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Preface The village of Songo is located in a picturesque position between three hills on the Bandiagara plateau, in the land of the Dogon. Thousands of tourists visit this village each year because of its famous rock paintings. Every three years a circumcision ritual, lasting fifteen days, is performed at the rock art site Kondi Pegue at Songo. In the course of this ritual existing motifs are re-painted and new paintings are added. Successive renewals of the paintings result in alterations to the form of the motifs. This change has been an on-going process since the site was first used, probably in the second half or towards the end of the 19th century. Since the beginning of the 20th century these paintings have attracted the attention of ethnographers, art historians and archaeologists. On the basis of nearly one hundred years of photographic documentation, it is possible to follow the development and change taking place at this rock art site over the course of the 20th century. | |
