Featured: Current Archaeology Book of the Year 2019!

Current Archaeology Book of the Year 2019!

Rocks & Rows, Sailing Routes across the Atlantic and the Copper Trade

Rocks & Rows, Sailing Routes across the Atlantic and the Copper Trade

Who's Online

There are currently, 342 guests and 2 members online.

You are a guest. To join in, please register for free by clicking here

Sponsors

<< Our Photo Pages >> Omburo Ost - Rock Art in Namibia

Submitted by pab on Sunday, 10 June 2012  Page Views: 6460

Rock ArtSite Name: Omburo Ost
Country: Namibia
NOTE: This site is 123.712 km away from the location you searched for.

Type: Rock Art

Latitude: 20.423792S  Longitude: 15.463065E
Condition:
5Perfect
4Almost Perfect
3Reasonable but with some damage
2Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site
1Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks
0No data.
-1Completely destroyed
4 Ambience:
5Superb
4Good
3Ordinary
2Not Good
1Awful
0No data.
4 Access:
5Can be driven to, probably with disabled access
4Short walk on a footpath
3Requiring a bit more of a walk
2A long walk
1In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find
0No data.
2 Accuracy:
5co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates
4co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map
3co-ordinates scaled from a bad map
2co-ordinates of the nearest village
1co-ordinates of the nearest town
0no data
4

Internal Links:
External Links:

I have visited· I would like to visit

DrewParsons would like to visit

PAB has visited here

Omburo Ost
Omburo Ost submitted by pab : Site in Namibia - May 2012 (Vote or comment on this photo)
Rock Art in Namibia. On a rather remote farm in North Western Namibia, there is a range of ancient rock art and engraving. It is much smaller and less well marketed than the White Lady and Twyfelfontein /Bushman Paradise locations. As commented on by KaiHofmann, Drew Parsons and Hamish Fenton who have posted images of these locations, there are problems with the way their specimens have been ill-treated or damaged, and Omburo seems to have largely avoided this to date.

Omburo-Ost Rock paintings & engravings - visited May 2012

There are 2 types of ancient rock art on the farm – the paintings are done on relatively soft & porous sandstone into which the pigment can be absorbed, with the engravings being found on outcrops which are composed of metamorphic rock.

It was not possible when we visited to obtain a definitive estimate for the age on individual items from the owner/guide, as he was quite happy to leave the impression that all were from the far extreme of the range. There has been oversight and investigation from international universities, so perhaps some more information will be available in due course.

In the meantime, if you happen to be on your way to Etosha National Park to see the wonderful animals and geology, this farm might well make a reasonable alternative to the more highly hyped & ‘enhanced’ World Heritage site(s).

The following information is taken from the farm’s website:

“Insight into the origin of mankind!
The native inhabitants of Africa (San also known as Bushmen) left numerous rock paintings and engravings on our farm area. They are considered to be a unique cultural treasure. In spite of their partly great age the rock paintings are in remarkably good condition.
The rock paintings illustrate hunting scenes; the huntsmen are armed with bow and arrow. The depicted animals are giraffes, ostrichs, antelopes and elephants. Besides the pictures of animals there are abstract drawings as well but their meaning is still unclarified. The drawings of animals probably served to teach children and instruct huntsmen apart from ritual purposes.
On the farm area several rock engravings have been discovered.
The assumption is that the engravings were created in a period of 2.100 years (from 300 B.C. to 1800 AD).
The engravings were made without any metal instruments, which must have been extremely difficult. But probably the slabs were slightly softer than today because they had not yet been varnished by the desert. As a lot of quartz splinters were found next to the engravings one supposes that they served as chisels.
Due to mass tourism a lot of paintings have been daubed and destroyed , for example Twyfelfontein. Therefore these cultural assets of value are now protected by glass. Experience on our farm an individual visit of the interesting rock paintings and inform yourself about their history and origin far away from the inrush of tourists.
The guided tour takes about 2 hours. After a short historical introduction we will drive across the spacious farm area to the rock paintings and engravings. You will as well be shown the tools, several stones and ingredients, which the San had used for making the tint.”

http://www.omburo-ost.com/englrockpaint.html
You may be viewing yesterday's version of this page. To see the most up to date information please register for a free account.


Omburo Ost
Omburo Ost submitted by pab : Engraved rock art A short distance from the painted specimens, there are examples of engraved art. This is in the form of both depictions of animals, and also examples of the tracks left by various animals which would have been hunted. The owner/guide suggested that these might have been to help in identification for young members of the family. According to my GPS, this batch of a... (Vote or comment on this photo)

Omburo Ost
Omburo Ost submitted by pab : Engraved rock art - unlike the painted examples, the engraved items are on non-porous rock. There are several pieces of quartz in this part of the farm, which will have been useful & probably necessary for this engraving. May 2012 (Vote or comment on this photo)

Omburo Ost
Omburo Ost submitted by pab : Site sign... Despite the remoteness of the farm, the owner commented that he had experienced some problems protecting the art from damage. (Vote or comment on this photo)

Omburo Ost
Omburo Ost submitted by pab : Rock art location in Namibia A significantly colour/contrast-enhanced image of one of the rock art items, purely to help see the detail. I will post a 'raw' version shortly for comparative purposes, but I felt it worth risking portal opprobrium over photoshop effects for the sake of people being able to see what is there! (Vote or comment on this photo)

Omburo Ost
Omburo Ost submitted by pab : Rock art - Site in Namibia Detail of antelope item. Visited May 2012

Omburo Ost
Omburo Ost submitted by pab : Rock Art Site in Namibia With the owner/guide's hand in view for scale, this image shows an antelope above a giraffe. This image has been sharpened somewhat to bring out the colours - which were fairly clear to the eye, but less so to the lens!

Do not use the above information on other web sites or publications without permission of the contributor.
Click here to see more info for this site

Nearby sites

Click here to view sites on an interactive map of the area

Key: Red: member's photo, Blue: 3rd party photo, Yellow: other image, Green: no photo - please go there and take one, Grey: site destroyed

Download sites to:
KML (Google Earth)
GPX (GPS waypoints)
CSV (Garmin/Navman)
CSV (Excel)

To unlock full downloads you need to sign up as a Contributory Member. Otherwise downloads are limited to 50 sites.


Turn off the page maps and other distractions

Nearby sites listing. In the following links * = Image available
 5.5km NNW 326° Vingerklip* Natural Stone / Erratic / Other Natural Feature
 113.0km SW 227° The White Lady Group* Rock Art
 115.0km W 260° Twyfelfontein* Rock Art
 115.0km W 260° Twyfelfontein* Stone Circle
 154.1km S 173° Phillipp's Cave Rock Art
 158.1km S 190° Bushman Paradise* Rock Art
 160.5km SSE 160° Paula's Cave Rock Art
 183.2km SE 144° Oropoko* Rock Art
 311.9km SSE 169° Rooisand Rock Painting* Rock Art
 337.2km S 182° Mirabib* Natural Stone / Erratic / Other Natural Feature
 460.7km NNW 330° Pinturas Rupestres do Monte Negro Rock Art
 568.5km NNW 331° Tshitundo Hulo Rock Art
 683.4km ENE 75° Tsodilo Hills* Rock Art
 718.0km NNW 348° Quilengues Gravures Rupestres Rock Art
 738.2km NNW 341° Txipopilu Petroglyphs Rock Art
 814.8km SSE 150° The Lost City of Kalahari* Ancient Village or Settlement
 827.5km S 169° Apollo 11 Cave* Cave or Rock Shelter
 949.6km N 7° Moma Rock Art
 952.8km S 171° Spitzkloof* Cave or Rock Shelter
 1010.1km E 93° Makgadikgadi* Ancient Village or Settlement
 1116.5km SE 138° Kathu Pan* Ancient Mine, Quarry or other Industry
 1155.9km N 358° Pedra Quissongo Rock Art
 1163.4km SE 137° Wonderwerk Cave* Cave or Rock Shelter
 1176.4km ESE 114° Matsieng Footprints Rock Art
 1196.2km N 1° Pungo Andongo Rock Art
View more nearby sites and additional images

<< Bishops Cannings 89 Bowl Barrow

Neuenfeld Dolmen 3 >>

Please add your thoughts on this site

The Imagined Sound of Sun on Stone - Sally Beamish

The Imagined Sound of Sun on Stone - Sally Beamish

Sponsors

Auto-Translation (Google)

Translate from English into:

"Omburo Ost" | Login/Create an Account | 0 News and Comments
  
Go back to top of page    Comments are owned by the poster. We aren't responsible for their content.
Your Name: Anonymous [ Register Now ]
Subject:


Add your comment or contribution to this page. Spam or offensive posts are deleted immediately, don't even bother

<<< What is five plus one as a number? (Please type the answer to this question in the little box on the left)
You can also embed videos and other things. For Youtube please copy and paste the 'embed code'.
For Google Street View please include Street View in the text.
Create a web link like this: <a href="https://www.megalithic.co.uk">This is a link</a>  

Allowed HTML is:
<p> <b> <i> <a> <img> <em> <br> <strong> <blockquote> <tt> <li> <ol> <ul> <object> <param> <embed> <iframe>

We would like to know more about this location. Please feel free to add a brief description and any relevant information in your own language.
Wir möchten mehr über diese Stätte erfahren. Bitte zögern Sie nicht, eine kurze Beschreibung und relevante Informationen in Deutsch hinzuzufügen.
Nous aimerions en savoir encore un peu sur les lieux. S'il vous plaît n'hesitez pas à ajouter une courte description et tous les renseignements pertinents dans votre propre langue.
Quisieramos informarnos un poco más de las lugares. No dude en añadir una breve descripción y otros datos relevantes en su propio idioma.