High and mighty: a San expression of excess potency control in the high-altitude hunting grounds of southern Africa. (3rd July 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Challis, Sam
• Is Part Of: Time & mind. Volume 12:Number 3(2019)
• Page Start: 169
• Page End: 185
• Publication Date: 2019-07-03
• Subjects: Altitude -- potency -- San hunter-gatherer -- non-human persons -- hunting magic; Archaeology -- Periodicals; Cognition and culture -- Periodicals; 930.101
• DOI: 10.1080/1751696X.2019.1645510
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1751-696X

Abstract

ABSTRACT: One of the largest and weirdest anthropomorphic painted figures in the southern African subcontinent (re)discovered in 2015 also happens to be painted at an almost unprecedented altitude. Located in an anomalous uplifting of cave sandstone the painted shelter perches at 2387m in the Highlands of Lesotho. Extremely inhospitable in winter months when snow, wind and altitude can take temperatures below -20°C, it is postulated that this was a summer stopping place for the San hunter-gatherers who followed the migrating herds of eland antelope to these rich grazing grounds. A superabundance of meat and fat translates, in the San idiom, into a superfluity of !gi or spiritual potency. The place, having potency, is therefore both powerful and dangerous. Such circumstances would call for those who have the ability to influence and utilise the supernatural – individuals with 'hunting magic' – to fulfil their social responsibility to harness such power for the benefit of all. Both desirable and undesirable outcomes might transpire. With bulging stomach (evoking associations of gluttony and poor resource distribution), tusks, and three legs with clawed toes, the figure in question may represent just such an instance of the strong ritual specialist struggling to control excess potency in an attempt to broker relationships with the other-than-human.