Sam Challis and the Reframing of San Rock Art in the Maloti–Drakensberg
This builds on the foundation laid by David Lewis-Williams. The interpretation of the Game Pass Shelter panel in the Kamberg—widely regarded as the “Rosetta Stone” of San rock art—demonstrated how closely the imagery is tied to trance, transformation and San cosmology. That insight remains fundamental. Challis does not challenge it; he extends it.
What emerges from his work, particularly in Lesotho and across the Maloti–Drakensberg, is a stronger sense that the art belongs to a historical landscape rather than an isolated symbolic system.
Panels depicting horses, riders, shields and distinctive forms of dress point to direct engagement with neighbouring Sotho-Tswana and Nguni-speaking groups. These are not incidental details. Read alongside oral traditions, historical accounts and archaeological evidence, they reflect contact, conflict and adaptation along a shifting frontier. The introduction of the horse, in particular, signals a change in power and mobility that is clearly reflected in the imagery.
At the same time, the art shows continuity. Core elements—such as the eland and the visual language associated with trance—remain present, but are reworked in new contexts. The result is a body of work that reflects incorporation and adaptation rather than isolation.
In this sense, Challis opens a second line of interpretation. If the Game Pass Shelter panel provided the key to understanding the cosmological dimension of San rock art, then the Maloti–Drakensberg material he has worked on shows that the art also carries a historical record. Some panels, particularly in Lesotho, can be read in relation to identifiable social and cultural processes, and possibly even specific identities.
The implication is a more grounded understanding of the Drakensberg San themselves. Rather than the last representatives of a closed hunter-gatherer world, they appear as communities navigating a complex and changing environment—engaging with expanding African societies, responding to new pressures, and adapting in ways that are visible in the art.
Challis’s contribution lies in restoring this historical dimension. The paintings remain expressions of belief, but they are also records of encounter, adjustment and survival on a contested frontier.
Sam Challis’s Key Works and Themes
Challis’s contribution is best understood through a series of publications that have steadily developed this historical reading of San rock art. While often technical in nature, they collectively form a coherent body of work that has reshaped the field.
1. Contact, Conflict and the Horse in San Rock Art
A recurring theme in Challis’s research is the appearance of horses and mounted figures in Maloti–Drakensberg rock art. These images are not simply observational; they reflect the incorporation of new forms of power and mobility into San experience, linking the art directly to the contact period and changing regional dynamics.
2. Creolisation and Frontier Identity
In several key papers, Challis explores cultural blending on the frontier. San communities drew on, adapted and reinterpreted elements from neighbouring societies, and this process is visible in the imagery itself. This work challenges older assumptions of cultural isolation and presents the Drakensberg as a zone of interaction and negotiation.
3. Reinterpreting Maloti–Drakensberg Panels (Lesotho Focus)
Detailed studies of specific panels in Lesotho—often featuring riders, shields and distinctive attire—show how rock art can be read alongside oral history and historical sources. These studies have been central to establishing that certain panels reflect identifiable social processes and identities.
4. The Historical San of the Maloti–Drakensberg
Across his publications, Challis returns to the question of the “late San”—communities living through the upheavals of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. His work situates them within broader regional histories, including the expansion of African polities and colonial pressures, and uses rock art as a primary source for understanding this period.
5. Collaborative and Interdisciplinary Research
Challis has also contributed to a broader body of collaborative work integrating archaeology, ethnography and history. This includes revisiting well-known sites and bringing lesser-known Maloti–Drakensberg panels into the record, reinforcing the value of an integrated approach.
Selected Key Publications of Sam Challis
The following publications reflect the core of Challis’s contribution and are widely referenced in the field:
- Challis, S. (2012). The Archaeology of the Southern African San.
- Challis, S. (2013, with collaborators). The Horse in Southern African San Rock Art.
- Challis, S. (various years). Papers on creolisation and frontier identity in the Maloti–Drakensberg.
- Challis, S. (various years). Studies on riders, raiding and contact-period imagery in San rock art.
- Challis, S. (various years). Site-based analyses of Lesotho rock art panels integrating oral history and historical sources.
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