South African Archaeological Society

Northern Parallels with Southern PaintingsSource: The South African Archaeological Bulletin, Vol. 8, No. 29 (Mar., 1953), p. 21Published by: South African Archaeological SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3886494 .

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Throughout that part of Nigeria which is crossed by air-routes the most striking phenomenon is the complete absence of sedimentary rocks, except for redeposited soils from basalts, gneisses, granites and schists. This is not true of all Nigeria, but flying certainly gives the impression of a vast geological shield, unaffected by folding, rifting or faulting.

It is clearly time that a team of first-class popular- izers wrote The Book of the Air, a guide-book for the ordinary man on how and what to observe from the air, and how to enjoy the God-given art of flying. Unlike Africa the Italian scene shows dark hiero- glyphics in every field that indicate ancient farm- houses, homesteads and villages. In Africa earthen walls of unburnt clay, timber, reed and banana-leaf thatching are all flattened by rain and termites, yet

much can still be seen and in time we shall make important archaeological finds of sites through the keen eyes of aerial observers. The converging pattern of ancient footpaths (often eroded into dongas and gullies) and a careful observation of their focal point, the evaulation of the order of cutting of consecutive meanders in an old stream-bed, the assessment of the natural highways from one region to another, the observation of readily accessible sources of raw materials, outcrops and deposits of suitable imple- ment-making rock; all these things promise an immense future to archaeology in South Africa. We need keen observers, trained to seek and to evaluate the subtle signs that pass so swiftly below us. To the untrained observer there is nothing more tedious than travel by air.

NORTHERN PARALLELS WITH SOUTHERN PAINTINGS

The two accompanying photographs were taken by Brother Marie Victorin of Montreal when visiting Uganda in 1929, and are submitted to the Bulletin by the Abbe H. Breuil who points out the similarity between the craft used and those depicted in Griqua- land West rock-shelters. Paintings of boats have been discussed or reproduced in Vol. I, p. 27, Vol. II, p. 82 and Vol. IV, p. 51 of the Bulletin and in the South African Journal of Science, XLI, 1945, pp. 356-60.

In submitting these photographs from the Lua tribe on Victoria Nyanza the Abbe adds: 'It is perfectly clear they are the same.' The small floats appear to be made of reeds tied into a roughly triangular form, poled along in shallow water. The larger boats (of which one is shown) are carvel-built vessels, sewn together with root and bark fibre. They have been adequately described by Roscoe and others, and links are suggested with Viking vessels from the Baltic.

SOUTH WEST AFRICAN ROCK-PAINTINGS

Dr. E. R. Scherz has written announcing that the South African Association of Arts (S.W.A. Branch, Windhoek) has arranged another safari for scientists, art teachers and students, as well as non-professionals, to visit the rock-paintings, petrified forest and other places of artistic interest during the mid-year holidays. Those leaving Cape Town or Johannesburg should entrain on Monday 29 June, and others should book to reach Windhoek before the departure date on 3 July. The tour of some 1,200 miles will last about

eleven days, and the cars will return to Windhoek on 17 July. Thetotal cost works out at about ?37 per head (second class rail) or ?45 per head (first class rail) from either Johannesburg or Cape Town, and some ?3 more from Durban, etc. Applications and a cheque covering the cost of the tour from Windhoek only (?19) should reach 0. Schroder Esq., P.O. Box 994, Windhoek, South West Africa, before 30 April 1953. Railway bookings should be undertaken as soon as possible by those applying as the school holidays occur at about this time.

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