Twyfelfontein Cave Etchings

Twyfelfontein is a site of ancient rock engravings in the Kunene Region of northwestern Namibia. It consists of a spring in a valley flanked by the slopes of a sandstone table mountain that receives very little rainfall. The site has been inhabited for 6,000 years, first by hunter-gatherers and later by Khoikhoi herders. Both ethnic groups used it as a place of worship and a site to conduct shamanic rituals. In these rituals, at least 2,500 items of rock carvings and a few rock paintings were created. Displaying one of Africa's largest concentrations of rock petroglyphs, UNESCO approved Twyfelfontein as Namibia's first World Heritage Site in 2007.

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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.