Namibia - Brandberg National Monument Area

Situated approximately 30km north west of the small town of Uis is the highest mountain in Namibia, the Brandberg, that stands out as an imposing feature in the otherwise flat gravel plains of the central Namib Desert. This large, almost circular inselberg is visible from space and rises more than 1800 m above the surrounding plains (highest peak 2573 m.) It has an exceptionally rich palaeo-archaeological heritage with a high concentration of prehistoric rock art (more than 43 000 paintings and 900 sites alone). The two genres of rock art (engravings and paintings) are found in close association in the Brandberg and more than 120 archaeological sites have been recorded. The Brandberg is home to the famous rock art frieze of the "White Lady", the authors and meaning of which has puzzled researchers, as well as numerous other friezes of exceptional quality. The mountain forms part of numerous destinations along prehistoric migration routes of people who migrated seasonally between the coast and the interior. Excavations revealed intensive and repeated human occupation on the higher elevations of the Brandberg from about five thousand years ago. Adequate water and shelter may have served as aggregation areas for otherwise dispersed groups of hunter-gatherers or herders at the onset of increased aridity in the region at that time. Increased social ritual activity associated with human aggregation probably resulted in the accumulation of rock art, and thus the rock art is part evidence of an intricate social and environmental fabric.