But there were some mysteries.First,when you lookat a typical Namibian painting or engraving,you seethe tracks are repeated,there are dozens of tracksfor the same animal.You'd expect just one clearillustration if the reason - the aim - was to teachtracking.
Now there were two more problems.Why are someof the engravings of animals very accurate as you'dexpect - all clearly identifiable - and others quiteunrealistic?
And another mystery - some of these unrealisticanimals - that's in the engravings - seem to be half human.Some,for example,have got humanfaces.Many researchers now think that these were pictures the wise men engraved ofthemselves.They believed they could use magic to control the animals they had drawn,so thehunters could then catch them for food.
This shows you some of the dangers of coming from one culture to another,as we'll bedoing,without understanding it fully.Scholars imagined that children looked at rock art picturesto learn to track - just because they themselves had learnt skills from pictures;manyresearchers now believe that rock art had a much more complex purpose.And we'll talk moreabout it next week!