Arguments and evidence in rock art research: an assessment of two geomythological cases

Abstract

Different evaluations of the evidence underlie contrasting interpretations of southern African rock art. Researchers often come from a range of disciplines and tend to think in terms of their own discipline. Departing from the anthropologically informed approach to southern African rock art, several palaeontologists propose that some southern African groups resemble Western palaeontologists in that they may have recognized fossils as traces of extinct animals, which they might have explained in ‘geomyths’ and reconstructed in rock art. An appraisal of two related cases is presented. In each case, an evaluation of the evidence finds that it does not support the argument. Geomythology is found to lack a convincing theory of how fossils become culturally meaningful within a given worldview. The insufficiency of the supporting myth and rock art evidence, and geomythology’s poor theoretical capacity to interpret socio-cultural human behaviours from myths and rock art, are grounds to reject the validity of the conclusions in both cases. Sufficient evidence and improvements to theory and method are needed before geomythology can contribute to southern African rock art studies.