Paul Weinberg South African, b. 1956
Diepkloof cave is an early archaeological site where engraving and art dating back 60 000 years have been discovered, Elands Bay, Western Cape, 2019-21
colour digital archival print on Hahnemühle Photo rag 308 gsm paper
sheet size: 59.4 x 84.1 cm
edition 10+2AP
signed and numbered in pencil in the margin
Diepkloof cave is one of the earliest sites where art engravings on ostrich shells were discovered, dating back 60 000 years. Archaeologists found 270 fragments with geometric symbolic patterns in...
Diepkloof cave is one of the earliest sites where art engravings on ostrich shells were discovered, dating back 60 000 years. Archaeologists found 270 fragments with geometric symbolic patterns in the cave. They claimed that these artefacts form “a system of symbolic representation in which collective identities and individual expressions are clearly communicated, suggesting social, cultural, and cognitive underpinnings that overlap with those of modern people.”3 Indeed, Shigeru Miyagawa of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) suggests that “art is not just something that is marginal to our culture, but central to the formation of our cognitive abilities.”4 The caves also have representations of later San and Khoi rock art.
