Brent Sinclair-Thomson – The Conversation

After colonial contact, indigenous Africans acquired horses and guns, and raided settlers as a means of resistance. Courtesy Sam Challis

February 22, 2023

Rock art as African history: what religious images say about identity, survival and change

Sam Challis, University of the Witwatersrand and Brent Sinclair-Thomson, University of the Witwatersrand

Changes in southern African rock art reflect the mixing of groups of people after they came into contact with each other.

Painting of a raider on horseback (bottom right) with a musket and domestic stock. A ‘rain-animal’ (top right) was likely summoned to wash away the raiders’ tracks. Courtesy of Sam Challis and Brent Sinclair-Thomson

August 20, 2021

South Africa’s bandit slaves and the rock art of resistance

Sam Challis, University of the Witwatersrand and Brent Sinclair-Thomson, University of the Witwatersrand

Runaway slaves joined indigenous Khoe-San people and raided colonial farms. The rock art they left in their hideouts tells a fascinating story.

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