Sam Challis

4

Articles

5

Comments
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

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.
Detail of the ceiling paintings of the San people in the Drakensberg, South Africa. Courtesy © Stephen Townley Bassett

An ancient San rock art mural in South Africa reveals new meaning

David M. Witelson, University of the Witwatersrand; David Lewis-Williams, University of the Witwatersrand; David Pearce, University of the Witwatersrand, and Sam Challis, University of the Witwatersrand

The team from Wits University returned to a well-known ceiling panel in the Maloti-Drakensberg mountains, armed with new knowledge about the beliefs of the San people who made the paintings.

Contact Sam for

  • General
  • Media request
  • Consulting / Advising
  • Research collaboration
  • Research supervision