BOOK REVIEWS 149The Painted Caves: An Introduction to the Prehistoric Rock Art ofZimbabwe By Peter Garlake. Harare, Modus, 1987, iv, 100 pp., ISBN 0-908309-06-6, Z$29,95.The Painted Caves is perhaps the most important work yet published onthe interpretation of Zimbabwean rock art. It is an attempt to view the artfrom the artist's perspective without recasting the images into the cognitiveframework of modern cultures. As such it represents a refreshing changefrom previous work and a breakthrough in a hitherto stagnant field ofresearch.Garlake successfully demonstrates that the rock art is highlyconventionalized in terms of both style and subject matter. He then arguesthat these depictions have a symbolic rather than decorative function.They represent, in a metaphorical way, the major concerns and emotionsof a hunter-gatherer society. Thus a depiction may appear to be realisticbut it has a hidden, and more important, meaning which was known to thehunter-gatherer society which used it; and therein lies the challenge tothose interested in cognitive archaeology.Garlake takes the known importance of trance in historicallydocumented hunter-gatherer societies in Southern Africa as a fundamentalbasis for his argument that trance also took place among these societies inthe past and that many of the depictions indicate trance-inducing activitiesand of the state of trance itself. This seems to be a believable interpretationof the numerous 'fallen figures', 'pregnant figures' and various lines andformlings found in the art. In his interpretation of the art in these terms,Garlake is following the tradition of several South African specialists.However, he goes a little further than they do in his suggestion that onecannot understand the rock art simply in terms of trance-related activities.He suggests that several depictions are symbols of other concerns; forexample, the mother-child bond, the male-female dicotomy, social discordor co-operation, and so on. Unfortunately, in my opinion, he does not gofar enough along these lines. The symbols represent more than merelytrance-related activities. Garlake's treatment of animals and plants in therock art is particularly disappointing in this regard. Animals and plantsare discussed as mere pictures rather than as symbols and there is atendency to reduce them to simply sources of potency or trance-modifiedimages. More work is needed on the symbolic function of non-humanelements in rock art.The Painted Caves is divided into five sections. Part One answers mostof the usual questions asked by the layman, including information on theage and the techniques of the paintings and provides an introduction tothe conventions of the art form. Part Two reviews previous work, a littleharshly in some cases, introduces the reader to the complexities ofsymbolism and provides a general anthropological background to Sanhunter-gatherer groups. Part Three suggests symbolic interpretations tovarious topics such as the standardized postures of the human figure andthe combinations of human and animal figures in individual depictions.Parts Four and Five provide the reader with descriptions of paintings atselected sites and directions of how to get there. The directions are good150 BOOK REVIEWS^^S^t^^^^^J^^?^^.^ * -therI have a few other quibbles with the book. The basic layout is pleasingbut the tracings while generally good, are sometimes a littleinconsistentand confusing. For instance, in some cases the unshaded areas representwhite on the actual painting and, in others, light red. The outHnes ofseveral depictions could also have been smoothed off As I Kw frompersona experience, kinked outlines are often the resulfo SferentiSweathering of the rock itself as well as the steadiness (or otherwiseToShetracer's hand It is the principles behind the art that we aimTcopy so asmoothing off of the depictions would improve their visuatapaci Kgreatest criticism of the book, however, is that the circles used to indicateusfdTnstead ^tO Standard PraCtice- Bar Scales should have beendTnsteadNevertheless, this is an excellent book and it is very reasonably oricedftPnJpl7^r oneHconsiders the number of coloured pElSedTn3?e Pam*fd Caves deserves a place on the bookshelf of anyone interestedin the prehistoric art of Zimbabwe. <"*yone interestedSt George's College R. BURRETTCultural Struggle and Development in Southern Africa Edited bv PrebenKaarsholm. Harare, Baobab; London, James CurreyPoVis^uthHeinemann, 1991, x, 258 pp., ISBN 0-85255-211-4 (pbk), Z$30,00Cultural Struggle and Development in Southern Africa is a fascinating andtopical study which brings together research in various discipHnes suSas history, literature, art, development studies, political science religionconstitutional law and sociology. It is based on the proceedings £ aworkshop or. Culture and Development in Southern Afrfc? wWch. Lheld at the University of Copenhagen in April 1988In this book researchers and development workers call for the returnof culture to its rightful place in people's everyday lives Arguing tha"culture plays an important role in the development process 'of^ocety andtoTh7sSbookCo^in eCOn°mlC devel°Pment Programmes. The contStorsto this book offer some practical ways in which culture (including fornstance customs, beliefs and taboos) can be used to faciHtate theimplementation of development programmes in a country The majority oiSwhaluRiKTt *H rCraI EurOpean ^ NbrffAinSSKS*about what is believed to determine economic development in the so-nf thP hrS^f °Ped' °*, 'develoPinS' countries. The Si argumemof the book is that a consideration of culture, especially the role of Walanguage and related communication processes, is missfng in the wes°ernmodel of economic development. These scholars argue that the assistanceof local customs, beliefs and language should be sought t\thlimplementation of development programmes. Culture may be regarded al