"Strange Purpose of the Bushman Stone."

"Strange Purpose of the Bushman Stone."

Newspaper Clippings

clipping of newspaper article, includes two captioned photographs

Dorothea Bleek (loose clippings ), clippings (D. Bleek's loose ), digging-stick stone ("Bushman stone" ), purpose of (Rev. Schwellnus' "fire-drill" hypothesis ), "ancient race" hypothesis re (believed to be prehistoric ), ancient race hypothesis (applied to age), use of digging-stick stone (of Rev. Schwellnus )

"Strange Purpose of the Bushman Stone. 'Prehistoric Man's Fire-Drill.' Pretoria Explanation of a World-Wide Mystery." Discussion of the enigma of the "Bushman Stone" and hypotheses about their uses and age. Dorothea Bleek is named as an authority on the Bushmen who supports the "digging-stick" hypothesis; however, others believe that they were not created by the Bushmen for digging but by a foreign, ancient race (see also "antiquity" hypothesis of Frobenius, Impey et al). In Pretoria, there is a large collection - the Vaderland collection of stones. Study of these stones has led to a new hypothesis by Berlin missionary Rev. Schwellnus and his son: their use as a fire-drill by native groups for the making of fire. The author believes that this technique and use for making fire was lost because the ancient race who used it vanished from S.A long before habitation by more recent native cultures. This article, by "O.E.S.", is almost identical to another in Bleek's clipping collection. [see 0069_jpg] Someone sent her this clipping but did not record the name or date of the publication. This version features two captioned illustrations where the other, published in the "Natal Advertiser" (17 April 1931), does not. Here, in the upper illustration, Mr. Schwellnus Jnr. demonstrates his father's explanation of how the Bushman stone (or "fire-drill") was used to make fire. The lower illustration depicts Rev. Schwellnus. Handwritten note across top of clippings reads: "Doris might like to have this! [signed] F. &[?] N."