Jusqu’à XXIᵉ siècle
Namibia
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Twyfelfontein is a late Holocene hunter-gatherer rock art site in Namibia containing more than 2,000 engravings. Recognized as a World Heritage site in 2007, it is described as Africa’s most heavily visited rock art site, while the limited participation of Namibian visitors raises questions about the continuity and transmission of traditional practices.
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Le récit
Twyfelfontein is presented as an outstanding late Holocene hunter-gatherer rock art site in Namibia. It contains more than 2,000 engravings, making it one of the most substantial named archaeological records discussed in these pages. Its significance lies not only in the quantity of imagery but also in the evidence it preserves for the symbolic and ritual practices of earlier hunter-gatherer communities.
Namibia became a signatory to the World Heritage Convention within a few years of independence, and Twyfelfontein gained World Heritage listing in 2007. The site receives approximately 150,000 visitors annually and is described as the most heavily visited rock art site in Africa. Yet very few Namibians visit it, in contrast to neighbouring Botswana, Zimbabwe, and South Africa, where school pupils account for a significant share of site visitors.
This uneven relationship with the site is interpreted as a possible sign of the fragility of traditional practices and the ease with which historical continuity can be broken. The contrast with Zimbabwe, where some continuity in the ritual importance of rock art sites is reported, highlights the social as well as archaeological dimensions of heritage preservation. Twyfelfontein therefore stands both as a major archaeological site and as a case study in the challenges of connecting national communities with precolonial heritage.
Jusqu’à XXIᵉ siècle
Namibia
Traduction non disponible · Original (anglais) · français indisponible
Twyfelfontein is a late Holocene hunter-gatherer rock art site in Namibia containing more than 2,000 engravings. Recognized as a World Heritage site in 2007, it is described as Africa’s most heavily visited rock art site, while the limited participation of Namibian visitors raises questions about the continuity and transmission of traditional practices.
Poursuivre l’exploration
Le récit
Twyfelfontein is presented as an outstanding late Holocene hunter-gatherer rock art site in Namibia. It contains more than 2,000 engravings, making it one of the most substantial named archaeological records discussed in these pages. Its significance lies not only in the quantity of imagery but also in the evidence it preserves for the symbolic and ritual practices of earlier hunter-gatherer communities.
Namibia became a signatory to the World Heritage Convention within a few years of independence, and Twyfelfontein gained World Heritage listing in 2007. The site receives approximately 150,000 visitors annually and is described as the most heavily visited rock art site in Africa. Yet very few Namibians visit it, in contrast to neighbouring Botswana, Zimbabwe, and South Africa, where school pupils account for a significant share of site visitors.
This uneven relationship with the site is interpreted as a possible sign of the fragility of traditional practices and the ease with which historical continuity can be broken. The contrast with Zimbabwe, where some continuity in the ritual importance of rock art sites is reported, highlights the social as well as archaeological dimensions of heritage preservation. Twyfelfontein therefore stands both as a major archaeological site and as a case study in the challenges of connecting national communities with precolonial heritage.