Rock art and graffiti The San Culture & Education Centre

Trainees take action about rock art graffiti at Elands Bay

Dismayed with the appalling state of the rock art at Elands Bay Cave, which the trainees had visited in February 2009 as part of their guiding training, they asked their trainer for advice. The email from Prof. Janette Deacon was the most promising one among all the replies to their letters. Not only was Prof. Deacon prepared to discuss the issues with them, but she also accepted the trainees’ request to talk to them about rock art and stone tools, which had been donated to !Khwa ttu.

Prof. Deacon’s demonstrations of how to produce stone tools made a deep impression on the trainees. When she went for the second round of letting the trainees show her where the bulb of percussion could be seen on the stone tools their eyes sparkled when she told them that this time they had found exactly the correct spot.

Collin Cotzee was proud that he could “now see when it is a tool that was made or that broke by itself.” Others were intrigued that stone tools could be used for so many purposes and the way “they changed from Middle Stone Age to Later Stone Age.” Ivan contemplated “Some people think that we, the San were not so clever, but how can someone do this amazing stuff without the knowledge of how it can be done.”

The trainees appreciated that Prof Deacon attributed the oldest rock paintings to the San and that she differentiated between the painting traditions of the San and the Khoi. The trainees thought it important that they were now able to explain to the !Khwa ttu visitors that San painted finer lines, which were drawn with feathers or porcupine quills, and that the Khoi used their fingers for painting. While they intently listened to the interpretations of the rock paintings, they enjoyed rubbing the ochre Prof Deacon had brought along with many other artifacts, on their hands and experienced its greasy texture.

At the end of the session Prof Deacon returned to the original reason for her visit and explained that she holds a permit to erase graffiti from rock art and invited the trainees to assist her in cleaning the site at Elands Bay Cave. On 7 June Ivan Vaalbooi and André Vaalbooi accompanied Prof. Deacon and Nic Wiltshire from Heritage Western Cape to the site, where rock paintings are found which are believed to be between about 1000 and 5000 years old.

Ivan described the cleaning method in detail in his report. He wrote: “She [Prof. Deacon] explained to us how to apply a piece of cotton wool on a chopstick, which we then dipped into a cup of special water. We had to make sure that the cotton wool is not too wet, before we started working on the paintings. We held the one tip in our hands and used the fingertips of our other hand to slowly roll it over the charcoal.”

André in his report on the excursion stated: “It was very interesting for me because now I can also show people how to clean charcoal from rock paintings and explain what methods they can use. I think the work we did there must continue then the people will maybe get the message that it is not good to write their names on paintings, because they can see that we cleaned it.”

Both trainees shared the feeling which Ivan described as “being part of a group of important people and also being able to assist in cleaning rock paintings and gaining more knowledge was a big and great experience for me. I am really proud of having been part of the group cleaning the amazing work of my ancestors.”