The San of southern Africa were hunter-gatherers, who subsisted by hunting animals and gathering plants. Women provided the staple plant foods and collected small animals and birds, while men hunted large animals. Living entirely off the land meant that they were nomadic and followed carefully planned annual routes (Biesele 1978). Those routes followed plants as they ripened season by season or waited for the summer rains that attracted migratory game. The San’s highly mobile nature required carrying devices to move their belongings. Many of these devices are still used by the San in the Kalahari, who continue their traditional lifeways. These carrying devices are seen in their rock art.
Digging sticks
Women used the versatile digging stick to dig out roots and bulbs, and to gather water by digging out water-bearing roots. Men also used them during their hunts to dig out burrowing animals. A wooden stick was shaped to a spatulate point by shaving and charring and was weighted by jamming the stick through a perforated circular stone (bored stone). When carried across the shoulder (Fig. 1), it was also used as a carrying device to transport large roots by suspending them from the stick using twine made from plant fibres.
Karosses
The kaross was also used as a carrying device. Made from entire hides of kudu, gemsbok, wildebeest or eland, the kaross was the principally a garment of protection from the cold and rain. The animal hide was scraped, tanned, pulled and rubbed by men until it resembled suede. It was worn draped over the back, with the forelegs used as fasteners over the shoulder (Fig. 2). The kaross was tied firmly around the waist with a strong thong, so that when pulled bulged over the thong and formed a pouch (Marshall 1976). While the lower half of the kaross concealed the back side, the upper half formed a pouch for carrying vegetables, water containers, firewood and babies. Since the centre of gravity is situated close to the body, the kaross was perfect for carrying heavy loads. Figure 1 shows a procession of kaross-clad people. The bulky mid-riffs suggest that they are using the upper pouch of the kaross as a carrying device.
Baby slings
A baby sling, made from the single skin of a small antelope, is tied around the waist and over the shoulders and fits inside the kaross (Lee 1984). The baby sits on the mother’s hip, allowing easy access for breast feeding. The sling is lined with soft grasses. Older children sit directly in the main pouch of the kaross, with their legs dangling around the mother’s hip (Fig. 3).
Carrying nets
The lightest of all carrying implements are nets or string bags. Using plant fibre, men use a technique of intricate knotting to create mesh of varying sizes. Figure 4 shows a few nets in association with small antelope and may allude to “net-hunting” (Manhire et al. 1985). However, it is plausible that these nets were also repurposed as carrying nets when lined with grass or a piece of leather, to carry smaller objects such as nuts or berries. These loaded net bags were hung from both shoulders across the back.
Animal skin collecting bags
Large skin bags used for gathering plant foods were fashioned from a single animal hide and were worn slung from the shoulder (Vinnicombe 1976), with the bulky contents hanging at the back (Fig. 1). Smaller bags were sewn with a rounded or ovoid base with a carrying handle and were decorated with thongs that hung like fringes underneath (Fig. 5). Some bags were rectangular with tassels at the sides (Fig. 6), while others were elaborately decorated with beads, depicted by dots in the paintings (Fig. 7).
Animal skin pouches
Rectangular or ovoid in shape, both men and women used small pouches that were worn over the shoulder and under the armpit (Fig. 8). Decorated or undecorated, they were used to keep small items such as tobacco, medicine, fire-making tools, sewing kits and objects with supernatural potency (Lee 1984; Lewis-Williams & Pearce 2008).
Animal skin hunting bags
Hunting bags were made from whole antelope skins and were conical, to carry hunting equipment such as quivers with arrows, spears, knives, yokes, rope snares and fire sticks (Vinnicombe 1976). Some bags had ornamental tassels and were carried slung around one shoulder. In paintings hunting bags are often depicted carried or lying next to hunters (Fig. 9).
Quiver
Quivers were hollow wooden cylinders with a removable cap used to carry arrows. Some were carried in hunting bags while others had carrying straps and were slung over the shoulder. Like hunting bags, they are depicted in paintings standalone (Fig. 10) or slung over the shoulder (Fig. 2).
The San beliefs suggest that bags, karosses and digging sticks have far more significance than mere utilitarian purposes. We often see these images painted next to trance scenes and their involvement in trance metaphors is well documented in the San folklore (Bleek & Lloyd 1911: 29; Bleek 1924: 15-18). Since the San believe that repurposing the animal skin does not destroy the essence of the animal (Silberbauer 1981: 132), karosses and bags still hold the potency of the animal. Bags and karosses were associated with transformation and the supernatural potency that made transformation possible (Lewis-Williams & Pearce 2004). So, putting on a kaross is essentially engulfing yourself with the animal’s potency.
References
Biesele, M. 1978. Sapience and scarce resources: communication systems of !Kung and other foragers. Social Information17(6): 921-947. https://doi.org/10.1177/053901847801700607
Bleek, D.F. 1924. The mantis and his friends. Cape Town: Maskew Miller.
Bleek, W.H.I. & Lloyd, L.C. 1911. Specimens of Bushmen folklore. London: George Allen.
Lee, R. 1984. The Dobe !Kung. New York: CBS College Publishing.
Lewis-Williams, J.D. & Pearce, D.G. 2004. San spirituality. Cape Town: Double Storey.
Lewis-Williams, J.D. & Pearce, D.G. 2008. From generalities to the specifics in San rock art. South African Journal of Science 104(11): 428-430. https://hdl.handle.net/10520/EJC96749
Manhire, T. Parkington, J. & Yates, R. 1985. Nets and fully recurved bows: Rock paintings and hunting methods in the Western Cape, South Africa. World Archaeology 17(2): 161-174. https://doi.org/10.1080/00438243.1985.9979960
Marshall, L. 1976. The !Kung of Nyae Nyae. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Silberbauer, G.B. 1981. Hunter and habitat in the Central Kalahari. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Vinnicombe, P. 1976. People of the eland. Pietermaritzburg: University of Natal Press.
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