Both San hunter-gatherers and Bantu-speaking peoples are known to have had rock art traditions, and both groups appear to have created paintings and engravings. It is not surprising then that the Magaliesberg is home to several engraved rock art sites (Steel 1988). The engravings are made on the same igneous rock that was used to create the walls of the IA settlements. Typically, this igneous rock is a diabase that has been eroded into boulders. Some of the finest images of animals and geometric motifs found in southern Africa have been engraved in this area. Depictions include eland, zebra and hippo (Fig. 3). Geometric forms, either depicted separately or as part of animal motifs, are also a common feature.

One interesting aspect of the Magaliesberg region is that at some places, rock engravings are found in association with large IA walled settlements. At one such site–Olifantspoort (Mason 1973)–there are engraved images (Fig. 4) of what have come to be called settlement patterns in the literature (see, for example, Maggs 1995). There are no engraved images of animals, anthropomorphic figures and geometric forms at Olifantspoort. But the settlement patterns and the other images are all engraved by the same technique of fine-line or hairline incision. This technique involves cutting the surface of a boulder with a lithic implement of a hardness greater than that of the boulder (Fock 1979: 18–19). By cutting into the surface, the underlying rock substrate, which is typically lighter in colour than the oxidised surface, is exposed. Over time the incision marks oxidise to the same degree as the rest of the surface. However, if no significant weathering of the rock surface has taken place, the incision marks are still visible as deep cut marks. The use of the same technique to engrave different types of images, one found in close association with large IA walled settlements and the other