94 BOOK REVIEWShistories of communities whose record she wants to save from loss,unaltered and undistorted.In spite of these few lapses, On the Frontline is an important contributionto the study of the Church and its involvement in the war of liberation inZimbabwe. This book is a most useful resource for all who are interestedin studying the role of the Church in the armed struggle in Zimbabwe.University of Zimbabwe PAUL GUNDANIThe Painted Hills: Rock Art of the Matopos By Nick Walker. Gweru,Mambo Press, 1996, 102pp., ISBN 0-86922-638-X.The prehistoric rock art of Zimbabwe, particularly that found in theMatopos Hills in Matabeleland, has been the focus of both academic andpublic interest since the early part of this century. Much has been writtenon it with writers covering such aspects of the art as its authorship,dating, meaning and significance. However, many of the published workson the Matopos art were published over 30 years ago (eg Cooke, 1959) ata time when rock art studies were at a very elementary stage in Zimbabweand not as many sites had been documented. Interpretation, dating andgeneral understanding of this heritage from the past were very simplisticand in some cases much influenced by the colonial background of thewriters. Some of the art was for example attributed to exotic populations(eg Breuil, 1955). Those who saw it as indigenous interpreted it as 'art forart's sake' and therefore of no major significance to the painters (Cooke,1959). Others, who saw a deeper meaning to it, associated it with huntingmagic (Burkitt, 1928).Drawing from his long experience working on the Stone Agearchaeology of Matabeleland, as well as from the developments in rock artstudies in southern Africa pioneered in South Africa by such leadingscholars as Lewis Williams, Nick Walker, in The Painted Hills, provides themost comprehensive and most up to date coverage of the Matopos rockart. The book is divided into nine sections (which are not numbered) inwhich Walker brings together discussion of most of the questions bothmembers of the public and academic researchers have always askedabout this art Š By whom, when, why, and how were the paintingsexecuted? Using archaeological evidence from his own, and otherresearchers' excavations and cross-referencing with work from other partsof Zimbabwe and southern Africa, Walker convincingly demonstrates thatmost of the Matopos art dates from 9 000 years ago and continues up toafter 1 500 years ago. Several thousands of years before and during thisperiod, 9 000 to 1 500 years ago, the Matopos Hills, in common with theBOOK REVIEWS 95rest of the sub-region, was the home of Late Stone Age hunter-gatherercommunities. The art was thus the product of these populations beforethe arrival of iron-using farmers around 1 500 years ago. These Late StoneAge communities are generally agreed to be the ancestors of groups ofcontemporary hunter-gatherer people still found in parts of southernAfrica, including south-western Zimbabwe. Using a combination of a studyof the subjects, themes and content of the art and ethnographic datagathered from historical and contemporary hunter-gatherers in the region,whom he refers to as Bushfolk as opposed to the popular but derogatoryname Bushmen, Walker is able to depart from the traditional superficialinterpretations of the Matopos art. He of course draws substantially fromthe ethnographic and quantitative approaches pioneered by Lewis Williams(1981) and Patricia Vinnicombe (1976) and taken up in Zimbabwe by PeterGarlake (1987a; 1987b; 1995). Using these approaches, Walker argues thatthe consistency with which some subjects occur in the art, the context ofthe paintings and other considerations clearly show that most of the arthad social and economic significance to the Late Stone Age populations.Some of it is linked with rain-making rituals while some is associated withthe trance experiences of the shamans in the society. Walker dwells atsome length on the importance of the trance model to the Matopos art andprovides many examples to illustrate its relevance. He rightly cautions,however, that there are several paintings to which this model cannot beapplied. Ultimately, the art is argued to have occupied a central positionin the social organisation as well as resource utilisation of the people. Inthis sense, he concludes that we can rightly see the art as magico-religious.The Painted Hills, in common with most publications of this nature (egGarlake, 1995) is lavishly illustrated with good quality photographs andtracings of the Matopos art. This gives the reader good supporting evidenceof the issues that are central to the subject of the book. Walker alsoincludes a clear map which shows how to get to some of the moreinteresting sites. At the end of the book, Walker provides tables of usefulstatistical analyses of different aspects of the art, including the techniquesused, colour combinations (monochrome, bichrome and polychromepaintings), animal, human and artifact representations. The book alsoprovides an extremely useful glossary of technical jargon as well as acomprehensive list of references thoughtfully divided into specific aspectsof rock art studies in the region. However, the arrangement of theillustrations is somewhat confusing. There does not appear to be asystematic arrangement of the numerous illustrations. This makes it difficultto relate the illustration numbers provided in the margins of the text tothe actual illustration.The Painted Hills is a very welcome contribution to previous writingson the rock art of Zimbabwe, very nicely complementing another recent96 BOOK REVIEWSwork on this subject, Garlake's (1987a) The Painted Caves. That the twobooks have similar titles should not confuse the reader, as Garlake's bookis on the rock art of Mashonaland. Although Walker's book may at thebeginning sound like a standard visitors' guide because it starts off with alist of sites to visit, it goes well beyond the normal guide book and offersimportant academic insights into the subject of rock art. It thereforeshould be important for both the ordinary visitor to rock art sites in theMatopos and the serious researcher into this rich area of our distant past.ReferencesBREUIL, H. (1955) The White Lady ofBrandberg: Rock Paintings of SouthernAfrica (London, Trianon).BURKITT, M. (1928) South Africa's Past in Stone and Paint (Cambridge,Cambridge University Press).COOKE, C. (1955) 'Rock art of Matebeleland', in R. Summers (ed.), PrehistoricRock Art of The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland (SalisburyNational Publications Trust, 112-62).GARLAKE, P. (1987a) The Painted Caves (Harare, Modus).GARLAKE, P. (1987b) 'Themes in the prehistoric art of Zimbabwe' WorldArchaeology, XIX, (ii), 178-82.GARLAKE, P. (1995) The Hunter's Vision: Prehistoric Art of Zimbabwe (Harare,Zimbabwe Publishing House).LEWIS-WILLIAMS, J. D. (1981) Believing and Seeing (London, Academic Press).VINNICOMBE, P. (1976) People of the Eland (Pietermaritzburg, Natal UniversityPress).University of Zimbabwe GILBERT PWITI