Bushman Paintings

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Cave paintings are found all over Eastern and Southern Africa. They are commonly called "Bushman Paintings" in Southern Africa due to the popular attribution of them to the early inhabitants of the area, the forefathers of the San people. There is much variation in the styles of drawing and materials used for painting.

C. K. Cooke wrote A Guide to the Rock Art of Rhodesia for the Trustees of the National Museums and Monuments of Rhodesia, published in 1974. Peter Garlake wrote The Hunter's Vision subtitled The Prehistoric Art of Zimbabwe, published in 1995. Garlake's book is highly recommended.

The paintings in the illustration above are from a shallow cave near Lake Kyle in the Masvingo (Rhodesian Fort Victoria) district of Zimbabwe.

Beautiful Africa -- Fourth Edition

The Fourth Edition of the Carnival Beautiful Africa is now out. It's got some great music as well as thought provoking posts. As always, there are also facinating photos. Stop by Beautiful Africa now.

Sorcerer dies in failed underwater spirit stunt

A TRADITIONAL medicine man in Tanzania drowned after jumping in a river and promising to resurface three days later with relevations from ancestral spirits, police said Tuesday.
The local witch doctor, named as Nyasio Alfonso, staged his ill-fated stunt last week at the village of Masingo in the western Mpanda district near Lake Tanganyika, Rukwa regional police commander Daudi Siadi told AFP.

Dozens of villagers chanted and drummed as the fortune-teller dived to confer with the riverine spirits, he said.

"The incident was reported to us by the village leadership on Sunday, four days after Alfonso threw himself into the river," he said. "His decomposing body was fished out several metres downstream."

The police officer said the incident was the first of its kind in the region. "We are not aware of such practices although belief in witchcraft is widespread in Rukwa region," he said. — AFP

Reprinted from The Zimbabwe Independent