Magic, Metamorphosis and Medicine

Therianthropes are beings which are portrayed in the art of many groups across the world, including the rock art of the San in southern Africa. They are depictions of mythical beings which are part human and part animal. 

Therianthropes are depicted in San rock paintings across southern Africa - in South Africa, Lesotho, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Namibia.  

The majority of San therianthropes portray beings which are part antelope and part human - a being which stands on two legs and has a human torso and antelope head. It is difficult to always tell the precise type of antelope, but eland are common, and rhebuck have also been identified. 

|Xam San healers were believed to turn into animals or birds when in trance. From this it has been argued that these beings in San rock art are possibly depictions of healers who are undergoing out of body flight into the spirit realm, having merged with their animal helpers.  

When asked about going into trance, one Ju/'hoan man said 'You feel like the wind. Your breath turns into an animal, and your soul changes' 
(Lewis-Williams 2011).

"When you see the animal in the fire, it changes you. You become that animal"

(Ju/'hoan man, quoted in Lewis-Williams 2011)

There is debate about the anthropomorphic figures in rock art. Some researchers argue that they depict hunters wearing antelope masks. Others argue they depict spirits-of-the-dead or mythical beings.

Understanding San belief systems has aided interpretations of these figures.

 “..he turns into a bird, he comes to see us where we live and flies about our heads. Sometimes he sits on our heads…If we are wise people we recognize him and see him sitting above us peeping at us, then we talk to him" (Bleek 1935:18).

While the most commonly found therianthropes portray antelope heads on human torsos, in some cases archaeologists have found rock art which depicts winged therianthropes.