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First in situ pXRF analyses of rock paintings in Erongo, Namibia: results, current limits, and prospects

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Abstract

Namibia is one of the southern African countries hosting the richest rock art heritage, with thousands of rock paintings. Although numerous studies investigated their distribution, style, and possible meaning, few are known about the materials used to perform these paintings. Our in situ study aimed at identifying the diversity of pigments and alterations of some rock paintings in the northwestern part of the Erongo (Namibia). It relies on extensive pXRF analyses of 35 figures from eight rock art sites of the area. Despite common limits of in situ pXRF analyses, the extensive number of figures analyzed and the original data treatment that we performed pioneered the first scientific analyses of the pigments from rock painting sites in the Erongo Mountains. Furthermore, the study also confirmed the presence of iron oxide pigments on a portion of wall exposed during the excavations carried out at the archeological site of Leopard Cave and of possibly datable alterations over several paintings, paving the way to future chronological analyses of past tradition of rock paintings in Central Namibia.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are very grateful to Ms. and Mr. Rüst and their family for their kind permission to access and analyze the rock art sites located on their farm. The authors also thank the manager of the Ai-Aiba lodge for allowing the in situ analyses of Rain Cloud paintings.

The authors wish to express their sincere gratitude to the National Heritage Council of Namibia for allowing these analyses according to the permit 11/2015 renewed and extended with the renewal permit 04/2017 given to D.P.

The authors also thank the National Museum of Namibia and the French embassy in Namibia for their support to conduct the present study.

The French Ministry of Foreign Affairs supported this work through the funding of the MANAM project.

The authors also thank the LaBex BCDiv (Biological and Cultural Diversity) for the subsidy granted to the project “Dynamique des peuples en Namibie à l’Holocène—NAMIBIE (Windhoek, Erongo)” at the origin of the present investigation.

The authors also thank Sorbonnes Universités for financial support through the Chaire Polyre funding the PhD project of G.M., and the APaNam project funded by Observatoire des Patrimoines de Sorbonne Universités (OPUS).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. UMR 7194 Histoire Naturelle de l’Homme Préhistorique (HNHP), MNHN- CNRS-UPVD, Alliance Sorbonne Université, Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Musée de l’Homme, 17 Place du Trocadéro, 75116, Paris, France

    Guilhem Mauran, Matthieu Lebon, Florent Détroit, David Pleurdeau & Jean-Jacques Bahain

  2. UMR 7193 Institut des Sciences de la Terre de Paris (ISTeP), Sorbonne Université-CNRS, Alliance Sorbonne Université, 4 Pl. Jussieu, 75005, Paris, France

    Benoît Caron

  3. Department of Archaeology and Heritage Research, National Heritage Council of Namibia, 52 Robert Mugabe Avenue, Ausspannplatz, Windhoek, Namibia

    Alma Nankela

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  1. Guilhem Mauran
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  2. Matthieu Lebon
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  3. Florent Détroit
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  4. Benoît Caron
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Correspondence to Guilhem Mauran.

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Mauran, G., Lebon, M., Détroit, F. et al. First in situ pXRF analyses of rock paintings in Erongo, Namibia: results, current limits, and prospects. Archaeol Anthropol Sci 11, 4123–4145 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-019-00787-7

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