IDNO

LS.167908.LAR

Description

Close-up of 'The Trumpter' painting showing a man wearing a headdress and playing an exaggerated long trumpet, located in a rock-shelter near Bambata Cave. [JD 27/11/2023]

Place

S Africa; Zimbabwe; Mosi-o-Tunya; near Bambata Cave [Victoria Falls]

Cultural Affliation

Named Person

Photographer

None

Collector / Expedition

Armstrong, A. Leslie [Prehistoric Society of East Anglia]

Date

circa 1927 - 1929

Collection Name

Armstrong Collection

Source

Format

Lantern Slide Black & White

Primary Documentation

Other Information

LS.167808.LAR - LS.167909.LAR were found unaccessioned in drawer S.319.

Publication: Image published in Armstrong, A. Leslie. "Rhodesian Archæological Expedition (1929): Excavations in Bambata Cave and Researches on Prehistoric Sites in Southern Rhodesia." The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland 61 (1931): 239–76. Fig. 2. - Painting of 'The Trumpeter' (Photo)."
Text on p.273 includes: "Cave of the Trumpeter.
This is a large rock-shelter situated near a high plateau amidst the range on the east of Bambata Valley, and due east of Bambata Cave itself (P1. XXXVII, Fig. 1). It is most difficult to find and was stumbled upon by accident when first making our way to Bambata. It appears to have no native name. There are two groups of paintings and a detached figure. One group consists of a procession of small figures in red and of the later style, the other is more interesting and with the figure of the trumpeter is illustrated in P1. XXXVII, Figs. 2 and 3. The representation of the trumpeter is, up to the present, the only known example and is executed boldly in dark red. It will be noted that the length of the trumpet is one-third greater than the height of the man, this exaggeration being no doubt to emphasize the importance of the trumpet. The head-dress is similar to that seen upon some of the latest (Wilton) Bambata cave-paintings (P1. B), but the technique of the drawing is less refined and the outline harder." [Source: https://doi.org/10.2307/2843833, JD 27/11/2023]