San rock paintings in South Africa likely depict extinct dicynodonts, showcasing early local engagement in paleontology before Western discovery.
San rock artists may have painted an ancient animal that roamed southern Africa over 250 million years ago, according to new research published in Plos One.
The painting, located in a cave on the La Belle France farm in the Free State province of South Africa, may be the world’s oldest known piece of paleo-art depicting an extinct mammal-like reptile called a dicynodont, predating the creature’s official scientific discovery by at least a decade.
Reinterpreting Misidentified Rock Art
Professor Julien Benoit, a paleontologist at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits University), has reinterpreted this mysterious rock art, which had previously been misidentified as a walrus-like creature or even a surviving saber-toothed cat.
“While the image strangely looks like a walrus, there are no such animals in Africa,” says Benoit.
Linking Art to Paleontological Discoveries
Dicynodonts are ancient relatives of mammals that roamed the Earth between 265 and 200 million years ago. The Karoo region of South Africa, where the painting was discovered, is renowned for its rich fossil deposits of these creatures.
“The San lived and hunted among Karoo fossil footprints, bones, skulls, and teeth of long-extinct reptiles,” says Benoit. “This painting provides compelling evidence that they not only discovered these fossils but also attempted to reconstruct the living animal in their art.”
Evidence of Early Paleontological Insights
Benoit has found numerous fossil bones near the cave, supporting the theory that San artists based their depictions on actual fossil discoveries. Intriguingly, the painted animal’s body posture mimics the “death pose” commonly seen in fossilized skeletons, further strengthening the connection to paleontological findings.
The painting is estimated to have been created no later than 1835, predating the first scientific description of dicynodonts in 1845 by British paleontologist Sir Richard Owen. This timeline establishes the San as pioneering paleontologists, recognizing and depicting extinct species well before the formal scientific community.
“This finding is extraordinary. It suggests that the San people were engaging in palaeontology long before Western scientists even knew these creatures existed,” says Benoit.
Cultural and Mythological Significance
A San myth recalls that “enormous brutes” now completely extinct, used to roam southern Africa a very long time ago. This story may refer to the dicynodont fossils of the Karoo that the San discovered and tried to interpret. The study of the La Belle France cave painting and its mysterious animal supports this.
“The dicynodont may have been depicted as a ‘rain-animal,’ a mythical creature in San cosmology. They might have held special significance in San paintings.”
This research not only rewrites the history of paleontology but also highlights the deep scientific understanding and keen observational skills of indigenous communities. It opens up new avenues for interpreting rock art and understanding the complex relationship between ancient peoples and the prehistoric world around them.
Reference: “A possible later stone age painting of a dicynodont (Synapsida) from the South African Karoo” by Julien Benoit, 18 September 2024, PLOS ONE.
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0309908