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Animal tracks and human footprints in prehistoric hunter-gatherer rock art of the Doro! nawas mountains (Namibia), analysed by present-day indigenous tracking experts

Namibia is rich in hunter-gatherer rock art from the Later Stone Age (LSA); this is a tradition of which well-executed engravings of animal tracks in large numbers are characteristic. Research into rock art usually groups these motifs together with geometric signs; at best, therefore, it may provide...

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Autores principales: Lenssen-Erz, Tilman, Pastoors, Andreas, Uthmeier, Thorsten, Ciqae, Tsamgao, Kxunta, /Ui, Thao, Thui
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10499263/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37703266
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0289560
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author Lenssen-Erz, Tilman
Pastoors, Andreas
Uthmeier, Thorsten
Ciqae, Tsamgao
Kxunta, /Ui
Thao, Thui
author_facet Lenssen-Erz, Tilman
Pastoors, Andreas
Uthmeier, Thorsten
Ciqae, Tsamgao
Kxunta, /Ui
Thao, Thui
author_sort Lenssen-Erz, Tilman
collection PubMed
description Namibia is rich in hunter-gatherer rock art from the Later Stone Age (LSA); this is a tradition of which well-executed engravings of animal tracks in large numbers are characteristic. Research into rock art usually groups these motifs together with geometric signs; at best, therefore, it may provide summary lists of them. To date, the field has completely disregarded the fact that tracks and trackways are a rich medium of information for hunter-gatherers, alongside their deeper, culture-specific connotations. A recent research project, from which this article has emerged, has attempted to fill this research gap; it entailed indigenous tracking experts from the Kalahari analysing engraved animal tracks and human footprints in a rock art region in central Western Namibia, the Doro! nawas Mountains, which is the site of recently discovered rock art. The experts were able to define the species, sex, age group and exact leg of the specific animal or human depicted in more than 90% of the engravings they analysed (N = 513). Their work further demonstrates that the variety of fauna is much richer in engraved tracks than in depictions of animals in the same engraving tradition. The analyses reveal patterns that evidently arise from culturally determined preferences. The study represents further confirmation that indigenous knowledge, with its profound insights into a range of particular fields, has the capacity to considerably advance archaeological research.
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spelling pubmed-104992632023-09-14 Animal tracks and human footprints in prehistoric hunter-gatherer rock art of the Doro! nawas mountains (Namibia), analysed by present-day indigenous tracking experts Lenssen-Erz, Tilman Pastoors, Andreas Uthmeier, Thorsten Ciqae, Tsamgao Kxunta, /Ui Thao, Thui PLoS One Research Article Namibia is rich in hunter-gatherer rock art from the Later Stone Age (LSA); this is a tradition of which well-executed engravings of animal tracks in large numbers are characteristic. Research into rock art usually groups these motifs together with geometric signs; at best, therefore, it may provide summary lists of them. To date, the field has completely disregarded the fact that tracks and trackways are a rich medium of information for hunter-gatherers, alongside their deeper, culture-specific connotations. A recent research project, from which this article has emerged, has attempted to fill this research gap; it entailed indigenous tracking experts from the Kalahari analysing engraved animal tracks and human footprints in a rock art region in central Western Namibia, the Doro! nawas Mountains, which is the site of recently discovered rock art. The experts were able to define the species, sex, age group and exact leg of the specific animal or human depicted in more than 90% of the engravings they analysed (N = 513). Their work further demonstrates that the variety of fauna is much richer in engraved tracks than in depictions of animals in the same engraving tradition. The analyses reveal patterns that evidently arise from culturally determined preferences. The study represents further confirmation that indigenous knowledge, with its profound insights into a range of particular fields, has the capacity to considerably advance archaeological research. Public Library of Science 2023-09-13 /pmc/articles/PMC10499263/ /pubmed/37703266 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0289560 Text en © 2023 Lenssen-Erz et al https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Lenssen-Erz, Tilman
Pastoors, Andreas
Uthmeier, Thorsten
Ciqae, Tsamgao
Kxunta, /Ui
Thao, Thui
Animal tracks and human footprints in prehistoric hunter-gatherer rock art of the Doro! nawas mountains (Namibia), analysed by present-day indigenous tracking experts
title Animal tracks and human footprints in prehistoric hunter-gatherer rock art of the Doro! nawas mountains (Namibia), analysed by present-day indigenous tracking experts
title_full Animal tracks and human footprints in prehistoric hunter-gatherer rock art of the Doro! nawas mountains (Namibia), analysed by present-day indigenous tracking experts
title_fullStr Animal tracks and human footprints in prehistoric hunter-gatherer rock art of the Doro! nawas mountains (Namibia), analysed by present-day indigenous tracking experts
title_full_unstemmed Animal tracks and human footprints in prehistoric hunter-gatherer rock art of the Doro! nawas mountains (Namibia), analysed by present-day indigenous tracking experts
title_short Animal tracks and human footprints in prehistoric hunter-gatherer rock art of the Doro! nawas mountains (Namibia), analysed by present-day indigenous tracking experts
title_sort animal tracks and human footprints in prehistoric hunter-gatherer rock art of the doro! nawas mountains (namibia), analysed by present-day indigenous tracking experts
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10499263/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37703266
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0289560
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