier. Again, there appear to be similar patterns in
the way the painters arranged the therianthropes at different
sites. It seems therefore that in certain cases the painters of the
therianthropes used duos and trios of mating swifts as their
models.
IMPLICATIONS
I have argued that the painters of the therianthropic
images based their form and arrangement on certain swift
behaviours, some of which are unique to this group of birds.
The behaviours are wing-clapping, circusing and mating
behaviour.
These empirically verifiable behavioural features enable us
to interpret potentially equivocal morphological characteristics
of the therianthropes, such as the shape of their upper and
lower limbs. It appears that these features refer to the wings
and tails of swifts, and not to fish fins or to the appendages of
any other aquatic model. These are swift-people, not mer-
maids. Furthermore, the identification of such animal behav-
94 South African Archaeological Bulletin 60 (182): 84-95, 2005

A.4

4,

FIG. 15.At Site 11.1, GeorgeDistrict, the imagesarearrangedin threegroupings:a pairat bottomleft, a group of seven therianthropic
figures in the middleand
threeat top right. Thesegroupings couldmodelswift matingbehaviour.Note thatfor clarity'ssakeall otherimageson this areaof the rockjface
havebeenomitted.
Topmost,earedtherianthropemeasures110 mmfrom crownof headto notchin tail. Blackrepresentsredpaint, stippledareasrepresentyellow and uncolouredand
enclosedareasrepresentwhite paint. Copy by FE. De Villiersand J.C. Hollmann.

44
Site 7 Site 11 Site 12 Site 13 Site 7 Site 11I
assemblage 1 assemblage 1 assemblage 1

FIG. 16. Therianthropes arrangedinpairsand trios maybemodeed

eeon swift matingbehaviour.Blackrepresents
redopaint. Lightstipplerepresentsyellow.Images
are depictedat varying scales.

iour patterns has made it possible to unpack a range of
phenomena that can more easily be pinned to specific
ethnographic accounts and thus facilitate interpretation of the
imagery (Hollmann 2003, 2005).
The therianthropic swift-people show the extent to which
painters from this area incorporated not only morphology, but
also behaviour, into their images. As we pay more attention to
the identification of behavioural patterns in southern African
hunter-gatherer imagery it is possible that we will find that this
use of natural modelling is systematic and widespread
throughout the subcontinent.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I gratefully acknowledge the support of the National
Research Foundation (NRF) and the University of the
Witwatersrand Research Office for fieldwork funding. Janette
Deacon shared information regarding sites. I thank everybody
who guided me to swift-people sites. These include John
Begg, the Du Preez family, Paul Gray, Justus Grebe, the
Hestermanns, Judy Maguire, Antoinette Pienaar, Rodger
Smith, the Terblanches, and staff at Anysberg, Ladismith and
Uniondale Nature Conservation. Franda de Villiers, Justine
Olofsson and Letitia Petersen helped with fieldwork. Renee
Rust discussed her work on images of swift-people in the
Anysberg. I am indebted to ornithologist Alan Kemp for putt-
ing me on to the swifts. Ed Eastwood and Siyakha Mguni's
comments and suggestions on earlier drafts, as well as those of
the reviewers greatly improved the final product. Finally, I
thank my wife Marthina Mossmer for her help, support and
patience during my many bouts of fieldwork!
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