Ndedema. A documentation of the rock paintings of the Ndedema Gorge

The Ndedema Gorge, only 5.5km long, is the richest rock art area in the Republic of South Africa, and this volume is a unique documentary record of the 3909 individual paintings housed in its 177 rock shelters.

For the recording of these paintings the author of the book, Harald Pager, has developed a new copy method that combines the advantages of photography and draughtsmanship. The sizes of the copies-total 114m2-are entered in the plate section of this volume. For the quantative analysis definitions for 70 subjects and a range of 155 attributes were drawn up. All paintings were listed according to these definitions and the data were subsequently processed by computer.

The huge task of recording these paintings has never before been undertaken by anyone in South Africa. In order to carry out the work demanded, the suthor lived and worked for more than two years in the rosk shelters which were once the homes of the Bushmen. In his technique he was able to record, indiscriminately, all the paintings of the Ndedema Gorge, right down to the last exfoliating fragment and paint smear.

Furthermore, in his chapters on topography and geology, climate, botany, zoology, history and archaeology, he presents to the reader a wealth of information which is invaluable to an understanding of the living conditions experienced by these stone-age painters. All this information is supplemented by diagrams, tables and illustrations, amongst them the earliest woodcuts of the Drakensberg found in old missionary reports. Exquisite line drawings show collections of stone tools.pottery and other rare finds.

Ndedema is a book containing the most detailed study of South African parietal art. Its contents are thought provoking, and will no doubt alter many of the old concepts by the sheer weight of its facts and figures.... xiii plus 375 pages detailed text with supporting colour plates, line drawings and other data. Slight offset to endpapers/odd spot to same. Tightly bound, and very clean content. With corrigenda slip. Foreward by Raymond Dart.