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On Tuesday 06^th October, Justine Wintjes and Ghilraen Laue of the Human Sciences Department, KwaZulu-Natal Museum and Jeremy Hollmann, Research Associate at the Rock Art Research Institute, took the opportunity to visit and record more sites in the central Drakensberg. A total of three sites were recorded. The images here are from the site with the most well-preserved images.

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This therianthrope (part-human, part animal) figure was first recorded by Patricia Vinnicombe and published in her book People of the Eland in 1976.

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In this panel, the therianthropes are surrounded by at least 14 tiny grey figures. These figures are hardly visible, but show up beautifully when enhanced using the programme DStretch.

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Dstretch has been used here to show up the amazing details of the body decoration on these elongated orange figures. Photos: Justine Wintjes.

The KwaZulu Natal Museum launched a Storytelling Festival for primary schools for the month of October.

Siboniso Gcumisa, the Museum’s ‘Heritage Symbols and Cultural History Intern’, visited the Ntweka Primary School on 01 October 2020. He presented a storytelling and poetry session on the significance of preserving oral history. He touched on promoting the culture of writing, with the learners. Reading and telling stories that have a rich history to be shared is important in our society today. We all have stories to tell and the KZN Museum dedicates this month of October 2020 to embrace the art of storytelling using images, poetry, music, drama. Watch this space for more updates on the program as it unfolds during this month!

#KZNMuseum #education #heritage #creativity #storytelling #culture #oralhistory #art #poetry #schools #symbolism

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We are thrilled to finally open to the public as of the 1st of October 2020. After being closed since the beginning of lockdown in March and we have certainly missed having visitors in the museum. The calls of the public have been heard as they have been anticipating this opening. For now, we will open only on weekdays, Monday - Friday from 9h00 - 15h30. We will remain closed on weekends and public holidays. The Museum's internet cafe will also open on weekdays only. Our visitor’s safety is our priority, therefore; we will admit a limited number of visitors numbers at a time. All Covid19 protocols will apply, visitors will be screened on entry, wearing of masks is compulsory and we will ensure strict social distancing of all visitors.

To add to the excitement of opening the large insects that adorn the front facade of the Museum is also getting a much-needed facelift. The insects are getting painted and I am sure the public will enjoy the new look!

The KwaZulu-Natal Museum Exhibitions team painting the insects on the front wall of the museum.

#welcomeback #reopening #sanitise #wearamask #followregulations #socialdistancing #protect #KZNMuseum #1october

After six months of lockdown a team from the Human Sciences Department, KwaZulu-Natal Museum, along with Jeremy Hollmann, Research Associate at the Rock Art Research Institute, were excited to be able to get out into the field. On Friday the 25^th September, Ghilraen Laue, Justine Wintjes Mudzunga Munzhedzi and Jeremy Hollmann took a day trip to the Drakensberg to record a new rock art site. The site is situated in a small shelter on the side of a large boulder.

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Photo: Mudzunga Munzhedzi.

Although the walk to the site was not far it was steep.

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Photo: Justine Wintjes.

Looking closely at the art is important, especially where they are faded.

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Photo: Justine Wintjes.

Rock art photography is an art in itself and can take hours of looking and shooting.

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Photos: Mudzunga Munzhedzi.

Some of the images were well preserved with details in white or red still visible.

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Photo: Justine Wintjes.

Other images were very faded and the programme DStretch was used to make the images clearer. In the original photograph on the left it was not clear what was being depicted, while the enhanced image shows at least three antelope with a possible 4^th antelope in the left top corner.

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