The site has been inhabited for 6,000 years, first by hunter-gatherers and later by Khoikhoi herders. Both ethnic groups used it as a place of worship and a site to conduct shamanist rituals. In the process of these rituals at least 2,500 items of rock carvings have been created, as well as a few rock paintings.
Displaying one of the largest concentrations of rock petroglyphs in Africa, UNESCO approved Twyfelfontein as Namibia's first World Heritage Site in 2007.
Location and description
Twyfelfontein is situated in the Mount Etjo formation in southern Kunene Region of Namibia, an area formerly known as Damaraland. The rocks containing the art work are situated in a valley flanked by the slopes of a sandstone table mountain. An underground aquifer on an impermeable layer of shale sustains a spring in this otherwise very dry area.
The name Twyfelfontein refers to the spring itself, to the valley containing the spring, and in the context of traveling and tourism also to a greater area containing nearby tourist attractions: the rock engravings, the Organ Pipes, Burnt Mountain, Dorros crater, and the Petrified Forest. The World Heritage Site covers the area of rock engravings.
The area is a transitional zone between semi desert, savanna, and shrubland and receives less than 150 mm (5.9 in) annual rainfall. Diurnal temperatures vary from 10 to 28 °C (50 to 82 °F) in the winter month of July and 21 to 35 °C (70 to 95 °F) in the summer month of November.
Twyfelfontein lies 20 km (12 mi) south of the C39 major road from Sesfontein to Khorixas. From there it is connected by the minor road D3214. The Twyfelfontein Country Lodge features a gravel airstrip. The lodge, camp site, visitor's centre and most of the other tourist facilities are managed as a joint venture between the lodge owners and the Twyfelfontein-Uibasen Conservancy.
History
Twyfelfontein valley has been inhabited by Stone-age hunter-gatherers of the Wilton stone age culture group since approximately 6,000 years ago. They made most of the engravings and probably all the paintings. 2,000 to 2,500 years ago the Khoikhoi, an ethnic group related to the San (Bushmen), occupied the valley, then known under its Damara/Nama name ǀUi-ǁAis. They also produced rock art which can clearly be distinguished from the older engravings.
The area was uninhabited by Europeans until after World War II, when a severe drought caused white Afrikaans speaking farmers (Boers) to move in. The farm was later procured by the apartheid government as part of the Odendaal Plan and became part of the Damaraland bantustan. The white settlers left in 1965.
Discovery
Topographer Reinhard Maack, who also discovered the White Lady rock painting at Brandberg, reported the presence of rock engravings in the area in 1921. A more thorough investigation was only conducted after D Levin purchased the land for farming in 1947.
He discovered the spring and gave it the name Twyfelfontein after it repeatedly dried up. While commonly being translated as doubtful spring, a more accurate translation for the word twyfel in this connection is "questionable" or "uncertain".
Short thereafter scientific investigation of the rock art started in 1950 by Ernst Rudolph Scherz who described over 2500 rock engravings on 212 sandstone slabs. Today[update] it is estimated that the site contains more than 5000 individual depictions.
Artworks
The dancing Kudu
Lion Plate with Lion Man, a creature with human toes, an overly long tail with a rectangular kink and a pugmark at its tipSandstone rocks at Twyfelfontein are covered by a hard patina that appears brown or dark grey. Engravings were effected by chiseling through this patina, exposing the lighter rock underneath.
The indentations were created over the course of thousands of years. The oldest engravings might be as old as 10,000 years,[8] and the creation of new works probably ended by the arrival of pastoral tribes around 1000 AD. Three different types of engravings can be distinguished at Twyfelfontein:
- iconic imagery (images of animals, humans, and fantasy creatures)
- pictograms (geometric rock art like pecked circles, rows of dots)
- indentations for or from everyday use (grinding hollows, board games, gong stones)
Additionally, the site contains rock paintings at 13 different locations, with depictions of humans painted in red ochre in six rock shelters. The similar occurrence of rock paintings and rock engravings is very rare.
The hunter-gatherers made most of the iconic engravings and probably all the paintings. They created them as part of their rituals. The carvings represent animals such as rhinoceroses, elephants, ostriches and giraffes as well as depictions of human and animal footprints. Some of the figures, most prominently the "Lion Man"—a lion with an extremely long rectangular kinked tail ending in a 6-toed pugmark— depict the transformation of humans into animals. This transformation and the depiction of animals together with their tracks make it likely that they were created as part of shamanist rituals. The more simplistic perception that they only show hunter-gatherers' attempts to acquire food is now thought to be naïve.
The Khoikhoi herders produced the geometric imagery, probably depicting herder groups. They are also the creators of the more worldly indentations in that area that served as grinding hollows and game boards. Some of the stones bear marks from use as gong stones; they make unusual sounds when hit.
Archaeology
The archaeological name of the site is Twyfelfontein 534. Objects from two parts of the site include a variety of stone tools, pendants and beads[6] but the archaeological value of the site does not compare with its importance as rock art collection. The findings do, however, support the shamanist origin of the engravings because food remains from the site proved to be bones of small antelope, rock dassie and even lizards rather than the large species depicted.
Site protection and recognition
On 15 Aug 1952 the area was declared a National Monument by the South-West African administration. Under Namibian legislation, the site is protected under Section 54 of the National Heritage Act.[2] In 2007, UNESCO approved Twyfelfontein as Namibia's first World Heritage Site as one of the largest concentrations of rock petroglyphs in Africa. The organisation recognised "a coherent, extensive and high quality record of ritual practices relating to hunter-gather communities [...] over at least two millennia" (criterion iii), and "links between ritual and economic practices in the apparent sacred association of the land adjacent to an aquifer" (criterion v) of the cultural selection criteria.
To achieve having the site listed by UNESCO, the government of Namibia defined a buffer zone of 91.9 km2 (35.5 sq mi) to protect the visual setting. In the 0.6 km2 (0.2 sq mi) core site grazing is restricted and the establishment of tourism facilities is prohibited.
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