ROCK ART SITE ON THE BANKS OF THE CLANWILLIAM DAM
CEDERBERG, SOUTH AFRICA
Southern Africa is renowned for an abundance of well preserved San Rock Art, with the Cederberg an especially rich area, hosting thousands of rock art sites.
Three of these sites (CDE 1, CDE 2 & CDW 10) on the banks of the Clanwilliam Dam in the Olifants River Valley of the Cederberg, South Africa, will soon lie underwater as the height of the dam wall is being raised to increase the full capacity level.
These three sites were considered by the assessment archaeologists to be valuable enough to warrant rescue from the likely damage from rising waters. The images, including impressive sets of human figures engaged in a variety of behaviours, were drawn by the San some hundreds or thousands of years ago. They reflect the way of life, as well as the cultural values and cosmology of the precolonial inhabitants, the San hunter gatherers.
The archaeology surrounding the dam, which includes stone tools and other evidence of early human occupation, has been carefully recorded by archaeologists and constitutes an invaluable archive of the pre-colonial lives of local people. Excavations at each of the rock art sites and surrounding areas has revealed much of the local hunting and gathering skills and practices.
The Zamani Project documented three Rock Art Shelters (CDE 1, CDE 2 & CDW 10) on the banks of the Clanwilliam Dam in 2015.
Similar sites with Rock Art:
Wonderwerk Cave (South Africa), Gamepass Shelter (South Africa)
> Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
> John Parkington (UCT)
CEDERBERG, SOUTH AFRICA
3D model of the Rock Art Site CDE 1 on the banks of the Clanwilliam dam
CEDERBERG, SOUTH AFRICA
3D model of the Rock Art Site CDE 2 on the banks of the Clanwilliam dam
CEDERBERG, SOUTH AFRICA
3D model of the Rock Art Site CDW 10 on the banks of the Clanwilliam dam