ARCHETYPES AND ATTRIBUTES - ROCK-PAINTINGS IN ZIMBABWE

This paper seeks to establish the primacy of the image in the study of the prehistoric paintings of Zimbabwe and to show how detailed compar ative iconographic analyses of a range of images may elucidate somethi ng of the significance of the art. It seeks to demonstrate that art wa s concerned with basic ideological concepts of the society, that the h uman imagery was concerned with the construction of a limited range of archetypes. Thus that the art has little or no relevance to such thin gs as scenic representation, narrative, historical record or myth. The human imagery was qualified by the addition of a limited range of att ributes or emblems attached to figures. These provide a pervasive addi tional dimension to almost all the imagery, a constant sub-text that a lmost certainly refers to San metaphysics.