Lendy 1 Zimbabwe rock-art bullroarer

Source term: crescent-shaped possible bullroarer

On a rock-art panel at Lendy 1, near Marondera in Mashonaland East, a figure at the far right of the scene swings a crescent-shaped object above his head — read by Joshua Kumbani and Margarita Díaz-Andreu as a possible bullroarer. The panel is known from a copy made by Corona Thornycroft, held in the Rock Art Research Institute's archive in Johannesburg and divided into three parts: small figures that by their size could be children, two recumbent dancers who appear to float above the ground as if in trance, a central therianthrope, a man holding what looks like a rattle, and finally the man with the crescent. The identification rests on shape alone, and the authors are explicit that crescent readings in rock art "may be subject to speculation"; they note the much clearer comparison at Doring River in South Africa's Western Cape, where eight figures are shown swinging bullroarers. Paul Garlake had earlier called such crescent-shaped objects possible musical instruments, "possibly one that 'roars' or sounds when it is rotated rapidly."

From Lendy 1 in Marondera, Mashonaland East … The third part of the recording depicts what appears to be a man holding a bullroarer.

Kumbani and Díaz-Andreu 2025, Azania 60(1):16

Particulars

Object

Zimbabwe rock-art panel copied by Corona Thornycroft; Kumbani and Diaz-Andreu describe the far-right figure as swinging a possible bullroarer.

Function

Possible rock-art depiction of a sound-producing crescent object; source compares it to bullroarer depictions elsewhere in southern Africa.