Bushmen Fish People

South African Archaeological Society
'Swift-People': Therianthropes and Bird Symbolism in Hunter-Gatherer Rock-Paintings,

Western and Eastern Cape Provinces, South Africa
Author(s): Jeremy C. Hollmann
Source: Goodwin Series, Vol. 9, Further Approaches to Southern African Rock Art (Dec.,
2005), pp. 21-33
Published by: South African Archaeological Society
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South African
Archaeological Society
Goodwin Series 9:
21-33,
2005 21
SWIFT-PEOPLE': THERIANTHROPES AND BIRD SYMBOLISM
IN HUNTER-GATHERER
ROCK-PAINTINGS,
WESTERN AND
EASTERN CAPE
PROVINCES,
SOUTH AFRICA
JEREMY
C. HOLLMANN
University of KwaZulu-Natal, School
of
Human and Social Studies, Private
BagXOl,
Scottsville, 3209, South
Africa
&
Natal Museum, Private
Bag
9070,
Pietermaritzburg,
3200.
E-mail:
jhollmann@nmsa.org.
za
ABSTRACT
This
study
combines detailed observations
of
the behaviour
of swifts
(family Apodidae)
with the
ethnography of
southern
African
hunter-gatherers
in order to
investigate
the
symbolism of
a
painted
motif of therianthropes (images
that combine characteristics
of
human
and non-human animal
species) referred
to hereas
'swift-people'.
The
standardized
appearance
and
widespread
distribution
of
this
motif
presents
a remarkable
opportunity
to
investigate prehistoric
hunter-gatherer beliefs
in this
part ofthe country.
It
appears
that the
painters
created a
unique
class
of being by linking
the behaviour
of
swifts
to
hunter-gatherer
rituals and
practices.
MODELLING SWIFT BEHAVIOUR
In a
previous study (Hollmann 2003,2005)
I
argued
that this
localized motif
(Figs
1
&2), commonly regarded
either as a
fish-like 'mermaid'
or,
alternatively,
a swallow-like
being,
actually
combines attributes and behaviours of swifts
(family
Apodidae).
I call these
therianthropes 'swift-people'.
Based
upon
the form and
arrangement
of these therian?
thropic images
in 18
assemblages,
I
suggested
that
painters
modelled their
paintings
on behaviours that are either
unique
to,
or
very
characteristic
of,
swifts
(Table 1):
?
Circusing:
Swifts
engage
in an
activity
known as
'circusing'
or the
'screaming party/display'
in which
large
numbers of
birds wheel around in the
sky uttering
loud
screaming
sounds
(Lack 1973;
Fry
1988; Chantler
1999).
Little is known
about the
significance
of
circusing,
but researchers have
observed that certain
migrating
swift
species
hold such
'screaming parties'
more
frequently
before
embarking
on
their
migratory flights (Lack 1973).
Painters
arranged
the
therianthropes
in two distinctive but
conceptually
related
patterns (Hollmann 2003,2005):
in the one
configuration,
the
therianthropic images
are
arranged
in a
single
unidirectional
row,
or
procession.
The second
arrangement
is less structured:
the
images appear
more
loosely
clustered and individual
paintings
face in different directions and orientations.
?
Courtship
acrobatics and
copulation:
swifts
perform
a
number of aerial
displays,
or
courtship
acrobatics, including
steep
dives,
rapid
climbs and
chases,
usually
with the female
leading
the male
(Lack 1973;
Chantler
1999). 'Trio-flying',
a behaviour in which two males
pursue
a female is also
another
typical
swift
mating
behaviour
(Chantler 1999).
Some researchers believe that these birds
copulate
on the
wing (Lack 1973), although
others are doubtful
(Chantler
1999).
Several
paintings
of
therianthropes
in
pairs
and
trios,
as well as two
possible
instances of
copulation, may
reflect
such
mating
behaviour.
?
Wing-clapping:
this is a
poorly
understood behaviour in
which the
wings
meet above and below the bird's
body
to
create a
clapping
sound
(Fry
1998;
Chantler
1999).
I
suggest
that several
paintings
of the
therianthropes
model this
behaviour.
FIG. 1.
(a)
The
upper
limbs
of
these
images from
Site 7, Oudtshoorn District, Western
Cape
Province extend
beyond
the shorter lower limbs and
appear wing-like.
(b)
The
figures from
Site 8, however, have shorter
upper
limbs and have been
interpreted asfish-like.
Research
suggests
that the
therianthropes incorpor
ate
features
unique
to
swifts.
22 South African
Goodwin Series 9:
21-33,2005
FIG. 2. The distribution
of swift-people
is
locally
common in
parts ofthe
Western and Eastern
Cape
Provinces in South
Africa.
This
study
is based onl6 sites that
feature
18
assemblages of swift-people depictions.
?
Flight:
if the
therianthropes
do indeed
incorporate
swift
characteristics,
then it seems
very likely
that the
painters
considered the
speed
and
agility
of these birds
integral
to
their natural model. Swifts are almost
totally
devoted to life
on the
wing
and cannot
perch (Steyn 1996).
Table 1 shows that these
arrangements
are
repeated
within
and between sites. Such
consistency
of
representation strongly
suggests
that
painters
intended to
depict
the same
subject.
But
what links were the
painters making
between selected swift
behaviours
-
mating behaviour,
wing-clapping,
the
'screaming
party', expertise
in
flight
-
and
hunter-gatherer thought
processes
and values? To
explore
these
questions
we must first
acquaint
ourselves with Bushman
ethnography
about
swifts,
human-animal transformation
and,
especially, therianthropes.
After this
necessary digression
I return to consider the
symbolic
significance
of these
specific
swift behaviours.
SWALLOWS' AND THERIANTHROPES IN BUSHMAN
THOUGHT
It is
important
to
point
out that there is not
necessarily
a
one-to-one
correspondence
in
meaning
between the natural
historical
significance
of the behaviour
depicted
and the
interpretation
and
significance
that the
painters
attached to the
behaviour
(Lewis-Williams
2002:
260).
We
cannot,
for
example,
assume that because the
therianthropes incorporate
elements
of swift
mating
behaviour that the
images express, say,
beliefs
and values around human sexual behaviour or
fertility.
To
understand
why
swift behaviour was
appropriately symbolic
we must
develop
an
interpretation
that is faithful to Bushman
beliefs and to the details of the
imagery.
I
begin by pointing
out
beliefs
regarding
birds,
swifts and swallows.
Although
there are
apparently very
few
paintings
and
engravings
of human-bird
combinations,
birds have
signifi-
cances in Bushman
thought
that
help
to
clarify
the
meanings
associated with the
therianthropes
that are the
subject
of this
study (Lewis-Williams
et al.
1993).
In the first
place
we should
note that in some Bushman societies
people interpret
the be?
haviour of birds
anthropomorphically (Silberbauer
1981:
72):
"Birds are considered to be
intelligent
creatures.... Credited
with
thought processes
and values
comparable
with those of
man,
birds are
thought
to react to
many
situations in the same
way
man
would,
and their behaviour is therefore seen as
having
some of the value that human actions would have as a
source of information."
Given this attitude to bird behaviour in
general
we
may
infer that the
painters
of the
swift-people
chose swifts as one of
their models because
they
believed that the behaviour of these
birds was instructive and
meaningful. Interestingly,
Dialkwain
(in
Lewis-Williams 2000:257
my quotation
marks and
brackets),
one of the nineteenth
century
/Xam
people
who shared their
beliefs with the
philologist-ethnographers,
Wilhelm Bleek and
Lucy Lloyd,
recalled that:
"Our mothers tell us that we should not throw stones at the
'swallow' because it is the rain's
thing.
We can see that it is not
like other little birds that eat earth. For
they [i.e.
these little birds,
I
think]
eat
clay.
It
[i.e.
the
'swallow'}
eats insects which are in the
water. That is
why
our mothers scold us
severely
if
they
see us
children
throwing
stones at the 'swallow'.
They
ask us
whether we do not see
that,
when the rainclouds are in the
sky,
then the 'swallow' flies about. But when there are no
rainclouds in the
sky,
we do not see it
flying
about."
South African
Goodwin Series 9: 21-33, 2005 23
TABLE 1. Painters at
widely separated
sites
acrobatics,
wing-clap postures
and,
possibly,
consistently
modelled
images of swift-people
on three behaviours that are characteristic
of swifts: circusing, courtship
',
copulation.
*Drawing by
R. Rust
(2000: fig 5.19)
"Drawing by
R. Rust (2000:fig 5.18)
24 South African
Goodwin Series 9:
21-33,2005
I
place
the word 'swallow' in
quotation
marks because I
argue,
for the
following
reasons,
that it should be treated as a
generic
term that
may
include swallows and swifts:
?
It is not clear whether Dialkwain
distinguished
swallows
from swifts.
Certainly
it is doubtful that he or the /Xam in
general recognized exactly
the same
species concepts
as fixed
by
modern
ornithologists.
?
Furthermore,
neither Bleek nor
Lloyd may
have been in a
position
to
distinguish
swifts from swallows.
?
To
complicate
matters even
more,
swallows and swifts
commonly
mix when on the
wing (Chantler 1999).
/Xam beliefs about so-called 'swallows' could thus refer
equally
to swifts.
According
to
Dialkwain,
'swallows'
enjoyed special protec?
tion because
they
were associated with water and in
particular
with rain. In the /Xam
language
Ikhwa means both 'water' and
'rain'
(Bleek
1956:
431)
and 'swallows' are called /kabbi ta Ikhwa
(Bleek
1956:
296).
The
incorporation
of the word for water in
the 'swallow's' name
suggests
a close association between
these birds and water
(Lewis-Williams
et al. 1993:
284).
Studies
of swift behaviour
provide
reasons for this link.
They
are
strongly
associated with
water,
over which
they
hunt insects
(Lack
1973:
99;
Chantler 1999:
402)
and
drink,
swooping
down
over the surface and
scooping up
water in their beaks
(Fry
1988:
223).
The sudden
appearance
of a flock of swifts in
pursuit
of a
swarm of insects
presages
rain for the G/wi,
who
say
that the
birds are
letting
them know that rain is on its
way (Silberbauer
1981:
71-72).
The birds are indeed attracted to thunderstorms
and rain
because,
in
Africa,
rain
(as
well as
grass fires) brings
large
numbers of insects
(Lack 1973:144,154),
such as termites.
The annual
migration
of swallows and swifts is believed
by
the
G/wi to be
guided by
the birds'
long-term
weather forecasts
(Silberbauer
1981:
70-71).
The associations that Bushman
people
made from swallows and swifts to water and rain are
thoroughly grounded
in observations of their life
cycles
and
behaviours.
'Swallows' were also associated with /Xam
Igiiten
(Dialkwain
in: Lewis-Williams 2000:
257),
the
plural
form of a
word that means 'full of
supernatural potency'
and translated
by Lucy Lloyd
as 'sorcerers'.
(I
use the term 'ritual
practitioner'
throughout
to refer to such
people,
also known as 'healers' or
'shamans'):
"Our mothers used to tell us that the swallow is with the
things
which the sorcerers take out and which
they
send about.
Those are the
things
which the swallow resembles."
In these
ways
'swallows' are bound
up
in Bushman
thought
with the
presence
of rain and the activities of ritual
practitioners
BUSHMAN COMMENT ON PAINTINGS OF
SWIFT-PEOPLE
People
have
long
linked a
'myth'
about 'water-women half
fish,
half flesh'
(Leeuwenburg
1970:
145)
to the
paintings
at
Site 10
(Willcox 1963:35; Leeuwenburg
1970;
Maggs 1998).
This
myth,
recorded
by
a Mr D. Ballot in the
1870s,
comes from the
response
of a Bushman
person
from the area to the
question:
'Do
you
believe in
Watermeide?'(Leeuwenburg
1970:
145).
In
reply
the man, Afrikaander,
told of 'waterwomen' who live in
waterholes;
these
figures,
'half
fish,
half flesh'
(Leeuwenburg
1970:
145)
lure
unsuspecting
humans close to the water and
then
drag
them underwater.
It is not clear
why
we have
accepted
this
story
as a direct
explanation
of the
paintings
at Site 10. Wilhelm Bleek assumed
that the
story
and the
paintings
were linked
(Bleek
1875:
20),
but others have
questioned
this
(Lewis-Williams
1977:
165;
Lewis-Williams & Loubser
1986:266;
Lewis-Williams et al. 1993:
276-277).
Mr Ballot asked Afrikaander a
question
about
watermeide
-
there is no hint in Ballot's document to
suggest
either that Ballot was
asking
Afrikaander to comment on the
Site 10
imagery,
nor
anything
in Afrikaander's
reply
to indicate
that he had the
paintings
in mind. The direct connection
assumed between the
images
at Site 10 and what Afrikaander
said about watermeide is therefore
probably spurious.
Whilst
beliefs about water maidens are
worthy
of
study
in their own
right,
here
they
are a red
herring.
We
do, however,
have direct Bushman comment on
the Site 10
paintings
-
Lucy Lloyd
included a
copy
of
paintings
of
swift-people
from Site 10
(Fig. 3)
in the stack of
copies
that
she showed to Dia.'kwain and /Han^kasso. /Han^kasso's
comments
(/Han^kasso
in Lewis-Williams 2000: 261.
Square
brackets enclose comments made
by
Bleek &
Lloyd.
Round
brackets contain
my comments.), given
on 13
January
1878,
follow:
"I think that the rain's navel is that which
goes [along here].
I
think that these
people, they speak angrily (jwaiten)
to
Ikhwa,
that the rain's navel
may
not kill them. That the rain's navel
may
not kill
them,
that the rain's navel
may
be nice to them
(twai).
The rain's navel
may
not kill them. That the rain's navel
might keep
on
being
nice to them. This man,
he has had
[?]
hold of a
thing,
which resembles a stick. I think that these are
rain's
people.
I do not know
them,
for I behold that
they
are
people.
For, they
have their arms; they
resemble
people. They
feel that
they
are sorcerers,
the rain's sorcerers
they
are;
for
this man is
holding
a
thing
which resembles Ikhoe
[a
curved stick
('pale'),
used in
making
a Bushman
house].
I do not know whether
it is a
Ikhoe, for,
I see that the
thing
resembles a Ikhoe. These
peo?
ple [i.e.
those on the lower side
of
the line,
in the
picture]
I do not
know whether the rain's navel divides them from the other
people. People they
are, sorcerers;
rain's sorcerers.
They
make
the rain to fall and the rain's clouds come out on account of
them
[?]. Hence, the rain falls,
and the
place
becomes
green
on
account of it. This
thing [i.e.
what we should have called the
right
arm
of
the
rain-figure],
it
[is
the
one]
which resembles a
caterpil-
lar,
the rain's
caterpillar."
/Han^kasso's comments are
phrased
in the /Xam idiom
and are neither
simple
nor self-evident
(see
Lewis-Williams
1977:
167-168,
1990: 46-47,
and Lewis-Williams et al. 1993:
278-279 for detailed consideration of this
testimony).
What is
important
is that /Han^kasso
explicitly
links the
paintings
to
the work of 'rain's
people'
and
again,
to 'rain's sorcerers'. He
may
even have
implied
that the
images
themselves
protected
people
and
brought
rain
(more
later;
see also Lewis-Williams
1995a for discussion of the
paintings
as
powerful
entities in
themselves).
There are
provisos regarding
/Han^kasso's
remarks. Nu?
merous factors combine to
modify
the
message
and its inter?
pretation
-
language,
the context in which the
copies
were
presented
and the comments elicited,
and the interviewer's lim?
ited
understanding
of /Xam
cosmology
-
amongst many
other
possible
constraints and barriers to
understanding. Timothy
Maggs (1998: 3),
for
example,
has
pointed
out that /Han^kasso
was not from the area in which the
paintings
occur and
that,
therefore,
he could not have been
knowledgeable
about local
beliefs that formed the
significance
of the
swift-people.
This is
not
quite
as
telling
a criticism as first it
may
seem,
however.
Undoubtedly/HanAasso
could not have been aware of
paro-
chial details that informed the
imagery
but this
'ignorance'
was
surely
a matter of
degree,
not absolute. Certain
disparate
Bushman
groups
share certain beliefs and
practices (e.g.
McCall 1970;
Lewis-Williams & Biesele
1978).
/Han^kasso's
South African
FIG. 3.
(Site 10).
The
imagery
at
Ezeljagspoort
(Site 10) is the most renowned
ofthe
'mermaid' sites. The lower limbs
of
most
ofthe images
are short and
splayedand
appear fish-
or bird-like.
Image
A is a
long
attenuated
figure
that /Han^kasso called 'the rains navel'.
Image
B holds a short stick-like
object.
The
images
below
(C)
he called 'rain's sorcerers'.
They follow
each other in a horizontal
procession. George
District, Western
Cape
Province.
Image
B measures 70
mmfrom
crown
ofhead
to
right-hand-most
tail
tip. Paintings
in red.
(Copy by
TA. Dowson.).
testimony
remains valid and valuable.
The
specific
and
explicit
identification of the
swift-people
at Site 10 as 'rain's sorcerers'
suggests
that the
paintings
were
expressions
of beliefs and
practices
concerned with
'sorcery'
(Lewis-Williams
1990:
48-49; Lewis-Williams et al. 1993:
284-286). Interestingly,
/Han^kasso does not seem to comment
explicitly
on the
therianthropic
form of the
images
-
he
merely
describes them as Ike, a /Xam word
usually
translated as
'peo?
ple' (Bleek 1956).
The term is
probably
used
generically
-
it does
not mean that /Han^kasso did not see or
ignored
their
therianthropic
nature. Either he identified the
figures
as
living
ritual
practitioners
transformed into
therianthropes, or,
per?
haps,
he
recognized
that
they
were a
'people'
that dwelt in the
spirit-realm.
Whatever the
case,
we now have sufficient back?
ground against
which to evaluate and
interpret
the
patterned
behaviours of the
swift-people.
UNPACKING THE SYMBOLISM OF SWIFT BEHAVIOUR
Just
how well do the
arrangements
and
configurations
of
paintings
of
swift-people
in swif
t-specific
behaviours fit in with
the
argument
I have made for the
significance
of therian?
thropic imagery
in
general and,
more
specifically,
with
/Han^kasso's
interpretation
of the
swift-people
at
Ezeljags-
poort
as ritual
practitioners?
Let us
begin
with the
ability
at
which swifts excel
-
flight.
I have
already
mentioned that swifts are
superbly
equipped
for
flight
and that
they perform high speed,
split-second
aerial manoeuvres. Beliefs in the
powers
of
flight
possessed by
ritual
practitioners
and
mythological beings
are
integral
to /Xam
cosmology
-
the
trickster-deity /Kaggen
was
believed to
sprout
feathers and
fly away
from
danger (e.g.
//Kabbo in Bleek 1924:
16),
while ritual
practitioners
could
transform into birds
(Dialkwain
in Hollmann 2004:
224-227).
Lewis-Williams has discussed the
neuro-psychological aspects
of altered states of consciousness
(ASC)
that
give
rise to sensa-
tions of
flight
and how these states inform southern African
hunter-gatherer imagery.
The
ability
to
fly,
then,
is an
impor?
tant
aspect
of swift
symbolism
that links between the
swift-people
with the work of ritual
practitioners.
But the
attribute of
flight
alone is not sufficient to understand
why
the
painters
chose swifts as a natural model for their
fantasy
creations instead of
any
other kind of bird. I
argue
that
they
selected these birds because
they
considered the
specific
features and
arrangements
concerned with the
flight
of swifts
-
circusing, wing-clapping, mating,
as well as
aspects
of their
habitat
-
especially signiflcant
and
meaningful.
Transformation into
therianthropic
form and the
appear?
ance of dead ritual
practitioners
and
mythological beings
in
therianthropic guise
are associated with the 'Great Dance' a
term used to describe what is
variously
described as the
curing/medicine/healing/trance
dance that is
practised by
most
Ju, Khoe,
Taa and !Ui
language family speakers (Blundell 2004).
Painters
picked
out
correspondences
between the swift
behaviours I have
listed,
on the one
hand,
and
aspects
of the
Great
Dance,
on the other:
?
Circusing
behaviour involves a
wheeling, roughly
circular
pattern
in which the birds follow each
other,
with individuals
and
pairs breaking
off from the
swirling
mass of birds and
then
rejoining
them. The Great Dance is
typically
circular in
form, with dancers
following
behind each other in
proces-
sion.
People join
and leave the
circling
dancers from time to
time.
?
The aerial
displays
of swifts while
circusing
and the
manoeuvres carried out when two or three birds are
per-
forming courtship
acrobatics are carried out at
high speed
with sudden
changes
in direction. These behaviours
may
have their
equivalent
in the frenzied behaviour of Bushman
ritual
practitioners
in
ecstasy,
who
may unpredictably
run
out from the circle of dancers into the veld. In such cases one
or more
people
will follow the individual and
bring
him back
to the fire.
?
Swifts utter characteristic
screaming
sounds while
circusing
(Lack
1973:
129).
Bushman ritual
practitioners
scream or
imitate animal calls when
extracting
and
expelling
sickness
from their own bodies
(Bleek 1935:4;
Lee
1968;
Marshall 1969:
372;
Katz
1982;
Biesele
1993)
?
Circusing usually
commences at dusk and
may
continue
until dawn the next
day (Lack 1973;
Chantler
1999),
as is also
26 South African
Goodwin Series
9:21-33,2005
typical
of Bushman dances
(Marshall 1969);
This
'package'
of
perceived correspondences
between bird
behaviour and human ritual is
quite
exact and
specific
in its
particulars.
That this concurrence is intentional and
highly
significant
is reinforced
by
two other
consistently depicted
painted
details. The first is the
depiction
of
swift-people
in
pairs,
a
preference (Table
1
'Courtship acrobatics')
that
suggests
another
aspect
of Bushman ritual dances
-
Bushman ritual
practitioners
in the Kalahari often work in
pairs, believing
that
this doubles the n/om
(supernatural potency)
available for
healing (Marshall
1969: 377.
(For
more about the
doubling
of
figures
in
rock-paintings,
see Vinnicombe 1976:
288;
Lewis-
Williams 1987:
238;
1998:
87-88;
Hollmann 2001:
fig. 7,64).
The second resemblance that the
painters
of
swift-people
may
have
suggested
between swifts and ritual
practitioners
concerns the manner in which
they
often
painted
the
upper
limbs of
swift-people
-
either with
upper
limbs held above the
body
at an acute
angle
or, below the
body
in a similar
position
(Table
1
'Wing-clap postures').
This rather
conspicuous
motif
alludes to a
poorly
understood swift behaviour termed
'wing-clapping',
in which the bird makes an audible
'clap'
sound. The act of
wing-clapping
as well as the
accompanying
sound of the
clap
has its
analogue
in activities central to the
performance
of the Great Dance. Women
clap rhythms
named
after
things
suffused with
supernatural potency (Marshall
1969).
These medicine
songs
are considered essential to
creating
and
maintaining
a
protective
and
supportive
environ?
ment in which ritual
practitioners
can make their
departure
to
the
spirit-world (Wiessner
&
Flemming 1979). Depiction
of the
wing clap posture
recalled the sound of the
wing clap
and the
clapped accompaniment
of the 'medicine
songs'.
There is another
painted
detail associated with some of the
swift-people
in the
wing clap posture:
their heads
hang
down
(Table 1,
sites 7 &
12.1).
In the context of
healing
and
dancing,
this
suggests
the
lolling
of the head in the trance states that
Bushman dancers
may
enter after
prolonged dancing
and
intense concentration. The
wing clap posture alone,
and in
conjunction
with the
drooping
heads,
may
have been different
ways
of
expressing
the
presence
of awakened
supernatural
potency.
By creating
links between characteristic swift behaviours
and Bushman ritual
practices, especially
the behaviour of ritual
practitioners
at the Great
Dance,
painters apparently
constructed
a
unique
class of
entity
-
the
swift-people. Furthermore,
it
seems that these
painters presented
the
swift-people
in three
contexts that
deepen
our
understanding
of the
significance
of
these
therianthropes:
?
Swift-people
are sometimes
intimately
bound
up
with
imagery
that has its foundations in altered states of
consciousness
(ASC).
?
Swift-people appear
to
engage
in shamanistic activities and
interact with other
spirit-world beings.
?
Painters
may
have
positioned paintings
of certain swift-
people
in relation to rock-face features to
suggest
that the
swift-people
are
entering
or
leaving
the rock.
IMAGERY DERIVED FROM ASC
Research shows that visions and
experiences
associated
with altered states of consciousness
(ASC)
are an
important
component
in Bushman
painted imagery (Lewis-Williams
1981a,b; Lewis-Williams & Dowson
1988; Lewis-Williams &
Blundell
1997; Lewis-Williams et al
2000).
Bushman ritual
practitioners
in the Kalahari describe 'threads of
light',
also
referred to as cords or
ropes,
that connect the earth with God
and the
spirits
of the dead in the
sky (Marshall
1962:
242;
Keeney
1999, 2003;
see Hollmann 2003:
chapter
1 for
discussion).
Transformed
living
ritual
practitioners
as well as
spirit-beings
move
along
these lines
(Marshall
1962:
242;
Keeney
1999, 2003)
and are a feature of Bushman
imagery
in
certain
regions (Lewis-Williams 1981b; Lewis-Williams et al.
2000).
This sense of the lines as
objects may explain imagery
of
swift-people apparently holding
on to sets of
painted
lines at
Site 12.1
(Fig. 4).
About seven
separate
sections of
parallel
double lines are
painted
in red. The
lines,
each 1-4 mm wide
and
painted
1-15 mm
apart,
are
arranged
in
wavy, zigzagged
patterns; occasionally
the lines intertwine. Three of at least 17
swift-people
hold onto the line. In other
cases,
the line
enters,
or
leaves,
the
body.
The fact that the
swift-people
are
interacting
with the lines is
especially interesting
-
the lines are not
simply
superimposed randomly
over the
figures.
Sets of
variously configured zigzag
lines,
possibly
a varia?
tion of the threads of
light,
are not
unique
to this
site, however.
Paintings
of
elephant
and
human-elephant
conflations else?
where in the Western
Cape
are 'surrounded'
by zigzag
lines
(Maggs
&
Sealy
1983:
figs 1-3).
Dowson &
Holliday (1989)
report
that
zigzag
lines co-occur with
paintings
of
antelope,
as
well as with
paintings
of 'rain-animals'.
They conclude, like
Maggs
and
Sealy,
that the
zigzags
derive from
entoptic
forms
and
suggest
that
they signify supernatural potency (1989: 47).
Zigzag imagery
is
widespread
and associated with
supernatu-
rally potent
entities such as
therianthropes, rain-animals,
elephant,
and
antelope.
I have
suggested
elsewhere
(Holl?
mann
2002:567)
that in South Africa's southeastern mountains
bristling
hair on
therianthropes, eland, rain-animals and
serpents signifies
that the
image
is 'dead' and therefore is in the
spirit
realm.
Zigzag
line motifs
may similarly
be indicators of
spirit-world
status.
SITE 5
-
A PRIVILEGED VIEW OF THE SPIRIT-WORLD
Swift-people
are also
closely
associated with lines at Site 5
(Figs
5 &
6).
At left
(Fig. 5),
a double line in red
paint
surrounds a
series of four
pairs
of
swift-people painted
in
yellow.
The
swift-people
follow each other from
right
to left across the rock
face. The double lines form an
elongated loop
or
U-shape
around the
swift-people,
with the
pair
of
swift-people
at
extreme
left, 'K,
pressed up against
it. A section of the double
line
splits
and
encapsulates
six of the
eight swift-people.
The
lines come
together, forming
a
single
line
beyond
the
pair
of
swift
people
on the extreme
right (point
T in
Fig. 5).
This
single
line extends to the
right ('J',
in
Fig. 6)
across several cracks in the
rock face for about 200
mm, after which it
splits
into several sets
of
lines, associated with several
paintings
of human
figures.
The line
finally splits;
each line then terminates
against
a
shallow
step
in the rock. The lines seem to link the
imagery
painted
on the left and
right
hand facets of rock.
The
swift-people
are
depicted
in
pairs,
a convention used at
other
swift-people
sites and which I have
already suggested
links swift behaviour
-
courtship
'acrobatics'
-
to Bushman
cultural
practices,
in which ritual
practitioners support
each
other to enhance and
regulate
their
spirit potency.
All of the
images
on the
right-hand
rock surface are
anthropomorphic
and
painted
in
yellow,
the same colour as the
swift-people
(Fig. 6).
Several of the
figures
are in
sitting
and
reclining
postures.
I
interpret
the forms in red and
yellow paint
around
them as two different kinds of
bag:
the
longer, rectangular
shaped bag
is a man's
hunting bag
in which a bow and
quiver
are carried. The
other,
square-shaped
forms
probably depict
bags
in which
people carry
food
gathered
in the veld.
An
anthropomorph
at bottom
right appears
to be
emerging
South African
Goodwin Series 9:
21-33,2005 27
f
FIG. 4
(Site 12.1).
With the
exception ofa pair of swift-people (A)
that soar
away from
the
group,
the
swift-people
seem to be
arranged
in imitation
ofthe whirling,
chaotic
screaming parties of swifts.
The
swift-people
are
juxtaposed
with sets
of paired painted
lines
(B).
A
swift-person
holds on to one
of
the lines and another is
painted
in the
wing-clap posture (C).
A
pair of swift-people
is attached to a set
of
lines
(D).
A human
figure (E)
but with the kind
ofheadas
the
swift-people
stands
with one arm raised and the other crooked at the elbow. A
figure
in white with bow, arrow and
hunting bag
is
painted
over the lines
(F).
The dashed lineat the bottom
represents
the bottom
edge ofthefacet ofrockon
which the
imagery
occurs. The
topmost image ofthe pair
marked A measures 110
mmfrom
crown
ofhead
to
right-
hand-most tail
tip. Paintings
in red and white.
George
District, Western
Cape
Province.
(Copy by LC. Hollmann.)
from a crack in the rock
-
the
painters
created this
impression
by excluding
the
figure's
feet
(Fig. 6).
In view of the
topography
of the rock surface and its
symbolic
value
(for example
Lewis-
Williams & Dowson
1990),
I
interpret
this
figure
as
emerging
from or
entering (feet first)
the
spirit-world.
The lines are a
striking
and
important
element at this site.
They appear
to
impose
a sense of
composition
and
sequence
because
they
structure where all the associated
imagery
is
placed.
Did the
painters
intend the
painted
line to
'emerge'
from the crack at the
right?
If we
interpret
the
disjointed
nature
of the line as
'threading'
its
way
in and out of the rock
surface,
as others have
(Lewis-Williams
& Dowson 1990:
5; Lewis-
Williams et al.
2000:126),
then the
swift-people may
be travel-
ling
across the rock face from left to
right, passing,
in their
flight,
over the humans in their
camp.
The now indistinct first
pair
of swifts
just
left of the
camp, appears
to be
moving along
on either side of the line. Further
along
to the
left,
a network of
painted
lines outlines the other six
pairs.
Although
much about this
imagery
remains
mysterious,
understanding
the
swift-people
as
depicting
a
shifting spec?
trum of
spirit-beings, comprised
of
temporarily
transformed
living
ritual
practitioners,
dead ritual
practitioners
and
mytho-
logical beings
is in accord with beliefs about the location of the
spirit-world
behind the rock face. The
figure
in the midst of the
28 South African
Goodwin Series 9:
21-33, 2005
FIG. 5
(Site 5).
The
imagery
at Site 5 is
presented
in two sections. In this, the
left
hand section, four pairs of swift-people,
A, D, E,
F & H are associated with
painted
lines. Below the
swift-people
and the lines are three
images, possibly people dancing, (B).
The lines are
painted
over two
antilopine images,
C, the
left
hand one
probably
an eland. The lines extend
upwardsand
to the
right, past
a
group of
human
figures (G).
At
point
\ the lines continue on to the
right
hand section
ofthe
reproduction.
The
topmost ofthe pair of swift-people
marked A measures 75
mmfrom
crown
ofhead
to
tip of
lower
wing tip.
Black
represents
red
paint.
Enclosed
areas are white, and
yellow paint
is a
stipple.
Mossel
Bay
District, Western
Cape
Province.
(Copy by J.C. Hollmann, J. Olofsson
& FE. De Villiers.)
i
u
^v
4
m
FIG. 6
(Site 5).
Continued
from previous figure.
The red lines extend
from
two small
steps
in the rock
face
on the
right ofthis assemblage of images
to
point J
on the
left, from
which
they
extend
for
another metre (see
previous figure). Image
L is a
figure
that sits with its
leg
drawn
up. Images
K and N
depict
two
kindsofbag.
Image
M
appears
to
emerge from
or
disappear
into a
step
in the rock
face. Image
L is
approximately
210
mmfrom
buttocks to crown
ofhead.
Black
represents
red
paint.
Enclosed areas are white, and
yellow paint
is a
stipple.
Mossel
Bay
District, Western
Cape
Province.
(Copy byJ.C. Hollmann, J. Olofsson
&F.E. De Villiers.)
South African
Goodwin Series 9: 21-33,2005 29
Site 7 Site 8 Site 11.2
FIG. 7.
Szvift-people,
the Great Dance and
healing
activities:
(a)
these two
figures painted
below the
swift-people
at Site 7
appear
to be
clapping,
a
motif
associated
with the Great Dance; (b)
the snout-like
appendage
and
(c)
nasal emanations could
refer
to the
importance ofthe
nose in
detecting
and
'snoring
out' sickness and the
use
of
nasal blood as a
protective
substance
other humans that is
emerging
from the crack
(or disappearing
into
it?)
could thus be on its
way
to
(or from)
the
spirit-world;
others
may already
have transformed into
swift-people.
The
swift-people
have
emerged
from the crack at the extreme
right
and are
moving along
threads of
light
like those the
Ju/'hoansi
believe criss-cross the earth and
sky.
Invisible to
ordinary
people,
who do not have the 'second
sight'
that ritual
practitio?
ners achieve in trance and dream states, the
swift-people
at
Site 5, like those at
Ezeljagspoort (Site 10)
which /Han^kasso
commented
upon,
must have been a
powerful
testament to
their
supernatural potency.
THE SPIRIT-REALM
Living
ritual
practitioners
transformed and went to the
spirit-world
to
get help
from dead ritual
practitioners,
as well as
mythological beings (see
Hollmann 2003:
chapter
1 for
argument), Images
of
swift-people
are linked to
imagery
associated with Bushman ritual behaviour. Those at Site 7 are
associated with a
badly
flaked duo
(Fig. 7a)
shown
clapping
with
outspread fingers
after the manner that Bushman women
clap
the medicine
songs
mentioned earlier. The
power
to heal
may
be the context for the snout-like feature of a
swift-person
painted
at Site 8
(Fig. 7b),
as well as
possible
nasal emanations
associated with
swift-people
at Site 11.2
(Fig. 7c).
The
impor?
tance of the nose in
detecting
and
'snoring
out' sickness and the
use of nasal blood as a
protective
substance are central to /Xam
healing;
these
paint
marks
may represent
this
healing
substance,
whose smell
repels
evil
(Bleek
1935:
1, 2-5, 6, 8,
12-14,19-22,24,31-35).
These observations
suggest
the role of
the
swift-people
went
beyond
the
rainmaking
functions that
/Han^kasso described.
Rainmaking may
none the less have been an
important
activity
of the
swift-people.
Besides the
images
at
Ezeljagspoort
associated
by/HanAasso's report
with
rainmaking,
there is at
least one other site where
swift-people may
be involved with
rain. Renee Rust
(2000: 80-83)
describes a site in the
Anysberg
where two
large,
snake-like forms are
painted
near a
figure
with
flywhisks
and in the well-known 'arms-back'
posture.
She
suggests
it is
perhaps controlling
the rain snake'. Above a
group
of human
figures
is a
swift-person.
Rust
(2000: 83)
uses
Khoe
ethnography
to
identify
the snake-like
forms,
painted
in
two colours, as a 'rain snake'.
Interestingly,
similar
depictions,
also in two
colours, occur at Sites 9 and 11.
Another set of
images (Fig. 8), recently
commented
upon by
Frans Prins
(2001)
shows the
swift-people
in association with
other
spirit-world beings.
At bottom left are two
swift-people,
both
elaborately
decorated
-
the most so of all the
swift-people
I have seen. Both
carry
sticks, which we know can be
signs
of
authority
and
expertise (e.g.
Bleek 1935:
12-13).
Above and to
their left are three
antelope
torsos; three
running figures
are
painted
over the animals
(not
shown in
Fig. 8).
To the
right
of
the
swift-people
is a
group
of
figures
in white and similar in
style
to the
figures
described
by
researchers in the Eastern
Cape,
KwaZulu-Natal and Free State
(Ouzman
& Loubser
2000;
Blundell & Lewis-Williams 2001:
45)
and which Blundell
and Lewis-Williams call 'eldritch'
figures (see
Blundell 2004:
chapter
4 for detailed
analysis
of their
significance).
The
grotesque proportions
of these eldritch
figures,
their detailed
silhouettes and
lively postures
are
characteristic,
and so is their
colour,
which is almost
invariably
white.
Although
not
always
therianthropic
in
character,
their
appearance
is
always
bizarre.
There are features associated with the Great Dance too
-
a small
figure
at
right
bends forward in a well-known
'fragment
of the
dance'
(Lewis-Williams 1999:281-282).
What
may
be a
flywhisk
is
depicted
to the
right.
An
object
that resembles a
flywhisk
is
associated with one of the two
figures
at
left,
both of whom
appear
to be
sitting.
The combination of
hunting equipment
and shamanic features
-
by
no means an
everyday
combination
amongst
Bushman
people
-
seems to be common in eldritch
figures
and certain other
therianthropic imagery.
Immediately
below the
largest, running
eldritch
figure
are
at least five small
figures
below an arched
line,
and below the
Une are four
shapes.
I
interpret
these
images
as
depicting
a
group
of
people
and their
bags,
with the arched line
represent?
ing
the roof of a rock
overhang.
Lewis-Williams
(pers.
comm.,
2003) suggests
that this
widespread
motif
represents 'people
in
the
portaT
-
the
community gathered together
and
making
contact with the
spirit-world.
The size and
positioning
of the
30 South African
Goodwin Series 9: 21-33, 2005
J
FIG. 8
(Site 9). Elaborately
ornamented
swift-people,
in white, red and
pinkish-yellow pigments (images
A &
B)
are
juxtaposed
with
figures
in white
(images C,
E,
F &
G).
D marks a
group of five
small
figures
at centre, withan
overarching
line
representing
a shelter
roof
and with
four bags hanging
below it.
Image
B
measures
approx.
70
mmfrom
crown
ofhead
to
tip of right-hand-most
tail
tip. George District, Western
Cape
Province. Black
represents
red
paint.
Enclosed areas
are white, and
peach paint
is a
stipple. (Copy by
F.E. de Villiers
&J.C. Hollmann.)
people
in the
portal
relative to the
swift-people
and the eldritch
figures
would then be intentional and
signiflcant.
The humans
are far smaller in
comparison
with the
swift-people
and the el?
dritch
figures,
and that difference in size would
signify
their
mundane status as
ordinary, living people.
This association of
imagery
-
swift-people
and eldritch
figures
in the
spirit-world
and
'people
in the
portal'
back in the
ordinary
world
-
may
reflect the tiered structure of the Bushman cosmos
(Lewis-
Williams
2002:144-151).
USE OF THE ROCK-FACE
Swift-people incorporate
another
aspect
of
image making
-
beliefs about the rock surfaces
upon
which
images
the
images
were made. In a classic
study,
Lewis-Williams and Thomas
Dowson
(Lewis-Williams
& Dowson
1990)
and a
subsequent
analysis
of a
specific image assemblage (Lewis-Williams
1992:
26-27),
these researchers showed how
painters
used the three
dimensions of the rock
face,
up-down, left-right,
as well as
in-and-out of the rock face to
express
beliefs about the nature
and
proximity
of the
spirit-world (Lewis-Williams
1992:
27):
"The art calls
upon
us to look not
merely
at the
painted plane
of the rock face but to
penetrate
that
plane
and to see into the
spiritual
realm. In addition to the
right-left, up-down
axes of
composition
with which Westerners are familiar there is
another that runs at
right angles
to these. It starts in the world
in which we stand and leads us into another world behind the
rock face. When the artist and his or her
people contemplated
the
panel, they
were not
simply looking
at
pictures
of vision
and
power
but at visions and
power,
themselves."
Painters thus
incorporated
the horizontal and vertical axes
of
composition
and a third
-
depth
-
in order to
express
the
links that
painted imagery
had with the
spirit-realm
behind the
rock face. I
pointed
out how at Site 5
painted
lines and a
figure
seem to 'enter' and 'leave' small
steps
in the rock. Here I
describe instances in which
swift-people
are
juxtaposed
with
inequalities
in the rock surface almost
certainly
to create the
impression
that the
images
are
entering
and
exiting
the rock
face.
At Site
11.1, two of the
swift-people
are
placed
with their
tails
abutting
a small
step
in the rock
(Fig. 9)
and one of each
pair
of tail
tips
is flush
against
the
step.
This looks like another
instance of a
figure painted
to show its
emergence
from the
inside the rock. Sometimes the
depiction
of
emergence
is more
ambiguous:
at the same
site,
a
larger group
of
circusing
swift-people
are
placed
close to a fissure in the rock
-
but no
limbs are truncated. Have
they
too
emerged
from the
spirit-
FIG. 9. Sometimes
images of swift people
are
painted immediately adjacent
steps
and cracks in the rock
face.
The
drawing emphasizes
this
phenomenon,
whkh is less noticeable in
photographs.
Site 11.1,
George
District, Western
Cape
Province.
(Drawing by
FE. De
Villiers.)
South African
B
FIG. 10
(Site 6).
There is a
single swift-person just
to the
left ofthis
low over-
hang
that is at the
foot ofa cliff (A).
The
figure
is
depicted emerging from
a
step
in the rock
face (B)
and
points
into the massive
outcrop of folded
rock. The sketch
makes it
possible
to
appreciate
this
arrangement
which is obscured in
photographs owing
to the
position of
certain shadows that
fall
on the rock
face.
(Drawings by
FE. De
Villiers.)
world via the crack
nearby?
At some sites,
painters
also
appear
to have situated
images
of
swift-people paintings
with the
larger-scale
features of the
site in mind. At Site 6
(Fig. 10),
for
example,
a
single
swift-
person,
also with one truncated tail
tip,
abuts a
step
in the rock
face. But instead of
heading
outwards towards the viewer and
the
open
air,
it flies in the
opposite
direction,
into the massive
outcrop
of folded rock towards
another, smaller,
blind tunnel at
the back of the low
overhang
in which it is
painted.
If the
significance
of location on the rock-surface is indeed
important
and
meaningful,
this
image
can be read as a
swift-person
who
comes out of the rock
(its
truncated tail at the
step)
and then
returns into the rock
(at
the travel's
end)
in a manner that
recalls the line
weaving
in and out of the rock at Site 5.
Indeed,
the
painters
at Site 5
may
also have chosen to
place
the
images
there because
they
considered the 'macro' features
of the site to have
supernatural significance.
The site itself is
unusual in that it is tunnel-like, rather than an
open overhang
(Fig. 11).
The
imagery
here is of
swift-people flying
across the
rock face and enclosed in a sort of tunnel made
up
of threads of
FIG. 11. Site 5 is tunnel-like
inform. People may
have chosen to
paint
here
because
they
believed it was an entrance into the
spirit-world.
The
drawing
presents
a view
ofthe
site which is not
possible
to
appreciate from photographs
because
of
the
presence of obscuring
shadows.
(Drawing by
F.E. De Villiers.)
light.
Did the
painters
choose to
paint
here because of the
unique topography
of the
place,
with the tunnel-like
shape
of
the cave as the entrance into the
spirit
world? The
significance
of tunnels as
entranceways
into the
spirit-world probably
derives from ASC
experiences
of a
tunnel,
or
vortex,
into which
one feels drawn
(Lewis-Williams
1995b: 15-17;
2002:
144-148,
167-168,234).
Was there an additional and
specific
reason
why they
chose
this
place
-
for the rock tunnel resembled the entrance tunnel
of a swallow's
nest,
a
tunnel,
out of which the
swift-people
emerged
when called
upon?
This
interpretation
would
explain
the
paintings
of
swift-people
that are associated with unusual
forms that I
suspect
are modelled on swallow nests.
SWIFT-PEOPLE AND THE SYMBOLISM OF NESTS
At Site 12.2
(Fig. 12)
-
a series of 34 similar forms has been
painted,
each
consisting
of a
pair
of vertical lines. Each
line,
bowed at the
top,
creates a semi-circular form. Each
pair
of lines
differs in
length;
otherwise,
the
design
is the same.
Many
of the
shapes
are
painted immediately
below a series of
naturally
formed shallow holes in the rock face that in turn contain
smaller,
deeper
holes. Ten
swift-people
are
arranged
in a
rough
semi-circle above the same row of holes in a
pattern
that recalls
the
circusing
behaviour of swifts.
The
arrangement
of
images
around the holes in the rock
face seems deliberate and
meaningful,
as in the
previously
mentioned instances in which
swift-people emerge
from
steps
in the rock. Swift nest sites are
usually
made in rock crevices in
32 South African
Goodwin Series 9:
21-33, 2005
aj
-pnm
FIG. 12
(Site 12.2). Swift-people (A)
and a
paint patch (B).
All but one
ofthe swift-people
are
painted just
above a row
ofnaturally occurring
holes in the rock
face
(C).
A row
of forms (D)
is
arranged immediately
below
half
the
length ofthe
holes in the rock
face. George
District, Western
Cape
Province.
Left-hand-most
swift-person
measures 65
mmfrom
crown
ofhead
to
tip of
bottom most
wing. Paintings
in red.
(Copy by J.C. Hollmann.)
vertical surfaces or attached to rock
overhangs,
locations that
allow
enough
of a
drop
for ease of access and
departure,
as
the birds cannot take off
horizontally (Steyn
1996:
118).
The
approach
to and entrance into a nest is
striking:
the bird arrives
at the nest at
high speed,
checks
adroitly,
and
instantaneously
vanishes into narrow entrance with
wings fully
closed. Its
passage
is so smooth that it
appears
to
fly
in
(Fry 1988:228).
The
behaviour of swifts
may
thus have found resonance in
Bushman beliefs about the
significance
of the rock face!
This association of
circusing swift-people
above the row of
holes and
paintings suggests
an
explanation:
that the row of
paired
sets of lines at Site 12.2 is based
upon
the
shape
of the
type
of mud nest which are made
by
swallows,1
and
commonly
usurped by
certain kinds of swifts
(Steyn
1996:
119,147).
The
shape
of these swallow nests is
very
characteristic
-
the
bowl-shape
in the
paintings may represent
sections taken
through
the
igloo-shaped part
in which the
eggs
are
laid,
and
the section of
parallel
lines the
adjoining
tunnel that affords
entry (Fig. 13).
The lines
defining
the
bowl-shaped
'cross-section' of the
nest
shape
do not meet and
complete
the base of the
'igloo';
so,
these are not
wholly
accurate models of actual nests. Is this
detail
significant?
It
may
be the clue to
understanding
the
significance
of some 'nests'
being positioned
on the lower
lip
of
the holes in the
rock,
and of the
unique arrangement
of
images
at Site
5,
the site with double lines. In terms of Bushman beliefs
about the rock
face,
the
gaps
at the backs of the nests
may
represent
a
'way through',
in the same
way
that the
gap
between the
parallel
sections of the vertical lines
represents
the
tunnel and its entrance. The tunnel
(or vortex)
leads into the
nest; once inside the nest, the second entrance at the back of the
nest leads into the natural holes in the rock face and
through
it
into the
spirit-world,
the home of the
swift-people.
CONCLUSIONS
This
investigation
of the motif of
'swift-people'
shows that
natural historical detail and
ethnography
can
help
researchers
1
FIG. 13.
Images of
what
may
be swallow nests
(a) depicted
in cross-section
below natural holes and a
step
in the rock
face (see
Fig.
12). Certain sivallow
species
build
similarly shaped
nests out
ofmud pellets (b). Swift species,
nota?
bly
the
white-rumped swift, usurp
these nests
(Steyn
1996:119). The nest in
(b)
has two entrances. At
right (c)
is a cross-section
through
the nest in
(b)
showing
its
similarity
with the
image
in
(a). (Drawings of
nest and cross-
section
of
nest
by
FE. De Villiers.)
to construct models about the behaviour and beliefs of ancient
painters.
Such an
approach requires
the secure identification of
subtle
painted
details and
arrangements
of
imagery
and an
understanding
of how these articulate with what we know of
southern African
hunter-gatherer cosmology.
The motif of the
swift-people
is
particularly
amenable to this sort of
study
because the
paintings
are so standardized in their
appearance
and because
painters
over a
wide,
but
circumscribed, geo?
graphical
area tended to
portray
them in a restricted number of
contexts;
?
The
painters appear
to have
arranged paintings
of swift-
people
with
imagery
bound
up
in altered states of conscious-
ness
(ASC).
?
Swift-people may
be shown
engaging
in the work of ritual
practitioners,
such as
healing
activities and
interacting
with
other entities in the
spirit-realm.
?
Painters seem to have
positioned paintings
of
swift-people
in
relation to rock-face features in
ways
that
suggest
that the
South African
Goodwin Series 9:
21-33,2005 33
swift-people
are
entering
or
leaving
the rock.
These features enable researchers to
recognize patterns
and associations and therefore to
develop understandings
about the
significance
of the motif. It is
possible
that other
hunter-gatherer
motifs
may
also be amenable to this sort of
interpretive approach.
NOTE
^wallows that make this kind of nest include the Lesser
Striped
Swal-
low,
the Greater
Striped
Swallow, and the Red-breasted Swallow
(Tarboton 2001:114).
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South African Archaeological Society

'Swift-People': Therianthropes and Bird Symbolism in Hunter-Gatherer Rock-Paintings,

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