ABSTRACT
Life on earth began in the heavens. At least that is how many origin accounts explain people earthly genesis. There is post-Enlightenment science's 'Big Bang' and 'panspermic' postulation that begetter-like meteorites introduced the vital organic compounds that made people coil mortal. These creation stories are a recent sample of an ancient human fascination with and veneration of heavenly bodies. Evidence of this fascination is contained in art, literature, philosophy, stories and archives that cover the last three millennia. For periods prior to the last 3000 years, it is archaeology that provides almost all the evidence of astral phenomena. Regionally, about 35 000 San rock paintings at 685 sites have been studied for subject matter, sequence and relative chronology. Geometric rock art is abundant in Botswana, Namibia and South Africa. Initially recondite, research assigns visually similar geometrics to several distinct rock art traditions. Korana rock art incorporates geometric finger paintings in the service of a magical militantism.
