- Collection type
- Object
- Description
- Piece of rock from a cave, on to which twelve+ long thin human figures have been painted. [JC 23 8 2001]
- Cultural groups
- Khoe-San
- Date
- Date collected
- 1893
- Acquisition information
- Donated: 1894
- Dimensions
- Length: max 280 mm, Width: max 160 mm
- Object numbers
- Accession number: 1894.15.6
- Associated publications
- This collection is listed in 'Table 1. Early Southern African Rock Art Records in the Pitt Rivers Museum' on page 44, and referred to briefly on pages 43 and 53, of 'Early Rock Art Records in the Collections of the Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford', by John Hobart, Peter Mitchell, Jeremy Coote, Marina de Alarcón, and Gwyneira Isaac', in Southern African Field Archaeology, No. 9 (2000), pp. 43-54; copy in RDF: Researchers: Hobart. [JC 4 10 2002] Illustrated in black and white as figure 6 on page 76 of ‘A Rock Art Pioneer: Louis E. Tylor, and Previously Undescribed Painted Rock Fragments from KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa’, by John Hobart, Peter Mitchell, and Jeremy Coote, in Southern African Humanities, Vol. XIV (2002), pp. 65–78. It is described in detail on pages 75-6: 'Piece 6: Procession of figures: 1894.15.6 (16 x 6.5 cm) ... Twelve clear, closely painted, elongated red figures with black heads moving to the right with legs overlapping. A single red line underlines this group. To the right of these figures are a number of less distinct red shapes. Working from left to right, the first figure is different and separate from the other figures and, although very close, does not touch them. The head is black and the body and legs red. The left arm is bent, and in the hand a long red stick is being carried, the right arm is behind the figure’s back. The figure is slightly bent forward at the waist, and the knees on both legs are slightly flexed. The following ten thin, elongated figures are all nearly identical, and are painted very close together. Each figure is red, but with a black head and black penis or wrap around the waist. The right arm in each case is depicted behind the back while the left arm is bent double in front of the body, and is carrying a short black stick. On the upper half of the bodies the black sticks are the only element that connects one individual to the one immediately to its right; this occurs in every case. The bodies and legs are long, straight and narrow. The legs on each individual end in feet. The result of the close positioning of the figures and the long straight legs is that each individual’s legs overlap with between three and five legs of others of the group. This makes the lower half of the image look like a hatch pattern. This group of figures is underlined by a single red line that starts beyond the edge of the piece of rock. At the end of the group, the line curves up in front of the figures to the height of the top of the legs where it becomes indistinct. Above the "end" of the visible red line, and in a row continuing at the waist height of the figures are four red shapes similar to wide, upside-down "U"s. These continue around an edge in the rock and become less distinguishable. Below this less distinguishable area of upside-down "U"s are a few further red paint marks that are also very unclear.' Copy of original article in RDF. [JC 13 3 2003] Referred to on page 21 of 'Stone Age Sub-Saharan Africa', by Peter Mitchell, in World Archaeology at the Pitt Rivers Museum: A Characterization, edited by Dan Hicks and Alice Stevenson (Oxford: Archaeopress, 2013), pp. 16-34. Mitchell writes: ‘The PRM holds two important collections of San rock art from South Africa, both removed from their in situ locations in the late 19th century. The larger group comprises of 6 panel fragments (1894.15.1-6) extracted from rockshelters in the Giant's Castle area of the uKhahlamba-Drakensberg Mountains of KwaZulu-Natal by Louis Tylor in 1893 ... The 6 painted fragments were described and published, along with an extensive biography of their collector (Hobart et al. 2002). They were subsequently traced by Dr David Pearce (Rock Art Research Institute, University of Witwaterstand, South Africa) during a research visit to the PRM in 2006 supported by the Oppenheimer Fund.'.’ [MJD 14/11/2014] Illustrated in colour and as a tracing as Figure 7 on page 179 of 'Further Analysis of Six Painted Rock Fragments Collected by Louis Tylor', by David G. Pearce and John Hobart, in Southern African Humanities, Vol. 22 (September 2010), pp. 171-9. Also described and discussed on page 177: 'PIECE 6: "PROCESSION OF FIGURES" (1894.15.6) Piece 6 is 270 x 160 mm in maximum dimensions and 25–65 mm thick. There are a few light chisel marks on the top edge of the stone. The back of the stone appears to have been machine cut to a smooth surface. Yellow, powdery residues of the cutting are deposited around the edges of the stone. This piece has the greatest number of images of any of the Tylor stones. It has ten almost identical human figures painted in red walking in a row with their legs crossing in a grid-like pattern (Fig. 7). An eleventh figure, bent forward slightly, is at the left of the row. It holds a long stick. In the row, the figures’ lagging arms all hang down to their sides; the leading arms are bent at the elbow and hold short black lines up to their faces. It is unclear what these lines are intended to represent. They have been described as sticks (Hobart et al. 2002: 75), although they could equally be pipes or musical instruments of some sort. A red line runs below the human figures and joins a grid-like design in front of the figures. Above it are some inverted U-shapes. Other details of the paintings have previously been described (Hobart et al. 2002: 75–6, fig. 6).' (Copy in RDF.) (Copy in RDF.) [JC 3 2 2016]
Search terms: Picture and Graphic Art, Figure, Painting