ABSTRACT
The first-known account of southern African rock art was in a Portuguese report from Mozambique to the Royal Academy of History in Lisbon in the 18th century. The rock art at the known panel is easily attributable to the classic San tradition. During fieldwork, several hitherto unrecorded rock art sites were registered, with the art of San hunter-gatherers and of later farmers. Although reports exist of a few individual petro glyphs, none have been verified on the Mozambican side of the border. The San art here contains images well known to students of South African rock art humans and antelopes predominate. So rock art has an unusual, and perhaps a special, role when a population moves into an area previously occupied by others. The sites represent a link backwards through time, even if the actual rock art is not physically a part of current ritual activities.
