South Africa Rock Art Gallery

The rock art of South Africa has probably been studied more extensively than that of any other African country. It is estimated that South Africa contains many thousands of rock art sites, with a great variety of styles and techniques. The most well-known rock art in South Africa is that created by the San|Bushman¹ people (several culturally linked groups of indigenous people of southern Africa who were traditionally hunter-gatherers) and their ancestors, with the painted rock shelters of the Drakensberg mountains some of the most well-known rock art sites in the world. However, the range of South African rock art is wide, spanning great distances, many centuries, and different cultural traditions.

¹ San|Bushmen is a collective term used to describe the many different hunter-gatherer-fisher groups living in southern Africa who have related languages and cultural traditions. Both ‘San’ and ‘Bushmen’ are considered offensive terms by some members of these groups, although others have positively adopted them.