SOME ExNGRAVED STONES OF THE LYDENBURG DIS- 

 TRICT AND NORT^-EAST TRANSVAAL: THE 

 OCCURRENCE OF " CUP-AND-RING - MARKINGS 

 IN SOUTH AFRICA. 



Bv Dr. CoKNELJS PVI'KR. 



{Plates 6-1 1.) 



Read J iilx \2, njiS. ) 



A few miles to the north-west of Lydenburg a number of 

 diabase boulders are to be found, lying about in the field, more or 

 less covered with engravings. (Plate 6.) Some of these en- 

 gravings represent various kinds of animals, some of them may 

 represent plants, but in this paper I wish to draw attention only 

 to one type, a type of which the engravings shown on Plates 7 

 and S are very good representatives. Both plates show a boulder 

 covered with grotips of concentric circles, more or less indepen- 

 dent of each other in Plate 7, while in Plate 8 they are connected 

 by an intricate system ojf more or less straight lines. (Both of 

 these photographs are on a scale of one inch to the foot). Plate 

 9 shows another of these boulders, with similar groups of con- 

 centric circles. The engraxings of Plate 10 are slightly ditiFerent ; 

 groups of single circles are here surrounded by systems of con- 

 centric ones. Plate 11 shows a ctip-like hollow surrounded by 

 two concentric rings ; on other boulders only cup-like hollows 

 occtir. Plate 11 shows engravings of otlicr cibjects as well ; these 

 I intend to discttss in a later paper. 



Altogether there are to be found about a couple of hundred 

 of similar engravings of systems of circles, and a dozen or so of 

 cups, all near each other, on an area of a few square miles. The 

 engravings shown on the photographs represent a few of the best- 

 preserved : in all of them the engraved parts have, from length of 

 time, once more assumed the original colour of the exposed rock. 

 On a number of boulders engravings are to be seen which have 

 become more or less indistinct ; a few show very crude, shallow 

 imitations, quite fresh — the work of Kaffir herd boys, whom I 

 have seen amusing themselves by copying the old engravings. 

 There is no tradition amongst the natives living in the neighbour- 

 hood as to who executed these engravings, or what they were 

 intended to represent. 



I think we may be stire that the engraved circles are the 

 liandiwork of our fellow-men : at first sight, however, it may 

 appear uncertain whether this is also true of the cup-like hollows. 

 I know of one instance only where nature moulds hollows which 

 bear a resemblance to those represented in my photo : I refer 

 to the hollows which are grotuid out of rocks over which a river 

 flows by the pebbles eddied round by the current. These " natural"" 



