All people resort to metaphors when they try to express the ineffable and sometimes bizarre experiences of trance. Today Westerners speak of a 'trip' or a 'high'. San shamanic dances and art were similarly given form by a set of metaphors that were peculiar to their own circumstances. In San thought and art 'death' in trance is closely associated with the physical death of the eland which the San believe to have more supernatural potency than any other creature.

When a shaman 'dies', he bends forward, bleeds from the nose, trembles, sweats profusely, staggers and eventually falls unconscious. Similarly, when an eland dies, it lowers its neck so that its head sways from side to side. Its hair stands on end, blood and foam gush from its nose and mouth. It trembles violently, sweats and staggers. Finally, it collapses. Sans artists were sensitive to these parallels and painted shamans in association with dying eland.

In the well-known painting from Game Pass Shelter at Drakensberg, commonly referred to as the 'Rosetta Stone' of South African rock art, it was here that archaeologists first uncovered a vital key to understanding the symbolism of the San rock art paintings. By linking specific San beliefs to recurrent features in the art, researchers have been able to crack many of the codes of San rock art.

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