Posted in Stones and Stars, tagged rocks, stones, story, writing on December 29, 2023| Leave a Comment »
The years, months, weeks and days have thieved memories. Time partnered with life interfered on global levels. But this morning I woke up with a knowing that although I walk around like I’m OK – deep down I need to find more rocks. (Thanks to a cyber person called CrazyRockLadyRocks. )
The 2024 resolution – as simple as that. Find the story. Write the story. The one that rocks tell.
Posted in Evolution, History, megaliths, Stones and Stars, tagged ancientmonuments, ancientplaces, earthancients, evora, megalithica, megalithimarvels, megaliths, symbolandstone on February 24, 2020| Leave a Comment »
“Évora is recognized today as one of the richest megalithic regions in all of Atlantic Europe.”
{Rupestral Ravings (telling the story of rocks with extravagant enthusiasm)}
A quick trip to Lisbon in Portugal turned into close encounters of the megalithic kind. The visceral experience while driving through cork-tree forests surrounding Évora made the extra planning worthwhile. Learned comments from our guide, Mário, made it double meaningful as this information confirmed most of our musings over local finds in the Midlands of KZN (KZN-M). Please visit the website: http://www.eboramegalithica.com/ where I found this enlightening daytrip. A tour into our remote past. Beautiful photos. And see more on Instagram: ebora_megalithica.
This outing allowed just enough time to visit three of the more important man-made megalithic locations in an area where approximately 1000 of these prehistoric sites have been identified to date. These included:
Megalithic Enclosure: Cromlech of Almendres,
Standing Stone: Menhir of Almendres
Burial Mound: Dolmen of Zambujeiro.
Approximately 7 000 years ago farmers and shepherds settled and thrived around this inland part of the Iberian Peninsula. Were the ocean levels higher? I wondered. This dense concentration of prehistoric monuments could be attributed to the area being bound by the basins of three major rivers (Tejo/Sado/Guadiana). Exactly what has been surfacing in our research lately, I nodded to myself, landscape plays an unrecognised but extremely important role in the undecipherable messages of megaliths.
This water-to-ridge-to-monument observation slotted in with many of our theories around local countryside and viewpoints where significant stones had been found the past few years. Most of the standing stones and rock gongs identified in KZN-M were found along contours that hinted at the possibility of major ports when water levels were much higher and trade traffic focussed on water and/or seafaring.
The group of megalithic monuments and Neolithic sites in the Évora area, specifically at the junction of these waterways, played a major role in ‘natural routes of communication (both by water and along ridges) linking estuaries of these major rivers to the interior.’ Mário’s commentating was music to my ears. He unknowingly, but fluently confirmed ideas and thought processes that our stones-group shared all along.
“Knowledge was the tool from here on and it grew in an unseen scale – astronomy, mathematics, philosophy, organized religion and architecture – they were all born at this stage, alongside with many other innovations that we still consider as cornerstones of our way of life today. The role they now saw for themselves in this new order was no longer one of full subjugation to nature’s will but one of domestication and transformation.” Quoted from the website. Because it resonated deeply with that gut-feel that South Africa’s role in the evolution of the continents was more important than being acknowledged by main stream teachings. That the stone structures here (KZN-M) were more primitive because they served a training purpose before mushrooming elsewhere? Maybe they were/are more basic because it was the dawn of a ‘new’ worldview when ancients propped them?
But Africa has no chance when academic giants make Eurocentric statements, rather than claim hypothesis that : ‘The Almendres site is the largest megalithic monument in the Iberian Peninsula and one of the oldest monuments of Humanity.’
But all was forgiven when the tour took us to where rocks could tell their own stories. Our first stop:
This collection of standing rocks was situated on a slope. Not on top, not at the edge of a river, but somewhere in between. There were visible signs around the bases of these rocks that recent attempts were made to prevent the obvious erosion, which was an ongoing problem according to Mário.
On ground level it looked like a random lot of boulders, but from the air there was a definite pattern. A double circle? Or horseshoe shape? The arrangement of stones talked to the landscape. And to other standing monuments in the area. And to the heavens. Cardinal alignments with solstice and equinox connections, reflecting major constellations, Mário repeated what was posted on the entrance sign. So, this was fact … was this purposeful navigation? Or spiritual awakening to the power of nature and the planets?
The surface of one of the entrance boulders was flattened to allow for the art of cupules, I learned. But I couldn’t help wondering if the art didn’t have a more practical implication. Oil pits for light or ceremony? Street map of the surrounding structures? Gonging for calling? (see Q&A later)
From these mesmerising circles we went to the nearby pointer, the menhir of Almandres, just down the hill, directing towards the setting sun.
The tall one was situated in the backyard of the landowner. Good relations between research institutions and private landowners had recently been reached after years of negotiation. Most, if not all, megalithic sites were on private land. Archaeological investigations deducted that menhirs everywhere ‘appear to be spatially oriented with the sites and generally contemporaneous to them.’ I’m not sure what this was exactly saying – but quoted it anyway for my clever friends.
“This lone standing stone relates to the Almendres site. It indicates the positions in which the sun rises, the day of the Summer Solstice,” said Mário.
But it was also re-erected. An attempt to save the megalith and curb the constant erosion. Unfortunately it was turned around – so the sunrise surface now faced west … which made the interpretation of the engravings difficult and debatable. I had to smile, don’t we know the disputing of facts and self-opinionated beliefs? But we had to chase time and a small distance away we stopped at the modern-roof-covered temple of yesteryear.
The tallest in the world, the granite support stones rose up to 6 metres high. The structure consisted of a chamber, surrounded by six supports, a closing stone over the entrance to the chamber and a long corridor. This was once sheltered with a covering slab that was moved some time in the past (by whom? And how?) to the burial mound’s western side.
This was an active archaeological site and investigations, digging and dating processes were all ongoing. Too soon it was time to race to the station to catch my train back to Lisbon. The close encounter was magical but too short.
Mário and I stayed in touch. We (KZN-M) needed the information that he shared freely, as it echoed with so much happening back home. We needed the support of informed institutions from established research centres. We needed the nudge of enthusiasm that our energy was not misplaced.
A few questions popped up during and after the tour which I emailed later, and to which Mário replied with open and eager interest:
1) Megalithic sites in Europe – are they usually found on slopes or halfway and not at the highest points of the area?
2) Pointer stones (monoliths /menhirs) are always/ mostly associated with these megalithic sites – assisting with alignments and cardinal directions and sun/moon movements?
3) Cup Marks – are they of the oldest known art? And when found on the ‘prepared’ surface (flattened or at an angle) do they become significant in the megalithic monument’s arrangement?
4) And could they indicate maps (of the area, with the biggest cup the ‘you are here’ spot?) or could they maybe be navigational tools?
5) Hammerstones (big round pebbles that fit a hand) are widespread amongst megalithic monuments. Does that apply to the peninsula too?
6) General consensus seemed to be that these sites are 5000 years and older ? Or could I guess rather older than 12000 years ??
He replied with a few corrections: (I assumed the non-answered statement to be acceptable)
1) Those rules of implantation on the landscape are for the oldest sites, standing stones and enclosures and not in the all of Europe but in the Iberian Peninsula.
4) thats a frquent interpetation but not the only one, a map of the stars is the second most common
6) on the iberian peninsula the oldest one are about 7.500 years old (or 5.500 BC)
I am grateful for the interest and support he showed in our ongoing research – especially in my pet-passion – RockGongs.
Mário Carvalho is a qualified archaeologist (from Universidade de Évora) and now runs his own business called Ebora Megalithica.
Posted in Evolution, megaliths, research with maps, rock gongs, Stones and Stars on January 4, 2020| Leave a Comment »
First you have to meet the seekers and defenders of anything lithic in KZN Midlands.
With the ‘official’ write-up done (see previous 6 posts), this blog can continue in a relaxed and hopefully informative manner.
This is the story of a journey. In all senses of the word.
* A process of discovery. Learning about and accepting the incredulous and mysterious synchronicities that put knowing people in needed places as well as telling books in waiting hands.
* A perpetual passage of knowledge (new and old) which often steers focus into unexpected directions. Accumulation of on-going research, information of similar finds world-wide, ever-advancing technology and exciting discoveries that keep rocking our world.
* A like-minded and dynamic interconnectedness with other adventurers and seekers. Over the years the team of explorers has expanded and evolved into a tribe of ‘stoned-crazies’, rock-gongers and star gazers.
Amongst this group there are researchers, conservationists, historians, amateur geo-archaeologists, geologists, engineers, medical professionals, corporate bosses, IT-specialist, foresters, farmers, esoteric experts, and general happy hikers. Thank you all for your specific and special input.
But there is a core group that strives to link the relevant research, latest technology and new finds to the greater cause of protecting these sites for future intensive investigations. These are the individuals that contributed to my research and criticized my write-up, until it was ready (as can be) for scrutinising by academics, corporates and scientists. Research and theorising to demonstrate our (South African) contribution to many ancient connections between heritage sites. To benefit from the many discoveries now surfacing in a rapidly expanding proof of earth’s prehistory. This is but a rudimentary introduction to the rock-solid protectors of local stones of significance (the small circle of most recent researchers and data-collectors):
** Max Ramseier: Godfather of the Standing Stones in Karkloof
Max is a retired Electrical Engineer who loves undisturbed nature. His passion for hiking leads him to many interesting places that he keenly shares with all. He lives by his philosophical motto: “Explore, using all the senses to understand a tiny little part of what we experience”. His diverse collection of books is proof of his enquiring mind.
True to his pedantic nature he spends many hours poring over municipal 1:50 000 maps of surrounding hills and valleys. After much pondering he then meticulously rulers in the straight red lines – connecting dots and marking spots.
With a packed Vegan and healthy lunch and a permit to enter surrounding forests, he follows these mapped lines, explores the plotted area and more often than not, finds significant stone sites dotted over a mysterious landscape. Once he shares his finds with the group, he leaves questions hanging while awestruck fellow hikers try to make sense of megalithic structures in all shapes and sizes.
Max’s wish to make more people aware of this phenomenon in order to protect it for prosperity, led to a slide presentation during the early days of searching. In the audience an astute listener asked all the right questions. He was quickly pulled into the group …
** Dave Burt: Map Magician
Although Dave was on a different quest, his fascination with Max’s finds showed in his questions after an explanatory presentation.
He is a trail runner and a dead-line-busy operator. His interest in stones, high sites and mapping alignments comes from an earlier deeper research into other alignments and their masonic connections.
The group benefits from his particular interest in geometry and his fluency in satellite language combined with exciting apps. This makes us privy to breath-taking geo-morphological maps and colourful pictures of our surrounds.
Fortunately, he is an instinctive and wise soundboard and many ideas get bounced of his insights. Without his input, the growth of this group and the process of discovery, the unveiling and the fascination could not have been so rapid or so solid.
Please make time to watch the summary of his work done thus far:
https://youtu.be/aNvUMZ30IQg
** Donald Davies: Watcher of local History and Researcher.
It was Donald that introduced me to Max. With what started out as a rock gong search, other stone structures surfaced. Donald, Max and a mutual friend Gordon have been working on the alignments of standing stones and been plotting patterns for years to find the significance of these formations’ positions. With regards to standing stones he is focused more on the calendar alignments which subsequently involves equinoxes and solstices. But it’s the ancient mining activities that intrigues him and created his initial special bond with rocks.
Apart from keeping the group informed of recent publications in all aspects of the field, he also does local history/wars/shipwrecks/genealogy/archaeology research for documentary enquiries and title deed disputes.
When he is not building dams or controlling other water matters, he is a keen explorer along the red lines on Max’s maps (mostly in the hope of finding old mines and signs of melting activities). And when there are sites to be scouted, he is a willing and able companion if time allows, which leads to our next member. …
** Michelle Moses: Happy Hiker and Outing Chaperone
Chaperone indeed – with home-baked scones and freshly brewed coffee she pulls the crew straight before any outing. Come rain or shine, she’s a happy explorer and can pride herself in finding weird and wonderful places consisting of monoliths, rock gongs and stone walls that stretch from nothing to nowhere.
Michelle is an organiser of things. With her natural flair she labels places, people and meetings. Even when corporates make our ‘normal life’ turn into a tornado, she calmly comes to our rescue, efficient and consistent.
Once out in the field then the Happy Hiker surfaces and thought-provoking philosophies come bubbling forth.
Her not-so-much-retired-analytical brain stimulates the group’s essential lateral thinking. Forever keeping the questioning fresh. And the hope that answers will be found …
**Zillah Cameron: Fellow Gong hunter and spiritual interpreter
Feeling feelings beyond my grasp and her limitless enthusiasm about the magic of nature, Zillah inspired many outings. Her access to esoteric realms and publications opened dimensions for me that would not have come naturally. Apart from that, her wicked sense of humor and infectious giggle made any steep and tiring climb worth it. And with her abilities some unexplained rocks and effigies appeared.
She is a keeper of things – organising Max’s vast collection of books and scribbles and maps. And a keeper of the believe that there is much much more to the Midlands’ significant stones than meets the eye …
**Annalie Kleinloog: Gong Zealot = me
I’m a good-wife, a done-it-all-for-the-children mother, a doting granny with a passion for anything rocky, especially prehistoric and megalithic. Nowadays, Google Earth is my biggest time-spent hobby apart from reading and writing. The recent concept of rock gongs will dominate future entries.
This blog is my journey from an independent perspective, with the regular input from all who might be interested in this exploration. Regular references to academic material and newsworthy discoveries will be accompanied by sources (otherwise all photos and graphs belong to us as a group)
We welcome suggestions, corrections and educational criticism.
Let’s rock-n-roll.
Posted in Stones and Stars on November 24, 2019| Leave a Comment »
Conclusion
Was the ancient rock gong equivalent to a modern day keypad? Did the gong speak a language as implausible for modern scientists as today’s technology would be for our pioneer forefathers if they should happen to raise from their graves and witness pedestrians tapping on handheld devices in signs and symbols never heard of.
Technology advances at a rapidity that astounds all. Maybe soon technology will advance a level capable of deciphering the codes carved in stones.
Although the gong-rock phenomenon proves to be part of the global geological history and a universal cosmological worldview since times from a vast past, its importance as an archaeological find remains a low priority in South Africa against the overpowering popularity of cave paintings.
Astrophysicist, prof. JC Holbrook from UCT replied to my enquiry: “Determining astronomical significance is nearly impossible in South African ancient rock art. However, the fact that there are ringing stones, with obvious marks of where to strike them, should be sufficient for heritage preservation purposes.”
The protection of these ‘ringing rocks’ and the significant stones associated with them in lieu of further studies to proof the role they played in the cosmological worldview of an ancient nation with navigational insight, will always be the priority of associated future investigations.
The research for this article was sourced from many authors, below you can find a few recent and relevant references for further in depth reading, should it interest you.
Trust for African Rock Art Newsletter cover – March 2008
Acknowledgements:
Grateful thanks for the understanding families of the crew when time on the rocks (rupestral) interferes with real life, the support from a group of likeminded hikers, stone-likers, researchers, plotters and planners, readers and hypothesisers.
Specific thanks go to: Max Ramseier, Donald Davies, Dave Burt, Michelle Moses.
Essential References:
Bednarik, Robert G: CUPULES Rock Art Research 2008 – Volume 25, Number 1, pp. 61-100
Bednarick, Robert G: The Use Of Weathering Indices In Rock Art Science And Archaeology. Rock Art Research 2012 – Volume 29, Number 1, pp. 59-84
Beaumont, Peter and Bednarik Robert : Concerning a cupule sequence on the edge of the Kalahari desert in South Africa Rock Art Research 2015 – Volume 32, Number 2, pp. 163-177.
Blundell, G (& Ghilraen Laue, Roxanne Rademeyer, Brent Sinclair Thomson, Melissa Waters): A ‘rock gong’ in the Magaliesberg, Gauteng. Digging Stick article – vo. 33 (1)April 2016
Butzer, Karl W (& Gerhard Fock, Louis Scott, Robert Stuckenrath): Dating and context of rock engravings in Southern Africa. SCIENCE : 23 March 1979, Vol 203, Number 4386, American Association for the Advancement of Science
De Jongh, M. & R Steyn (March 2005) ‘Making Ancient Music.’ In, South African Country Life. Sourced from: Daily Dispatch 30/01/1986 p. 3, ‘Bell Rock will ring forever’.
Fagg, Bernard: The Discovery of Multiple Rock Gongs in Nigeria . African Music: Journal of the International Library of African Music, Vol. 1, no. 3, Nov. 1956, 6-9.
Fagg, M.Catherine (1997): Rock Music. Oxford, Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford
Kleinitz, Cornelia: For whom the bell tolls: rescue recording of petroglyphs and rock gongs in the Merowe Dam Reservoir area of the Fourth Nile Cataract (Sudan). The Future of Africa’s Past – Proceedings of TARA Conference, November 2004
Lund,Cajsa.S: Early Ringing Stones in Scandinavia-Finds and Traditions, Questions and Problems, MV-Wissenschaft:173 (2009)
Morris David, Lourenço Pinto and Jani Louw: McGregor Museum, Sol Plaatjies, Kimberley. A Dolomite rock gong at Ga-Mohana, a ritual site in the Kuruman Hills. The Digging Stick article vol35(2) August 2018
Nunn, Patrick D : Professor of Geography, Queensland, Australia: The Edge of Memory: Ancient Stories, Oral Tradition and the Post-Glacial World. Published Oct 2018 – email correspondence and radio talk shows:(http://www.abc.net.au/radio/programs/conversations/conversations-patrick-nunn/10175642
Ouzman, Sven: Seeing is deceiving: Rock art and the non-visual. World Archaeology, Vol.33, No.2, Archaeology and Aesthetics (Oct.2001), 237-256
Parkington, John (& David Morris and Neil Rusch: Karoo rock engravings. Follow the San – Book series (2008)
Rusch, Neil: Sounds and sound thinking in |xam-ka !au: “These are those to which I am listening with all my ears”. Cogent Arts & Humanities (2016), 3: 1233615 p1 -16
Schoeman, MH: Pietermaritzburg: Excavating the ‘waterpits in the mountain’: the archaeology of Shashe-Limpopo confluence area rain-hill rock tanks. Southern African Humanities Vol. 21 Pages 275–298 December 2009
Tahir, Yahia Fadl: Rock Gongs from the Nile Third Cataract Region: In Archaeologica land Traditional Contexts (2012). Nyame Akuma No. 77; June 2012
Till, Rupert: AHRC/EPSRC Science and Heritage programme. 11 May 2009 Acoustics and music of British Prehistory. Conference 19-22 February 2014 in MALTA – ARCHAEOACOUSTICS: The Archaeology of Sound
Podcasts (and many audible books when traveling interferes with reading time):
Origin Stories – The Leaky Foundation (original lectures by researchers)
Prehistories @kimbiddulph – Archaeology podcast network
The Prehistory Guys – Michael Bott and Rupert Susken
Living with the Gods – BBC Radio 4
In our time : History – BBC Radio 4
Post Script
In an effort to get forestry giants to train their forresters to handle harvesting around possible significant stone sites with more care – there was pressure from the top management to put our finds into a peer reviewed scientific paper. It was with joy (and a touch of pride) that the official newsletter for the Archaeological Society SA, The Digging Stick, accepted my effort.
Posted in Stones and Stars on November 17, 2019| Leave a Comment »
2) What makes a rock a gong?
A) GEOLOGY: properties of rocks that produce sound – Recently (Colorado, 2018) Marilyn Martorano and David Killam claimed that some ‘rediscovered’ stone artefacts could be ancient percussion instruments. They collected the identical stones from various museums and arranged it in groups to be played like a xylophone (lithophones). Their conclusion helped us phrase the factors that make an ordinary rock a musical instrument : “The rocks were first selected for their acoustical properties, and then they had to be made into a certain shape. What the material is matters, what the ends are shaped like matters. Then how they are held and what they are played with matters.” The latter Marilyn demonstrated by achieving different tones by using hammers made of wood, antler and bone.
“Humans have long been fascinated by the properties of stone. Hardness, durability, colour, coarseness, size and situation in larger landscapes are but a few of the qualities that have stimulated human imagination and interest,” quoting Sven Ouzman (Seeing is deceiving – 2001)
The geology involves the acoustical properties of the stone and it includes (i-iii) below as well as what they are played with, which is the hammer (iv).
i) Type of stone (Acoustical properties)
The first statement by astonished onlookers when a rock gongs, is : “It must be hollow!” But, already in 1956 Bernard Fagg established with total conviction that “ the rocks themselves are almost always absolutely solid; when they are incipient exfoliations, they give a hollow, less metallic, tone.” (from The Discovery of Multiple Rock Gongs in Nigeria). The title of the recently published article by David Morris et al, A dolomite rock gong at Ga-Mohana (Aug 2018) claims this type of stone to be the first of the kind in South Africa and that any other sedimentary rock is considered unsuitable.
In his book, Karoo rock engravings(p19), John Parkington explains how the topography of the Dwyka Formation came about with glacial activities. The essence for archaeologists here “is that when these boulder-, cobble- and pebble-rich layers, known as moraines or tills, are exposed at the surface, the exotic fine-grained rocks they often contain were extremely attractive to the stone tool making hunter gatherers.” On page 104 Parkington explains that “igneous rocks (dolerite), are homogenous, dense, ‘metallic’ in structure and will allow the force of a blow to resonate and decay with clear audible result, to ring in effect. That most South African rock gongs are on dolerite, then, comes as no surprise.” But at the same time he admits that not all dolerite ring. Local research showed that granite or volcanic type rocks can produce sound too ( Kinderdam gongs)
Marilyn Martorano (Colorado, 2018) specified that the musical rocks found in Great Sand Dunes National Park, Colorado were “dense, usually volcanic, granite or basalt.”
That rock gongs were widely used around the world is now accepted. There is still a dispute about the type of stone and Robert Bednarik (2012) claimed that “one of the most suitable natural features are stalactites in limestone caves.” He also declared that gongs can be of many different rock types, with a preference for granitic stones, well-metamorphosed quartzite (like in India). He used lithophones at the Kinderdam site, (Vryburg in SA) as an example and quoted Coulson (2007) about the morphology of the stone. Other rock types include: Granite in Zimbabwe – Huwiler (1998), Robinson (1958) and Cooke (1964); Limestone – Insoll (2015); Diabase boulder – Blundell (2016); Ironstone boulder – Ouzman (2001)
ii) Size – shape and dimensions of the boulder (Acoustical properties)
Bednarik (2012) “It is important to note that the crucial characteristics are not those of the material, but those of shape and contact with the supporting mass. Irrespective of rock type, the best lithophone sound results are always obtained from rocks that are thin, discoid or elongate.”
Thin and roughly triangular, longer on its north- south axis
Geoffrey Blundell and his co-researcher (2016) described the Magaliesberg gong as follows: “The rock gong is on a large diabase boulder, measuring 194 cm on the widest part of its east-west axis and 203 cm on its north-south axis.”
iii) Position – placed, perched or propped (Acoustical properties)
Parkinton wrote – “Boulders that are embedded in the soil do not ring, presumably because the sound waves produced by the force of the blow are muffled by the encasing ground, not allowing the audible decay to linger as attractive sound. The rock gongs at Keurfontein and Nelspoort are large dolerite boulders perched on other rocks as part of a rock tumble on the lip of a rocky dolerite ridge. This presumably, at least in part, explains the intriguing ‘placement’ of the gongs overlooking the plains. It may well be that people took advantage of this placement, but its occurrence is largely the result of geological circumstances.”
Blundell said about the Magaliesberg gong: “The gong boulder rests on an underlying diabase rock. Because of the way in which the overlying boulder has eroded, there is a 2,5cm cavity between the overlying boulder and the base rock roughly in the middle of the boulder’s north-south axis. This cavity allows for the overlying boulder to resonate when it is struck and thus produce cadence. The northern end of the flat boulder shows considerable human agency and there are numerous hammer marks on this end. The boulder is not, however, engraved with any visible images, either representational or geometric.”
Whether eroded or placed, this rock slab gongs
iv) Surface morphology (Acoustical properties):
Patina, Cupules, Preferred platforms, Markings, Weathering – refer to Robert Bednarik, as he has researched and documented this topic extensively : “Numerous stones formerly used as lithophones may be difficult to detect, the only traces of their use being faint impact markings that may have weathered away or may go unnoticed.”
v) Hammer:
Parkington reckons there is ‘a constraint in the nature of the hammer’. He concludes about hammers :”Although no ‘smoking gun’ has been found, experience suggests that small but dense, rounded or oval dolerite cobbles would have been required to produce the ringing sounds.”
Marilyn Martorano and David Killam in 2018 specified different ‘hammers’ that could be used to produce sound of different quality as “what they are played with matters.” They demonstrated this by achieving different tones when using hammers made of wood, antler and bone.
B) LANDSCAPE – Alignments with sacred mountains, water and other ceremonial sites. Could this placement of gongs along contours, within view of surrounding high areas overlooking plains be geomorphologically coincidental? Or was it for celestial calculations?
Possible Pleiades on a shaped platform, facing due West
There is a hint that the acoustic properties of places may sometimes have featured in the choice of locales for the placement of rock art in the landscape (Ouzman 2001;Rifkin 2009; Margarita Diaz-Andreu et al 2014).
C) SIGNIFICANT SURROUNDING STONES – placed and marked with purpose, pointers and gateways to allow for alignments. This becomes an in-depth analysis later with mapping.
D) COMPARATIVE STUDIES – Local press, dolmens and menhirs elsewhere. This will appear in separate posts as extracts from presentations, because this field is too vast for a single mention.
(tbc) 3) Conclusions – based on assumptions of researchers and finds in the field – and the last of ‘academic’ research and methodology. Future posts aim to be fieldwork with relevant reading and recent discoveries with latest technology.
Posted in Stones and Stars on November 10, 2019| Leave a Comment »
c) What came first: glyph or gong?
Geologically and geomorphologically there are many stones with acoustic properties; especially according to popular believe, those with a high iron content. It is therefore easy to go tapping and find ringing rocks almost everywhere. Like the princess and the frog, one has to gong many rocks before rocking the gong.
i) Distribution with respect to other rock art
A presence or a sense of place?
This thought-provoking quote from Sven Ouzman’s provocatively titled article, Seeing is deceiving: Rock art and the non-visual (2001), summarizes the concept of whether it’s the sense of rock or place or the combination: “Recent work from southern Africa indicates that certain San rock engravings were hammered, rubbed, cut and flaked in order to produce sound; to touch certain numinous images and rocks; and to possess pieces of potent places. By combining rock art’s non-visual appeal with the concepts of questing and desire we may understand how body, landscape and mindscape combines in an aesthetic and sensory articulation.”
Whichever direction my thought processes led me to, there was a researcher that asked the same questions in the past. Therefore, I had no doubt that many rock art specialists would have wondered whether the gongs were found by accident, while pecking a story? Or was the symbol pecked to define the gong? Or did both gong and engraving indicate something more practical – mapping and navigation? Or more ethereal – ritual and folklore?
Bernard Fagg, mentioned in his Nigerian (1956) research that the gongs they identified and their nearness to other rock art “leaves little doubt that they are associated in some way.” See pic below.
Similarly, David Morris, Lourenço Pinto and Jani Louw mentioned in their article (The Digging Stick – vo35(2) August 2018) that in “many reported instances in SA there appear to be a nearly consistent association between rock gongs and rock art in the form of engravings.”
In most literature it seems that petroglyphs or engravings of the geometrical type are mostly found near gongs. Could these repetitive patterns that appear near sacred sites be star maps or have cosmological importance? Recent discoveries analysis seem to think so, i.e Göbekli Tepe in Turkey.
Any possible gong is mostly found to be associated with other rock art, often near a water source (past or present) and it is related to places of worship or ritual (past and present) and in proximity to other gongs or sacred sites.
A group of likeminded part-time-researchers from all walks of life combined efforts with me. Our search gained another dimension – we needed the engravings to support a few growing hypotheses. We needed maps and material and energy.
Long hours hiking, brushing moss and other debris away from possible engraved rocks delivered only more stories of geoglyphs in other locations. There was also no shortage of theories and assumptions. Refusing to give up on the concept of gongs and significant stones in Africa, we started wondering about the weathering of possible engraved art. And if the glyphs we’re desperately seeking might have eroded into unrecognisable squiggles. After all, the finely scraped images can quickly get covered by re-patination and oxidation. Technology that can pick up these minute interferences on the rock surface is needed. And combined with that, the expertise to detect and analyse such data. The research and data on that flooded in and overwhelmed even the most diligent student. (see references at end of article)
ii) Folklore and cultural association
“They’re out there, we just need to open our minds to the fact that sound was so important in the past.” Marilyn Martorano said about gongs in Colorado. Maybe we have been stumbling across significant stones, but not realising what we were looking at because we didn’t have the folklore?
Was it possible that the San associated the drumming with the sound of running animals or the falling rain? M.H Schoeman recalled ritual stories in his 2009 article. Did the engraver discover the acoustic properties while pecking his story? Was the rock the beginning or only part of the story? Did the engraver know rocks with these properties were meaningful?
Then Neil Rusch’s work was brought to my attention. His research on gongs in the Karoo proved to be prized and echoed everything I tried to express. He explained that among |xam descendants there seemed to be “a recognition of rock gongs, they called it a Bushman piano, but there was no knowledge of how the gongs were uses, or why.”
Kleinitz (2004): “On Ishashi island cattle motifs are often found in the vicinity of or even on resonant slabs or boulders, pointing to a close conceptual relationship between sound making and cattle forms. Percussion zones within individual percussion foci usually show a range of tones indicating that proper melodies may have been played, contrasting with modern demonstrations by locals. In some cases, slabs or boulders were repositioned, possibly to artificially tune these idiophones”
Is repetition incidental or intentional?
Many rocks that gong have dolmen or table arrangements (cromlech), although some presented as boulders of all shapes. The extensive repetition of these formations (first locally then globally) initially discouraged us as it seemed to be another trick of Mother Nature. But how easily can forces of nature create a pattern that regular; where rocks appear commonly to have a perfectly flat, roughly triangular form; shaped into uniform width and which seem to be perched on two or more other rocks? So regular as to query – incidental or accidental? Maybe it was repetitive enough to be natural, we decided. Then this was published in the Discover scientific magazine (25 Jan 2018) written by Gemma Tarlach – “Oldest human fossils outside Africa push back our timeline … again.” ) : “2017 was the year that the conventional timeline for human evolution and migration finally toppled thanks to overwhelming archaeological and paleogenetic evidence …”
Instead of losing hope, we all had other ideas but, an epiphany that stood out is worth mentioning. What if the stones are so old that whatever story it contained went back in history to before stories? Nowhere in the rich narrative of rock art (paintings) was there any depiction of a gong being used. Which led us to hypothesise that the gong was used before the painter’s time. And the suspicion that gongs are prehistoric (made and used in times before the written history) was enforced when published material filtered through, especially when I read more than once in Karoo Engravings (by John Parkington, 2008, p.10) that “we have not a single eyewitness account, nor any artist’s account, of any act of painting or engraving in southern Africa. All images, with the exception of demonstrable graffiti or recent signatures, predate written records and literate observers.”
With world focus on rock art paintings that are more recognisable, more dateable and more classifiable, our combined sympathy remained with the ‘underdog’ in prehistoric rock art – the cup marked gong. Our emotional initial responses became academically qualified when Paul S.C. Taçon (2004) from Australia quoted Sven Ouzman’s (2001) sentiment that the non-visual aspects of rock art (sound or touch), were neglected when analysing rock art. “Sound was a very important part of many rock-art sites but until recently researchers paid little attention to this component”. At around the same time (2004 and 2005) another favourite researcher, Cornelia Kleinitz recorded gongs at art sites in the Fourth Cataract of the Nile in the Merowe Dam Reservoir area. She associated the neglected and not always documented percussion marks (cupules – cyoo pyools – Dendarik’s term) as ‘visual traces of sound making.’
iii) Assumed uses of gongs
Kleinitz listed the cultural and ritual uses of gongs reported mostly from the African continent and through the ages by different authors: Signalling devices and communication – Fagg 1956, Davidson 1959, Conant 1960, Fertility aids – Fagg 1956, Morton-Williams 1957, Rain making – Lanning 1958, Initiation rites – Fagg 1956, Conant 1960, Vaughan 1962, Marriage rituals – Vaughan 1962, Entertainment and music – suggested in all, Shamanism – Sven Ouzman (Seeing is deceiving, 2001) said that “sound is able to both facilitate the transition of state and help the shaman in the inversive, uncertain and often dangerous Spirit world in two ways” and he described how the percussions acted as an analgesic and a guide from the spirit world, World view/Religious/Cosmology – Secret ceremonies like initiation rites (Bernard Fagg 1956), more modern assumptions leans towards healing and navigation.
Geoffrey Blundell, Ghilraen Laue, Roxanne Rademeyer, Brent Sinclair Thomson and Melissa Waters mentioned (Digging Stick, April 2016) the interest of archaeologists in “the possibility that ‘gongs’ of this nature represent the oldest evidence for music …”
Karberg : “…it could have been centuries ago or millennia. They may have been used for signalling rather than for actual music. But one thing is for sure, they would have made a pretty decent sound.”
Morris et al (article published in The Digging Stick – Aug 2018) quoted Timothy Insoll (2015) by claiming that “the ringing sound does not carry far – tending to rule out such other purposes as communication although some warning or summoning of people is mentioned for some gongs in Africa.” Although there is a general assumption, they conceded with Ouzman (2001), Rifkin (2009) and Diaz-Andreu’s team (2014) that there is a “hint that the acoustic properties of places may sometimes have featured in the choice of locales for the placement of rock art in the landscape.”
John Parkington in his book, Karoo Rock Engravings (2008), page 12 “…without knowing the authors and their lifestyle and worldview, the motives are virtually inaccessible.” And on page 78 “We look for clues to the meaning of this admittedly opaque imagery in the local oral and written traditions, building on the connections between landscape, place and cosmology as we have earlier.”
Next : 2) What makes a rock a gong?
Posted in Hike, History, Stones and Stars, Uncategorized, tagged prehistory, stars, stones on October 27, 2019| 4 Comments »
INTRODUCTION
Unbeknownst to me, a sensitising process was activated during research done for Forgotten Trails across the Midlands of KZN. Constantly scanning the landscape for ruts lined with alien trees (particularly blue gumtrees) and out-of-place rocks that would indicate a potential ox wagon track, road trips and hikes turned into explorations of the countryside. Once the Trails book was published, the anti-climax-limbo created time for longer walks around our farm. Although my eyes and head continued their scanning of hills and horizon, this time it was with a quiet acceptance that the study was done, but that my brain will forever be alerted to pointers and markers in nature.
This was the only explanation I have for that moment when an out-of-place-outcrop of rocks on a small plateau caught my eye. A marker stone. I walked towards it, around it; heart pounding in excitement, but not knowing why. The boulder stood out against the horizon, triangular and perched. I squinted and scanned. Meaningful mountains in the surrounds popped up; all visible from the platform that partially propped the pyramidal shaped stone.
A pointer rock associated with historical (battlefields) and cultural (San/Sotho/Zulu mythology) important peaks, aligned with the cardinal directions in which the stone was placed, with sweeping views of the surrounds and overlooking the Mooiriver at a significant bend? Too many coincidences to brush the find off as a natural fluke. Sacred mountains, important alignments with sun, nearby water; all known auspicious factors in cosmological world view and mythology. Configurations ticked in my head.
Was this a calendar? A sun-dial? A map? Another type of navigational tool?
Who knows why, but I picked up a perfect sized pebble and tapped the standing stone. It gonged – what or who did it talk to? Where? How far? Why?
The next day I thought I would find out – if there was communication, then surely across the valley on the other side of the river there should be another gong on approximately the same level, aligned with cardinal points and with a direct view of special mountain tips. A tall order that would please any sceptic. Except that it was there. The second gong popped up exactly where I wanted it to be. With escalating excitement, I shared the weird thought with staff on Netherwood farm. They then took me to a similar ringing rock outside the office window. Gong rock was the name that sprung to mind. Three of these phenomena in a single week was too much to bear, and Google was called upon.
As much as I wanted to be the first and only gong-rock-owner; searching the internet and talking to the more informed, proved otherwise. Many came before me (since the 1850s) and rocks that gonged were called many names. ‘Gong rock’ was the name used by one of my favorite published researchers, Sven Ouzman, therefor it remained a GONG ROCK for me.
Thus, started a quest for and the study of worldwide rock gongs. Needless to say, that whatever conclusions I reached (whether through fieldwork-miles or publication-piles), I found similar sentiments in sometimes obscure books or magazines. Instead of this discouraging my pursuit, it prompted me to tell about and continue my rock journey from a singular perspective and with somewhat different conclusions.
The search for rock gongs, the application of learned criteria (whether from researchers before me, or from daily gained experience) and sifting through existing data will remain an ongoing process. This is necessary to gather enough proof for the motivation of preservation of possible gong rocks with their significant surrounding stones in the midlands so that further studies by all disciplines can be conducted.
G01 – the first gong with panorama of surrounding peaks (Mt West – Kamberg)
Posted in Evolution, Hike, History, Philosophy, Stones and Stars, Uncategorized, tagged History, rockart, rockgongs, rocks, stars, stones on October 20, 2019| Leave a Comment »
Future regular (*crossing fingers*) blog posts have several goals :
To find truth in folklore and myth. In his book The Edge of Memory, Patrick Nunn shows that ancient fact-bearing stories, usually dismissed as “just myths”, occur the world around.
To create an awareness of a rock art that has hitherto not been exposed to in-depth research in South Africa. Astrophysicist, prof. JC Holbrook from UCT replied to my enquiry: “Determining astronomical significance is nearly impossible in South African ancient rock art. However, the fact that there are ringing stones, with obvious marks of where to strike them, should be sufficient for heritage preservation purposes.”
To initiate a shift in the focus from a younger but overpowering popular rock art (paintings in caves), to the much older engraved symbols on rock surfaces everywhere.
To research, explore and claim South Africa’s rightful place in a rapidly expanding and changing world of archaeology due to technology. Focus on Prehistory.
To instill a need in local farmers, forresters and public for the preservation of possible valuable research sites.
Significant stones are present worldwide. Cosmology is recognised as the oldest from of worship. The combination of the two topics are inevitable and supported internationally by all sciences. A multidisciplinary approach to delving into this research continually leads into more than fascinating directions and theories.
Rocks that gong in the Midlands acted as the catalyst for this journey. Ever increasing momentum – whether it be by discoveries elsewhere or new publications landing in my inbox – catapults us into a world of rocks and stones and a history of our planet that defies logic and timelines.
As with any research, this is not achieved without the motivation and assistance of others. I will therefore post contributions (with permission) regularly to acknowledge my friends, their passion and their expertise.
Mary Oliver’s (1935 – 2019) Instructions for living a life:
Pay attention
Be astonished
Tell about it
(Preserve for posterity – is our addition)
Wandering and Wondering Journeys 