Thaba Sione

Abstract

Thaba Sione, a site of unusually complex rock engravings in the North West province of South Africa, is interpreted as an important San religious centre. I propose that a single engraved image class found at Thaba Sione constituted a cynosure which provided Thaba Sione with a conceptual focus and pre‐eminence. I discuss the engraved cynosure in terms of three aspects of San shamanism, namely shamanic transformation, gender relations and rain‐making. San shamanism is, however, an immensely broad, variable and pervasive phenomenon which requires caution and transparency in the use of theory and ethnography. Like rock paintings, the lesser‐researched rock engravings promise new insights into facets of San belief and may be said to constitute the research field of the future.¹