John Parkington

"the mantis, the eland, and the hunter" is a short tour of several archaeological sites in South Africa, focusing mainly on the rock art from pre-colonial culture and the meaning of the art. Without a background in anthropology, I can't really determine the accuracy of the information, but the photographs of the rock art and explanations are informative.

Apart from not really giving a good feel for the locations of the sites - a map would have been a good addition to the book - the book has a lack of depth. The book is short (63 pages) and is as much a companion to a real tour of the areas as it is a book in its own right; although the introductory passages note there is a lot of recorded data about the hunter-gatherers in the area from interviews, only a limited amount finds its way into the text. The book focuses more on the art itself than the culture of the San.

Still, this is almost criticizing the book for what it isn't. The photographs are nice and the explanations give a small but good window into the art and culture of the San.… (mais)