120 Years in 120 Objects

Join the KwaZulu-Natal Museum in celebrating the museum’s 120^th year of orbiting the sun. Staff and guest curators have chosen one object or item per year of our existence to highlight to the public. Visit the website and our social media platforms regularly to see the latest object and keep an eye out for information about a physical exhibition later this year!

Today’s Object is from 2011

The Moon Collection by Mudzunga Munzhedzi, Collections Technician, Human Sciences Department

Michael (Mike) Moon was an amateur archaeologist based near Durban, who made a significant contribution to the archaeological archive at the KwaZulu-Natal Museum in the 1980s and 1990s. He had retired early to pursue his interest in archaeology and he assisted the Museum in various fieldwork expeditions. The Moon Collection in the Museum was built up through work conducted for  Archaeological Impact Assessments. These are assessments conducted routinely before any development takes place. Of the 6000 or so archaeological sites archived at the Museum, Moon excavated or recorded at least 166, either alone or together with the Museum’s professional archaeologists such as Tim Maggs, Aron Mazel and Gavin Whitelaw.

He participated in the initial archaeological survey of the Inanda Dam Rescue Project in 1983, and he later made a significant discovery of an Early Iron Age (EIA) site in the early stages of construction of the dam. Under the Museum’s direction Moon excavated an EIA pit at the dam containing the remains of some 90 vessels in 1985. Moon cleaned and reconstructed some of these vessels before he brought them to the Museum.

In 1988 the Museum appointed Moon as an Honorary Associate. His last accessioned materials were a donation of Early Stone Age tools from Inanda Dam as well as pottery and an axe head from the Kranzkloof Nature Reserve. These materials were accessioned in 2011, marking the last time that he contributed to the collections. Mike Moon died in January 2021.

Early Iron Age pots that were excavated by Mike Moon from a pit that contained the remains of at least 90 vessels at Inanda Dam.

120 Years in 120 Objects

Join the KwaZulu-Natal Museum in celebrating the museum’s 120^th year of orbiting the sun. Staff and guest curators have chosen one object or item per year of our existence to highlight to the public. Visit the website and our social media platforms regularly to see the latest object and keep an eye out for information about a physical exhibition later this year!

Today’s Object is from 1998

Hamer’s Earthworm (Kazimierzus hamerae) by Thembeka Nxele, Curator of Oligochaeta

This earthworm species occurs in the western and south-western coastal Atlantic area of South Africa. It is unique by having a single dorsal blood vessel, unlike the other indigenous species that have double in some pre-clitella segments. This indicates that the group is evolutionarily primitive, showing that they have lived unchanged for millions of years. Often, this lack of change shows that intense selection pressure is being applied, as is the case in the arid west of South Africa. Kazimierzus hamerae was designated a type species when a new genus (Kazimierzus) was erected for species that occur in this region. The type species differs from a type specimen in that it is a broader concept and is used to show relationships rather than differences. This species occurs in a winter rainfall area which is associated with the western escarpment and the adjacent Namaqualand, bordering the Atlantic seaboard. This area is known for high endemism of invertebrate fauna, and highly diverse flora, also indicative of the harsh environment. Earthworms from this area also show high levels of endemism, for example, K. hamerae is known only from one locality. The species is named after Professor Michelle Hamer, who collected the specimens while she worked at the KwaZulu-Natal Museum.

120 Years in 120 Objects

Join the KwaZulu-Natal Museum in celebrating the museum’s 120^th year of orbiting the sun. Staff and guest curators have chosen one object or item per year of our existence to highlight to the public. Visit the website and our social media platforms regularly to see the latest object and keep an eye out for information about a physical exhibition later this year!

Today’s Object is from 1960

Mesopotamian Tablet by Inandi Maree, Senior Exhibitions Manager

Cuneiform is the earliest known form of writing and while tablets with this writing are common, there are very few in South Africa. The KwaZulu-Natal Museum only has one of these ancient tablets in our collections.

The language on this particular tablet is presumably Akkadian as it was found at Assur, which was the first capital of Assyria (a part of the Akkadian Empire). The tablet reads, “To Ashur, King of all gods, tribute of devotion, from his faithful servant, Sargon King of Sumer and Akkad”.

Ashur was the father of all gods in ancient Assyria. As Ashur’s representative, the king’s divine duty was to grow the lands of the Akkadian Empire. Sargon of Akkad was the first ruler of the Akkadian Empire, which included most of Mesopotamia (which covered modern-day Iraq and parts Kuwait, Syria, and Turkey). He reigned for about 55 years until his death in 2279 BC. Sargon of Akkad had an interesting birth legend, similar to that of Moses. Because his mother was a priestess, and was forbidden to have children, she gave birth to him in secret, and placed him in a basket on the river for his own safety. He was found and raised by a gardener in the city of Kish.

It is unknown how the donor, Bishop C. Ferguson-Davie, came into possession of the tablet in or around 1918. He was the first Anglican bishop of Singapore from 1909-1927. It is possible that during his time in Singapore he travelled to Mesopotamia to acquire the tablet. He worked and served in Natal from 1929 onwards. He donated this tablet to the museum in 1960, just three years before his death.