THREADS OF LIGHT: RE-EXAMINING A MOTIF IN SOUTHERN AFRICAN SAN ROCK ART*

Abstract

This paper focuses on a San rock painting motif in the south-eastern mountains of South Africa-a line, usually red and often fringed with white dots. Diverse strands of evidence show that previous attempts to elucidate its significance were only partially correct. To achieve further clarification, the paper intertwines ethnographic evidence and neuropsychology. San beliefs concerning journeys to the spirit realm in the sky are examined These beliefs embrace notions of 'threads of light' along which those who traverse the cosmos climb, walk or float. These 'threads', it is argued, derive from the 'wiring' of the human brain and may be used to explicate the various painted contexts in which the red lines are found