Ancient African Rock Painting Brought to Life Through Music
Archaeologists spend a lot of time examining the remains of distant pasts, which includes the study of rock paintings, write Neil Rusch and Sarah Wurz for The Conversation.
A new study has revealed that a rock painting from the Cederberg Mountains in South Africa's Western Cape Province. The human figures in this painting have previously been interpreted as healers holding fly-whisks and doing a trance dance. Fly-whisks were an important accessory for the dance because they were thought to keep arrows of sickness at bay.
But results suggest that the fly-whisks are in fact musical instruments of a type known as a !goin !goin - a name that only exists in the now-extinct Xam language that was spoken by hunter-gatherers in central southern Africa. The !goin !goin is an aerophone; these instruments produce sound by creating vibrations in the air when they are spun around.
To reach this conclusion researchers combined digital image recovery techniques with instruments created from life-size templates based on their findings. The eight instruments were played in a Cape Town sound studio and the sounds were recorded.
InFocus
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Ethiopia's ancient civilisations are believed to date back more than 3,000 years. Many of the country's most famous ancient artefacts are found in Tigray. The region has been embroiled in war since November 2020. With the region under a blockade, it has been difficult to track the scale of the damage done.
The
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Several countries across the African continent are currently embroiled in war. Some of those worst hit are South Sudan, Ethiopia, Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia, the Central African Republic, and Burkina Faso. These armed conflicts are caused by a range of factors, including bad governance, corruption, poverty,
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Although locally produced drums are an integral part of music of various ethnic groups in Cameroon, this traditionally handmade instrument is falling into disuse as modern instruments take its place, reports Radio France Internationale.
"Our forefathers understood the need for these musical languages even before the white man came with guitars and the other instruments," says Mola Mongombe Na Liomo Ngaka, a musician who plays modern Njoku jazz.
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Kondoa Irangi Rock Paintings - Together with artifacts from the past, ancient DNA can fill in details about our ancient ancestors.
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