Rock art research done in Namibia since the 1960's by Ernst R. Scherz
and Harald Pager on behalf of the University of Cologne and financed by
"Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft" soon evoked questions about
the age and nature of prehistoric paintings and engravings. Archaeological
excavation of rock art sites, it was hoped, would help to establish a
cultural sequence which was then still poorly understood. Thus, since
1968, Wolfgang E. Wendt has conducted 45 excavations throughout the country,
among these the famous cave of Apollo 11.
The present author has analysed 13 of Wendt's excavations in the surroundings
of the Brandberg. Additional data from 31 other excavations carried out
north of the Tropic of Capricorn before 1985 have been compiled for comparison.
The stratigraphic results and the related landscapes allow us to connect
prehistoric lifeways during the last 10,000 years with their changing
environments and to establish a chronological sequence for Northern Namibia,
in which also rock art can be included by good arguments.