Diverse performances on a shared stage: rock art of Kaingo Sheep Rock Shelter, Waterberg, South Africa

Abstract

Kaingo Sheep Rock Shelter in the Waterberg, Limpopo Province, preserves a complex palimpsest of images made by hunter-gatherer, farmer, and possibly herder peoples. Through detailed visual analysis of superimpositions, pigment choice, technique, and manner of depiction, we identify seven phases of art making. We argue that each phase represents an act of visual communication, which later artists responded to, forming a dialogue through time and between different cultures. The resulting assemblage records moments of contact, contestation, mutual influence, and reinterpretation. Kaingo Sheep Rock Shelter rock art functions as both a literal and metaphorical palimpsest – a continually reinterpreted record of presence, power, and belonging within a shared ritual landscape.