Studien zur Urgeschichte Namibias

The rock art research carried out in Namibia since the 1960s by Ernst R. Scherz and Harald Pager on behalf of the University of Cologne and funded by the German Research Foundation soon gave rise to questions about the age and nature of the prehistoric paintings and engravings. It was hoped that archaeological excavations of petroglyphs would reveal a cultural sequence that had been little researched at the time. Since 1968, Wolfgang E. Wendt has carried out 45 excavations throughout the country, including the famous Apollo 11 cave. The present author has analysed 13 of Wendt's excavations in the Brandberg area. In addition, the data from 31 other excavations carried out north of the Tropic of Cancer before 1985 were compiled for comparison. The stratigraphic results and the associated landscapes make it possible to link the prehistoric lifestyles of the last 10,000 years with the changing environmental conditions and to create a chronological sequence for northern Namibia, into which the rock art can also be placed with good arguments.