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Research into the formlings in the rock art of Zimbabwe

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Siyakha Mguni
Siyakha Mguni*
Affiliation:
Rock Art Research Institute, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa. siyakha@rockart.wits.ac.za
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Extract

In 1929, commenting on southern Africa’s rock art, Leo Frobenius remarked: ‘… oddities occur which are completely outside our understanding. There are large forms, shaped like galls or livers, into which human figures are painted …’ (1929: 333). He coined the term‘formling’ to ‘denote this composite type of forms and yet not easily explained’ (Goodall 1959: 62, my emphasis). These motifs (FIGURE 1) still remain poorly understood. In 1998, I began research into their form and meaning. In this note I set out the history of the formling debate and introduce some of my new findings.

Type
Special section
Information
Antiquity , Volume 75 , Issue 290 , December 2001 , pp. 807 - 808
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd. 2001

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