One of the most popular reasons people visit Damaraland (or the Erongo/Kuene regions) is to check out really cool old rocks of various categories: formations, engravings, and paintings. As I mentioned in previous posts, we visited the splendor of the Burnt Mountain and the Organ Pipes. We admired a forest that once stood tall in the middle of Africa now turned to stone through diagenesis. We cruised past the massive Brandberg Mountain Range and on the way home took a detour to look at Spitzkoppe Peak that is over 120 million years old and maxes out at an elevation of 5,853 feet. They call it the Matterhorn of Namibia. All of this region is a geologist's paradise. Rocks, rocks, and more rocks.
In between these sites, Mark was eager to visit Twyfelfontein, a place better known for man-made rock engravings and paintings. In Afrikaans, Twyfelontein means "doubtful spring" and was named by a farmer who decided to settle in the area back in the 1940's. But before it even had a name, Twyfelfontein was inhabited by nomadic hunter-gatherer San people who are thought to be the first settlers within the region. Seriously, their ancestry traces back more than 30,000 years! At the UNESCO Twyfelfontein site, our guide told us the San might have used rock art to tell stories, record events, teach children, and to communicate between tribes. Tools like white quartz and red ochre mixed with animal fat were used to engrave and paint. Interestingly, since San people were constantly on the move, there are depictions of seals and penguins on the rocks that sit more than 35 hour's worth of walking from the coast, according to Google maps. They made frequent trips out west to gather the salt from the oceans and used it to cure meats.
The surprisingly well-detailed drawings give history experts the impression that the San were excellent travel guides and story tellers. They made maps to watering holes, depicted by a circle with a dot in the middle and recorded the footprints of migrating animals. There was an ostrich drawing that included two heads and four legs in various direction show the rapid movement of these giant birds like a stop-motion cartoon. The lion with a hand for a tail and a kill in its mouth perhaps told a story of a brave hunter who got more bang for his buck, warranting permanent placement on the rock wall of fame.
In between these sites, Mark was eager to visit Twyfelfontein, a place better known for man-made rock engravings and paintings. In Afrikaans, Twyfelontein means "doubtful spring" and was named by a farmer who decided to settle in the area back in the 1940's. But before it even had a name, Twyfelfontein was inhabited by nomadic hunter-gatherer San people who are thought to be the first settlers within the region. Seriously, their ancestry traces back more than 30,000 years! At the UNESCO Twyfelfontein site, our guide told us the San might have used rock art to tell stories, record events, teach children, and to communicate between tribes. Tools like white quartz and red ochre mixed with animal fat were used to engrave and paint. Interestingly, since San people were constantly on the move, there are depictions of seals and penguins on the rocks that sit more than 35 hour's worth of walking from the coast, according to Google maps. They made frequent trips out west to gather the salt from the oceans and used it to cure meats.
The surprisingly well-detailed drawings give history experts the impression that the San were excellent travel guides and story tellers. They made maps to watering holes, depicted by a circle with a dot in the middle and recorded the footprints of migrating animals. There was an ostrich drawing that included two heads and four legs in various direction show the rapid movement of these giant birds like a stop-motion cartoon. The lion with a hand for a tail and a kill in its mouth perhaps told a story of a brave hunter who got more bang for his buck, warranting permanent placement on the rock wall of fame.
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| Human foot prints: personal signature Animal foot prints: food sightings Circle with dots: water sources |
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| The ostrich with two heads and four legs. |
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| Elephant sighting, upper left |
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| Giraffe, lion, springbok |
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| That sky tho' |
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