Fishing in the Lesotho Highlands. (News & Notes).

Fishing in the Lesotho Highlands. (News & Notes). In September 1984 the Analysis Rock Art Lesotho project (ARAL ARAL Aromaten/Aliphaten (German Gasoline Company)ARAL Average Route Acquisition Latency )documented the site of Likhohlong ha Piti in the Lesotho Highlands. Thissite is unique in southern Africa in clearly depicting over 40polychrome pol��y��chrome?adj.1. Having many or various colors; polychromatic.2. Made or decorated in many or various colors: polychrome tiles.n. fish. ARAL was set up and coordinated by one of us (LS, thenof the National University of Lesotho) to locate, document andphotograph rock-art sites in Lesotho. Over six years more than 650 siteswere recorded, many of which, including Likhohlong ha Piti, are as yetunpublished. Likhohlong ha Piti lies on a small tributary of the Senqu River The Senqu River is a river located in the rural highlands in the district of Mokhotlong in the country of Lesotho in Southern Africa. Wild lifeThe Senqu river has a small native fish population, some of which are edible. .The site contains 12 panels of art, only one of which includes fish.This panel (FIGURE 1, overleaf o��ver��leaf?adv.On the other side of the page or leaf.overleafAdverbon the other side of the pageAdv. 1. ) shows a total of 48 fish swimming fromright to left above a `barrier' that angles down from top right tobottom left. At the base of the `barrier' is a white and black`basket'. Four further `baskets' may be present; however,these are not clear. Immediately to the right of the baskets are 3further fish, an indeterminate figure and 24 antelope-like spoor spoor?n.The track or trail of an animal, especially a wild animal.v. spoored, spoor��ing, spoorstr. & intr.v.To track (an animal) by following its spoor or to engage in such tracking. marks.To the left of the `baskets' is a seated black figure withdecoration on the shoulder and wrist of the right arm as well as on theknee of the right leg; a thick red line curves down behind theindividual's back (FIGURE 2). To the left of this figure is anelongated white stick figure. The whole scene measures 181x86 cm. Mostof the fish are polychrome with dark red, black and white paint used incombination with clear shading and great detail (FIGURE 3); two fish arewhite. [FIGURES 1-3 OMITTED] Within Lesotho and the KwaZulu-Natal Drakensberg, 16 images,displaying three primary fishing techniques IntroductionFishing is probably oldest and one of the important activity of humankind. Ancient remains of spears, hooks and fishnet have been found in ruins of the Stone Age. , are known; basket fishing(Smits 1967), spearing from the bank (Smits 1973) and spearing fromfloats (Vinnicombe 1976). In the case of Likhohlong the interest is inthe basket fishing images. Other known basket fishing scenes, all inmonochrome, come from the Lesotho lowlands at Botsabelo (Smits 1967) andBamboo Mountain in the KwaZulu-Natal Drakensberg (Vinnicombe 1976). An early historical account (Alexander 1838: 237) describes basketfishing by Bushmen in western South Africa South Africa,Afrikaans Suid-Afrika, officially Republic of South Africa, republic (2005 est. pop. 44,344,000), 471,442 sq mi (1,221,037 sq km), S Africa. ; `The Boschman ... makeconical baskets of stick grass.... other Boschmans ... drive the fishtowards the basket-men ... who, pushing the passing fish into thebaskets collect a number of them ... they empty them on the bank, wheresit their women'. In 1797 John Barrow (1806: 256) describes fishingbaskets from near Lesotho as being stripped, made `of reeds worked inalternate rows; one being white, and the other dark brown'. Thesedescriptions fit the surface interpretation of this scene; it can beclearly seen that the fish are being encouraged by the barrier to swimtowards the stripped basket, and to the left is a person seeminglyprocessing the captured fish. Species identification as Labeo capensis(Orange river mudfish) (I. Plug pers. comm.) supports thisinterpretation, but it is not certain that the intention was to portraya specific species rather than fish generically. Labeo capensis wouldfit the practice of basket fishing as its range includes the relevantportion of the Senqu, it spawns annually in the river'stributaries, and it is known archaeologically as a food source overseveral thousand years in Lesotho. The scene, however, may be more than a record of a Bushmanpractice. Ouzman (1995) studied Mormyrid fish (which Labeo are not) insouthern African rock art, and concluded that the nature of someMormyrid fish to emit a mild electric current when handled was analogousto San perceptions of supernatural potency. As a result, Mormyrid fishwere imbued with the significance of a religious metaphor; therefore,Mormyrid `fishing scenes' can be seen as metaphors for theacquisition of religious `potency'. Labeo do not lend themselves asreadily to a dual interpretation. However, fish and being underwater arearguable metaphors for trance; when this is placed in association withthe red line (believed to be a sign of shamanistic activity --Lewis-Williams 1981) in the `barrier' and behind the seated figure,the dual role of the scene may be revealed as an indication of thecapture of potency (FIGURE 4). [FIGURE 4 OMITTED] This scene adds to the continuing debate over the variousinterpretative approaches to southern African rock art. It is hoped thatthe next few years will see more of the ARAL collection published andcontributing to rock art research. References ALEXANDER, J.E. 1838. An expedition of discovery into the interiorof Africa, volume 1. London: H. Colburn. BARROW, J. 1806. Travels into the interior of Southern Africa,volume 1. London: Candell & Davies. LEWIS-WILLIAMS, J.D. 1981. The thin red line: southern San notionsand rock paintings of supernatural potency, South African ArchaeologicalBulletin 36: 5-13. OUZMAN, S. 1995. The fish, the shaman and the peregrination per��e��gri��nate?v. per��e��gri��nat��ed, per��e��gri��nat��ing, per��e��gri��natesv.intr.To journey or travel from place to place, especially on foot.v.tr.To travel through or over; traverse. : Sanrock paintings of Mormyrid fish as religious and social metaphors,Southern African Field Archaeology 4: 3-17. SMITS, L.G.A. 1967. Fishing scenes from Botsabelo, Lesotho, SouthAfrican Archaeological Bulletin 22: 60-67. SMITS, L.G.A. 1973. Rock painting sites in the upper Senqu valley,Lesotho, South African Archaeological Bulletin 28: 32-8. VINNICOMBE, P. 1976. People of the Eland eland(ē`lənd), large, spiral-horned African antelope, genus Taurotragus, found in brush country or open forest at the edge of grasslands. Elands live in small herds and are primarily browsers rather than grazers. : rock paintings of theDrakensberg Bushmen as a reflection of their life and thought.Pietermaritzburg: Natal University Press. JOHN HOBART & LUCAS SMITS * * John Hobart, School of Archaeology, Oxford OX1 2PG, England.john.hobart@keble.ox.ac.uk Lucas Smits, de Friedhof 14, 6955 BP,eEllecom, Netherlands.