FLUTE PLAYING IN THE ROCK ART OF THE KLEIN KAROO AND CEDERBERG, SOUTH AFRICA - A POTENTIAL LINK TO ANCIENT SOUND

Even though music is inextricably part of the social fabric of past and present societies, it has not received in-depth attention in the archaeological literature from South Africa. This topic received the most attention in rock art studies, where images are mainly discussed concerning the trance dance and musical bow playing. Here we focus on flute playing in rock art depictions from the Cape region. To contextualise our data on flute playing in the rock art imagery, we discuss South African ethnographic instances of reed flute playing. We describe four rock art scenes, from the Attakwas and Ezeljagdspoort sites in the Klein Karoo, and Zimri Shelter and the Procession Shelter in the Cederberg, with figures that are playing what is highly likely to be flutes.