digital photograph(colour)
- Museum number
- 2013,2034.21225
- Description
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Digital photograph (colour); detail of engraved rock art on a rock face, showing seven groups of pecked concentric circles, in some cases connected by straight lines. Some of the engravings have been affected by the rock exfoliation. Tchitundu-hulu Mulume, Angola.
Born digital
- Production date
- 20 March 2011 (Original photograph)
- Dimensions
-
File size: 46.10 megabytes
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Resolution: 300 dots per inch
- Curator's comments
- See 2013,2034.21204 to 2013,2034.21229 for different views of the rock art sites.
The image shows Tchitundu-hulu Mulume, one of the four rock art stations of Tchitundu-hulu, an inselberg located in the Namibe province on the Southwest corner of Angola, near the edge of the Namibe desert. The site was first documented by José Camarate Andrade França in 1953, and since then it has become one of the most studied rock art sites in Angola, attracting the interest or renowned researches as the abate Breuil, J. Desmond Clark or Santos Junior. The name of Tchitundu-hulu has different interpretations in the local languages –the hill of heaven, the hill of the souls or the sacred hill- and the two most important stations in the site have the term Mulume (man) and Mucai (woman) added. Both engravings and paintings have been documented in the site.
The depictions of Tchitundu-hulu consist mainly in geometric signs that have been traditionally linked to the schematic traditions that characterize Central Africa rock art and are very well represented in places as central Mozambique or Malawi. However, the chronology and authorship of these depictions is unclear. In other areas of Angola, in addition to this schematic tradition human figures and animals there are images of men holding weapons, fighting and hunting, including warriors holding firearms which refer to the first contact with Europeans. To the northwest coast, some of the paintings and engravings have been related to other objects used religious ceremonies –wooden statuettes or decorated pot lids- well documented since the 17th century.
- Location
- Not on display
- Acquisition date
- 2013
- Department
- Africa, Oceania and the Americas
- Registration number
- 2013,2034.21225
- Additional IDs
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Previous owner/ex-collection number: ANGTCH0010022 (TARA number)
