Rock engravings
Twyfelfontein, Damaraland, northwestern Namibia
MLA-02
Twyfelfontein has the largest known collection of rock engravings in Africa. There are hundreds of depictions altogether in this prehistoric record of animals that roamed the Twyfelfontein Valley for thousands of years. The engravers belonged to a Later Stone Age hunter-gatherer culture, which goes back in time some 20,000 years. Giraffe, elephant, antelope, zebra and rhinoceros, along with ostrich, are some of the most frequently depicted motifs.
The early Damara people who lived in the area called it Ui-Ais, i.e. a water place where the stones stand clustered together. It is the only place in the area where the fresh water that springs from the fountain could be depended upon. In the 1940s the farmer who bought the land named it Twyfelfountein, "doubtful fountain"
Mingled with all the animal motifs are engravings of human hands and footprints. There are also whole panels comprisings mainly abstract designs or symbols. In the area there are also stone paintings from the same period.
Source: Pager, Shirley-Ann.A walk through prehistoric Twyfelfontein. Windhoek: TYPOPRINT(Pty) Ltd.
