Brandberg White Lady Rock Art
Microlithic to 2,000 BCE (c.6000–2000 BCE painting)·San (Bushman) hunter-gatherer·🇳🇦 Erongo Region, Namibia
About
About Brandberg White Lady Rock Art
Brandberg (Daureb) Massif – Namibia's granite massif with 1,000+ shelters; White Lady shelter (Maack Shelter) polychrome painting (c.2000 BCE) of white lady with bow, oryx, tasselled figures. Traditionally 'White Lady' (Breull 1929), reinterpreted as shamanic male. Brandberg contains 50,000+ figures; Namib Desert rain-shaman ritual focus; UNESCO 2007.
Why it mattersNamibia's most iconic San polychrome shamanic painting on granite inselberg
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Dating precision and pigment chronology
- 02Symbolic meaning and shamanic interpretation
Theories
- 01Ceremonial centre and cosmological alignment
- 02Territorial marker and ritual landscape
Theories are interpretations, not findings. The seal above tells you how much scholarly weight the place carries.
History
How it came to be
- Built
- White Lady panel c.2000 BCE; Plateau paintings c.6000–1000 BCE
- Period
- Microlithic to 2,000 BCE (c.6000–2000 BCE painting)
- Culture
- San (Bushman) hunter-gatherer
- Builders
- San ancestors
- Purpose
- San shamanic and subsistence rock painting sanctuary
- Excavation
- Excavation ongoing
White Lady panel c.2000 BCE; Plateau paintings c.6000–1000 BCE
Initial construction
On the ground
Structures & features
21.0389° S · 14.6583° E · 1700 m · 3 mapped features
Maack Shelter White Lady Panel
rock art panelPolychrome bow figure with oryx, tassels and therianthropes
21.0386° S · 14.6585° EBrandberg Tsisab Gorge Shelters
rock art cluster1000+ shelters along Tsisab gorge with giraffe and rain-animal motifs
21.0439° S · 14.6543° EUis Caves Shamanic Panels
rock art panelShamanic trance and rain-making panels near Uis town edge
21.0409° S · 14.6613° E