Ha Baroana Cave Paintings

Approximately 42 kilometers east of Maseru, the capital of Lesotho, near the small village of Nazareth, on a hillside rock shelter facing the Liphiring River are located the rock paintings of Ha Baroana. Meaning Home of the Bushmen, the site features paintings of leopards, lions, elands, blue cranes, guinea fowls, and scenes of bushman life - hunting, dancing, and people in huts. It has been estimated that the paintings were made about 2000 years ago.

Author's note:

For two reasons, it is inaccurate and misleading to describe and label the rock paintings and etchings in caves strewn across the vast region of southern Africa as 'rock art.' One, while the paintings and etchings were often done with varying degrees of artistic ability, their purpose was not artistic but shamanic, ceremonial, and therapeutic. Two, while the paintings and etchings did indeed have various shamanic, ceremonial, and therapeutic functions, they are better understood to be markers of specific geographic places of power, spirit, and energy. That is most important; whatever the (supposed) meaning of the paintings and etchings, their geographic locations are primary, while the human artifacts are secondary.