Bushmen evolved in eastern and southern Africa from humans who were the ancestors of all people around 100 000 yers ago. The Bushman culture has been a recognisable cultural unit for the last twenty thousand years and the hauntingly beautiful Bushman paintings left in caves throughout the country bear testimony to their long presence. Nobody knows when they died out in Swaziland, archaeologists believe that it was in the 16th century when there was increasing competition between Bushmen and Nguni people for land and resources.
There was probably intermarriage between the two groups and the clicks in Siswati are widely believed to be an inheritance from the Bushmen over several thousand years of contact. There are still Bushmen in the Kalahari desert in Botswana and Namibia, however none lead a totally traditional hunting and gathering way of life anymore and nor do they paint. The Bushman are also sometimes known as the San.
Nsangwini Rock Art Shelter with its many Bushman paintings is situated in beautiful rural countrside and can be easily visited.
The photo shows Bushmen in a trance dance where the upper level of people are in this world and the lower level with wings are in the spirit world.
