To a Western eye, San rock art panels are chaotic accumulations of disparate images. Yet the panels themselves, seen in the light of San beliefs, are constructed according to certain principles. This article identifies some of those principles and exemplifies them by analysing a panel at a site in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa.

To cite this article: Lewis-Williams, J.D. & Pearce, D.G. 2009. Constructing spiritual panoramas: order and chaos in southern African San rock art panels. Southern African Humanities 21: 41-61.