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A treasure trove of new rock art sites (re)discovered in the Waterberg

Exploring remote areas of the Waterberg, an area rich in rock art, Dr Ghilraen Laue and Professor Lyn Wadley (re)discovered 18 new sites. We say (re)discovered because while these sites were sometimes previously known to the landowners and were obviously known to the image-makers, they are new to academic scholarship. Dr Laue, who is in the Human Sciences Department at the KwaZulu-Natal Museum is collaborating with Professor Wadley of Wits University to research and document the rock art of the Waterberg plateau for a book devoted to the art of the region.

TTWB1 New site on the western edge of the Waterberg plateau. The inset shows a close-up of the bichrome eland painted walking along a crack in the rock face (Photos: L. Wadley, G. Laue).

TTWB2 This photograph is an enhanced image from the same site. The eland can be seen on the far right (Photo and enhancement: L. Wadley).

TTWB3 Another one of the newly recorded sites with images of antelope and human figures (Photo: G. Laue).

Much of the Waterberg art is very faded. Dstretch is used to enhance the faded colours so that images can be more clearly seen. This tool, developed for rock art researchers, uses decorrelation stretch. This image enhancement technique was first used on aerial photos. Dstretch works best on red and yellow paintings. Below are some examples of how some of the faded Waterberg imagery has been enhanced and how other barely visible images are made visible with this software.

TTWB4c What at first glance looks like a normal antelope is revealed to be an imaginary creature with elongated limbs (Photo and enhancement: L. Wadley).

TTWB5a Depictions of aardvark are very rare in southern African rock art and without the help of Dstretch we would not have felt confident in making a positive identification (Photo and enhancement: G. Laue).

TTWB6a Here some faded red pigment is revealed to be a painting of a woman. This image is typical of how female figures are painted in the Waterberg: with stubby arms stretched straight out and pendulous breasts painted below (Photo and enhancement: L. Wadley).

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Click on this link to: Read all the latest happenings from the month of July 2023!

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"𝑾𝒂 𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒂 𝑨𝒃𝒂𝒇𝒂𝒛𝒊, 𝑾𝒂 𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒂 𝑰𝒎𝒃𝒐𝒌𝒐: 𝑾𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒏 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒊-𝒂𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒅 𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒖𝒈𝒈𝒍𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝑷𝒊𝒆𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒎𝒂𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒛𝒃𝒖𝒓𝒈," a photographic online exhibition on this very website, highlighting the immense contribution of Pietermaritzburg women towards a democratic South Africa, as captured by Dr. Aron Mazel.

https://tinyurl.com/49zyhkxk

Formally known as "𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑾𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒏'𝒔 𝑫𝒆𝒇𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑪𝒐𝒏𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒕𝒖𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝑳𝒆𝒂𝒈𝒖𝒆", the 𝑩𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝑺𝒂𝒔𝒉 is an organisation that dates back to the 1950's and was founded by a group of liberal women who opposed government policies by means of marches, convoys, demonstrations and vigils. The name "𝑩𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝑺𝒂𝒔𝒉" derives from the black sashes which members wore over one shoulder during protests, as seen in the image below.

Pictured from left to right are members of the 𝑩𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝑺𝒂𝒔𝒉, Didi Stevens, Beschara Karam and Lorenza Cowling during the Standing for Truth Campaign peace march in September, 1989.

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Celebrating Fifty Years of Archaeology-Remembering Past Staff: Dr Martin Hall

martin hall march 2017

Martin Hall was born in Guildford, England. He completed his bachelor’s degree in Archaeology and Anthropology at Cambridge University in 1974 before joining what was then the Natal Museum in 1975 as an enthnoarchaeologist. During his time at the museum, Hall excavated at uMgungundlovu and also in the Umfolozi River Catchment Area. He contributed numerous research articles on the Iron Age and the Historical Archaeology of KwaZulu-Natal. While in Pietermaritzburg, he completed his PhD at Cambridge. Following this, he moved to the South African Museum as Chief Professional Officer in 1980 and in 1983 he joined the University of Cape Town (UCT). Hall served as Deputy Vice Chancellor of UCT from 2002 until 2008 before becoming Vice-Chancellor at the University of Salford in the United Kingdom. He is currently an Emeritus Professor at UCT.

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