Quick wins for a faster PC:
Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFree Scan →Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteDriver Scan →Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsFix Now →Ancient track engravings in Namibia’s Doro! nawas Mountains were not merely decorative outlines. A 2023 study found that Indigenous tracking specialists could read fine distinctions in most of the motifs, including the animal or person represented and details of an individual track. The patterns also show that engravers selected particular species, ages, sexes and limbs.
That evidence supports a careful conclusion: the images preserve information grounded in close observation of tracks. It does not amount to a fully translated message, a proven ritual explanation or a single symbolic code. The engravings’ broader cultural meaning remains unresolved.
What the Namibian study examined
Tilman Lenssen-Erz, Andreas Pastoors, Thorsten Uthmeier, Tsamgao Ciqae, /Ui Kxunta and Thui Thao studied engraved animal tracks and human footprints on six rock faces in the Doro! nawas Mountains of central-western Namibia. The work belongs to the Later Stone Age hunter-gatherer rock-art tradition.
The team created photogrammetric models of the rock surfaces and assigned an identifier to each individual motif. That approach allowed researchers to compare track features across the sites rather than treating a panel as one undifferentiated scene. The final sample contained 513 engravings.
#1 Best Overall
- Read Before You Buy — No Video Output: These adapters support charging and USB 2.0 data transfer, but cannot transmit video signals. Except for standard USB webcams (which use USB data only), they are not compatible with HDMI/DisplayPort cables, video-capable USB-C hubs, or docking stations with video output.
- Convert USB-A Ports to USB-C: Designed to connect USB-C earphones, cables, flash drives, card readers, and other USB-C accessories to standard USB-A ports. Plug-and-play with no drivers or software required.
- Aluminum Alloy Housing: Built with a sturdy aluminum alloy shell that aids in heat dissipation and protects against daily wear and scratches. Designed to maintain a stable and secure connection.
- Compact & Travel-Friendly: The ultra-compact design allows the adapter to stay plugged into your device without blocking adjacent ports or adding bulk, reducing wear and tear on your original USB ports.
- 12-Month Warranty: Backed by a 12-month manufacturer warranty for peace of mind. Designed to meet strict quality control standards for reliable everyday performance.
| Finding | What it means |
|---|---|
| More than 90% of the sample | Indigenous tracking experts identified species, sex, age group and exact leg in these engravings. |
| 20% of the sample | Human footprints, rather than animal tracks, made up this share of the analyzed motifs. |
| 39 species | The animal motifs represented a wide range of species; some occurred only rarely. |
| About 5000 BP to 1000 BP | This is the broad stylistic and iconographic estimate for the engravings, with a greater likelihood of a late-Holocene date, not a direct date for every image. |
| Connected trackways | Except for guinea fowl, the sample generally lacked linked sequences that could show an animal’s route. |
“BP” means “before present,” the convention used in archaeology for years before 1950. The date range therefore places the work broadly within the Holocene, while leaving substantial uncertainty about when any particular engraving was made.
How Indigenous trackers interpreted the motifs
Reading more than an outline
The specialists did not simply match a generic paw or hoof to a species. Their assessments included the species, the animal’s sex and age category, and the precise leg represented. The institutional account also records judgments about which side of the body a track came from and the relative direction indicated by its form.
These are interpretations of engraved shapes by people with extensive tracking knowledge. They are not direct observations of the original animals or people, and they should not be presented as measurements made at the time of engraving. Even so, the high rate of agreement between the experts’ readings and the features visible in the motifs shows that the designs contain distinctions that trained observers can recover.
Why the expertise matters
PD Dr. Andreas Pastoors of Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg described the result as “really exciting” because the animal tracks provide “far more information that we originally thought.” He also called the study a further confirmation that Indigenous knowledge can make a valuable contribution to archaeological research.
Free tools Windows power users keep installed
One-click scans. No signup required.
The implication is methodological as much as interpretive. An archaeologist working without tracking expertise might classify a motif only as an animal track. A specialist can notice asymmetry, toe or hoof arrangement, relative size and other cues that distinguish one species, limb or age class from another. The study therefore treats Indigenous expertise as analytical evidence, not as an anecdotal supplement added after the excavation.
Rank #2
- 5-in-1 USB-C Hub: Experience comprehensive connectivity featuring a Power Delivery input, two USB-A 2.0 ports, a USB-A 3.0 port, and an HDMI port. (Note: The USB-C power delivery input port is only for connecting an external wall charger to power your laptop and cannot power peripheral devices.)
- 90W Pass-Through Charging: Achieve optimal charging with 90W pass-through power to your laptop, supported by a total input of 100W, with the hub reserving 10W for operational efficiency. (Note: Wall charger not included.)
- Quick Data Transfers: Accelerate your productivity with rapid data transfers using a high-speed 5Gbps USB 3.0 port and two 480Mbps USB 2.0 ports.
- 4K HDMI Display: Enhance your visual experience with a hub capable of delivering 4K resolution at 30Hz in both mirror and extend modes. Please note that this hub is compatible with MacBook (macOS 12 and newer), Windows 10 and 11, ChromeOS, and laptops equipped with DP Alt Mode and Power Delivery. Note: This device is not compatible with Linux.
- What You Get: Anker USB-C Hub (5-in-1, 4K HDMI), welcome guide, 18-month warranty, and our friendly customer service.
Patterns the engravings reveal
Human footprints are a substantial component
One fifth of the analyzed motifs are human footprints. That proportion complicates explanations that treat the panels exclusively as records of hunted animals or as images produced for animal-focused ritual activity. Human tracks may have been selected for reasons that are no longer recoverable, but their presence demonstrates that the engravers’ subject matter included people as well as fauna.
Species were not represented evenly
The animal sample spans 39 species, but the distribution is uneven. Some species appear only a few times, so the catalogue should not be read as a ranking of the animals most important to the community or as a census of local wildlife. Rare representation may reflect choices by the engravers, preservation differences, the locations selected for study or the survival of only part of the original art.
Age, sex and limb choices show selection
The authors identify species-specific preferences in the age and sex categories depicted. They also report preferences for the direction and type of limb shown. Such recurring choices indicate that the motifs were not generated by tracing every possible track feature at random. Someone selected which characteristics to represent.
Selection, however, is not the same as a readable sentence. The study does not establish a one-to-one system in which a particular limb or age category always carried one fixed concept. It shows patterned depiction, while the social rules governing those choices remain unknown.
Why the absence of trackways limits interpretation
A connected trackway can show where an individual moved, whether it turned, and how its gait changed. With the exception of guinea fowl, the studied engravings do not provide such linked sequences. Individual motifs can preserve information about a track’s form, but they generally cannot reconstruct a complete journey or establish that an animal was moving toward a named place.
Rank #3
- Sleek 7-in-1 USB-C Hub: Features an HDMI port, two USB-A 3.0 ports, and a USB-C data port, each providing 5Gbps transfer speeds. It also includes a USB-C PD input port for charging up to 100W and dual SD and TF card slots, all in a compact design.
- Flawless 4K@60Hz Video with HDMI: Delivers exceptional clarity and smoothness with its 4K@60Hz HDMI port, making it ideal for high-definition presentations and entertainment. (Note: Only the HDMI port supports video projection; the USB-C port is for data transfer only.)
- Double Up on Efficiency: The two USB-A 3.0 ports and a USB-C port support a fast 5Gbps data rate, significantly boosting your transfer speeds and improving productivity.
- Fast and Reliable 85W Charging: Offers high-capacity, speedy charging for laptops up to 85W, so you spend less time tethered to an outlet and more time being productive.
- What You Get: Anker USB-C Hub (7-in-1), welcome guide, 18-month warranty, and our friendly customer service.
What “encoded information” means in this case
The phrase should be understood at three separate evidentiary levels. Keeping them distinct prevents a demonstrable observation from being turned into an unsupported claim about symbolism.
| Evidence level | Supported conclusion | Not established |
|---|---|---|
| Expert reading of individual motifs | Track specialists can identify detailed characteristics such as species, sex, age group and exact leg in most cases. | That every viewer in the ancient community would have made the same identification. |
| Distribution across the sample | Engravers favored some species, age and sex categories, limb types and directions over others. | The rule, message or social reason behind each preference. |
| Interpretation of purpose | The motifs may have served an epistemic function, preserving or communicating empirical knowledge about the natural world. | A definitive translation, ritual diagnosis or single explanation for all panels. |
On the first level, the designs are information-rich rather than simple geometric decoration. On the second, the statistics show deliberate choices. The third remains provisional: the authors argue that an epistemic purpose is plausible, but they do not claim to have identified the original institution, audience or message.
How old are the engravings?
The engravings are difficult to date directly. Lenssen-Erz and colleagues place them broadly between about 5000 BP and 1000 BP by comparing their iconography and style with other Later Stone Age material. They consider a late-Holocene date more likely, but this remains an estimate rather than a measurement for each rock face.
That uncertainty matters when connecting the motifs to changes in climate, settlement, hunting or belief. A range spanning several thousand years could include multiple generations and changing practices. It is safer to describe the corpus as Holocene rock art made within a broad Later Stone Age tradition than to assign one precise century or assume that every panel was created at the same time.
Have researchers decoded the meaning?
No. The study demonstrates that skilled trackers can recover detailed track information and that the engravers made non-random choices. It does not identify a definitive symbolic meaning for the images.
Rank #4
- Dual Converters, Infinite Potential：Includes 2× USB C male to USB A female adapters and 2× USB A male to USB C female adapters. Perfect for a wide range of uses—tablets with Bluetooth keyboards, expand USB ports on macbook, and more. Two different converters for all your daily needs
- Next-Level 10Gbps & 3A Charging: No more slow 480Mbps, this usb to usb c adapter has a transfer speed of up to 10Gbps, allowing you to do more transferring in less time. This usb adapter fits both USB A and USB C charger, supporting up to 3A fast charging
- Upgraded Exquisite Craftsmanship: With an aluminum alloy housing and metal connector, the usbc to usb adapter is extremely durable and sturdy. Rigorously tested to withstand more than 10,000 times of plugging and unplugging, ensuring long-lasting performance
- Broad Compatible: The usb c to usb adapter widely supports all USB C/ USB A devices like laptops, tablets, cellphones, car chargers, and phone chargers. Such as compatible with MacBook Pro/Air 2023/2022, Thunderbolt 4/3 Devices,Apple MagSafe Watch 9/8/7/SE/Ultra, iPad Pro 2022/2021, Samsung Galaxy S23/S20/S10, and iPhone 17/16/15 Pro. Plug and play
- Please Note: To reach 10Gbps speed, keep the cable under 3.3 ft. For USB A Male to USB C adapters, try flipping the USB C connector. USB C Male to USB A adapters support bidirectional 10Gbps transfer within 3.3 ft
The authors considered several possibilities, including shamanism, secular uses and teaching. These are hypotheses rather than findings.
The Tool Desk
Outbyte Driver Updater FREEFix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesFind Drivers →Outbyte PC Repair FREEClear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFree Scan →Shamanic interpretations
A shamanic explanation has to account for the substantial number of human footprints and the broad diversity of species. Those features weaken an interpretation that treats the corpus primarily as a record of animal transformation or spirit travel. They do not disprove ritual activity; they show that ritual alone does not explain the complete pattern.
Secular functions
The motifs could have supported practical or social communication, such as sharing observations about animals or marking knowledge important to a group. The evidence is compatible with that possibility, but no surviving context identifies who viewed the engravings, how often they were used or whether they were tied to hunting decisions.
Teaching
Teaching is another plausible use because the images preserve distinctions that an expert can explain to a learner. Yet the depicted combinations do not cover every possible age, sex or limb category. That incomplete coverage limits the idea that the panels form a comprehensive instructional catalogue.
Because none of these models accounts for all the observations, assigning one as the answer would go beyond the evidence. The authors emphasize that fuller interpretation requires additional ethnographic and Indigenous knowledge.
PC Slower Than It Used to Be?
A free scan shows the junk files, broken settings and background clutter dragging Windows down - then fixes them in one click.Free scan · Windows 10 & 11Crashes, No Sound, or Screen Glitches?
Random freezes, missing sound and display glitches usually trace back to one bad driver. Find and replace yours safely.Free scan · under a minuteBest Value
- 5-in-1 Connectivity: Equipped with a 4K HDMI port, a 5 Gbps USB-C data port, two 5 Gbps USB-A ports, and a USB C 100W PD-IN port. Note: The USB C 100W PD-IN port supports only charging and does not support data transfer devices such as headphones or speakers.
- Powerful Pass-Through Charging: Supports up to 85W pass-through charging so you can power up your laptop while you use the hub. Note: Pass-through charging requires a charger (not included). Note: To achieve full power for iPad, we recommend using a 45W wall charger.
- Transfer Files in Seconds: Move files to and from your laptop at speeds of up to 5 Gbps via the USB-C and USB-A data ports. Note: The USB C 5Gbps Data port does not support video output.
- HD Display: Connect to the HDMI port to stream or mirror content to an external monitor in resolutions of up to 4K@30Hz. Note: The USB-C ports do not support video output.
- What You Get: Anker 332 USB-C Hub (5-in-1), welcome guide, our worry-free 18-month warranty, and friendly customer service.
Why Indigenous knowledge changes the archaeological reading
Tracking is a specialized practice built from repeated observation of living animals, substrate, weather and movement. A rock-art analysis that ignores that knowledge risks flattening meaningful distinctions into generic symbols. In this study, Indigenous experts supplied the interpretive skill needed to recognize details that are difficult to infer from formal shape alone.
That contribution does not turn present-day experts into time travelers or guarantee that their categories exactly match those used by the engravers. It does provide a disciplined way to test whether the motifs preserve recognizable track information. Treating the specialists as partners also avoids claiming that archaeology can determine cultural meaning without the communities whose knowledge traditions remain relevant.
What the evidence can and cannot support
- Supported: The engravings contain visual distinctions that trained Indigenous trackers can identify at high rates.
- Supported: The corpus reflects selective depiction of species, age and sex categories, limb types and directions.
- Supported: Human footprints form a major part of the sample, so the subject matter is not exclusively animal.
- Not supported: A complete map of animal movements, because connected trackways are generally absent.
- Not supported: A precise date for each engraving; the chronology is broad and stylistically inferred.
- Not supported: A single decoded message, proven shamanic ritual, or confirmed teaching curriculum.
The most defensible description is therefore “information-rich track imagery.” It acknowledges what the motifs demonstrably preserve while leaving their social and symbolic purposes open to investigation grounded in Indigenous consultation and additional archaeological context.
Why this finding matters beyond Namibia
The study offers a model for examining other track-based rock art. Researchers can first ask what expert observers can reliably identify in individual images, then test whether the distribution of motifs is patterned, and only afterward discuss possible functions. That sequence prevents speculation from being mistaken for identification.
What’s actually slowing this PC down?
Pick the symptom - the matching free tool is one click away.
It also broadens what counts as archaeological information. A footprint does not need to be part of a continuous trail to contain data. Shape can encode distinctions about a body, while the decision to depict one track rather than another can reveal cultural selection. Recovering those layers requires technical recording, statistical comparison and the participation of people whose knowledge is rooted in tracking practice.
Namibia’s engravings have not yielded a translated text. They have yielded something more precise and more limited: evidence that ancient artists represented tracks in ways legible to expert trackers, and that the choices made across the panels were structured. The unanswered question is not whether information is present, but what communities in the Holocene intended that information to do.
Quick Recap
Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.
Say something about this film