digital photograph(colour)
- Museum number
- 2013,2034.20370
- Description
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Digital photograph (colour); view of painted rock art on a rock face showing a group of human and reptile-like figures, unidentified quadrupeds and many geometric symbols and unidentified shapes, all of them infilled in white. Figures are in some cases superimposed to previous paintings. Reptile-like figures are depicted spread-eagled, with long tails and in some cases with three toes. Human figures are depicted facing front with the hands on hips or facing right, spread-eagled or with oversized bellies (pregnant?) and heads (masks?). Quadrupeds are depicted upright facing right or left, some of them with straight upturned horns. Interspersed throughout these figures there are many geometric signs, including wavy and straight lines, arrow-like shapes and groups of dots. Phanga la Ngoni, Malawi.
Born digital
- Production date
- 27 April 2012 (Original photograph)
- Dimensions
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File size: 69.90 megabytes
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Resolution: 300 dots per inch
- Curator's comments
- See 2013,234.19689 to 2013,2034.19732 and 2013,2034.20338 to 2013,2034.20382 for different views of the panel.
The site of Phanga la Ngoni is located in the Chongoni Rock art area, in the westernmost part of central Malawi, very near of the border with Mozambique. That region is the most important concentration of rock art in Malawi, with 127 rock art sites located so far. The paintings belong to the two main traditions of rock art found in the country, the red schematic paintings attributed to the BaTwa people and the white tradition associated with Chewa farmers. In the case of Phanga la Ngoni, the second type (white paintings) is dominant, with only a very small sample of red paintings. Rock art in Malawi was documented since at least the 1920’s although it wasn’t until the fifties when the first articles were published, and only in 1978 a first synthesis on Malawian rock art was published. In the eighties research increased, especially in the Chongoni area as its importance become evident. In 1995 the Chongoni rock art area was comprehensively studied by Benjamin Smith as a part of a doctoral research which is still the main reference on the topic.
The Malawian rock art can be organized in two groups with different styles, chronologies and production contexts. The first one is characterized by red schematic paintings with parallels in Central Africa from Malawi to Angola. These paintings are associated with the BaTwa hunter-gatherers, groups closely related to modern Pygmy and probably associated to rainmaking and fertility ceremonies. The second and more modern rock art tradition found in Malawi is represented by white figures made with white clay daubed with the finger. Related to the agriculturalists Chewa, the depictions usually represent zoomorphic, spread-eagled or snake-like figures which could represent mythological beings, sometimes accompanied by geometric symbols. The interpretation of the paintings is straightforward, as they can still be assimilated to current rituals of initiation for Chewa young people.
- Location
- Not on display
- Acquisition date
- 2013
- Department
- Africa, Oceania and the Americas
- Registration number
- 2013,2034.20370
- Additional IDs
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Previous owner/ex-collection number: MALPHA0010033 (TARA number)