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Throughout the year, the technical staff of the natural science department conduct regular surveys to assess the existing situation of the specimens in the galleries before implementing a pest management regime. Once the assessment is completed, pest management activities must be designed and implemented in order to minimize the risks posed to specimens and cabinet structures by pests. The most notorious pest in our galleries is mould. Mould can never be completely eliminated or ‘destroyed’. Generally, it is managed through climate control, spore reduction, careful monitoring, and ongoing maintenance.

Currently, the department is undergoing its annual galleries maintenance towards cleaning mould spores on specimens and cabinet structures. This approach to pest control, often called "integrated pest management" involves preventive measures; monitoring of galleries areas; treatment of specimens; treatment of infestations; and review and assessment of procedures.

ready to control pest

Opening of Isivivane, an art installation by Mohau Modisakeng and UKZN’s Centre for Visual Arts at the KwaZulu-Natal Museum, 25 November 2021, 6.30 pm.

This event is a creative experiment between the Centre for Visual Arts and the KwaZulu-Natal Museum seeking to explore the use of art as a mode of enquiry to generate new meanings within inherited spaces.

The intervention is inspired by the motif of Isivivane, a word in isiZulu which refers to a pile of stones or cairn, as well as a coming together or collection more generally.

Common in many communities globally, cairns serve a commemorative purpose, marking places of spiritual or historical meaning. They can also act as geographic markers, with travellers and passers-by adding stones to bring them good fortune. “Ukuphosa itshe esivivaneni” is a Zulu proverb referring to the individual’s contribution to a greater, collective good – literally to throw one’s stone on the pile.

• Secure parking will be available in front of the KwaZulu-Natal Museum, 237 Jabu Ndlovu Street, Pietermaritzburg, but booking is essential.

• Media contact: Drs Jess Draper at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and Justine Wintjes at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

• RSVP is essential. Contact Nozipho Mathonsi at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or 033 345 1404.

#kznmuseum #UKZN #exhibtions #isivivane #mohaumodisakeng #visualarts

Fieldwork in the Waterberg, Limpopo Province

Waterberg 1

Guilhelm Mauran, Ghilraen Laue, Lyn Wadley, Christine Sievers, Wim Biemond, Doreen Versfeld in Kaingo Rock Shelter.

Earlier this month Ghilraen Laue from the Museum’s Department of Human Sciences joined a team from the Evolutionary Studies Institute, University of the Witwatersrand for fieldwork in the Waterberg, Limpopo Province. Under the leadership of Professor Lyn Wadley the team opened up a 2 x 1 metre trench for excavation, in a rock shelter on the Private Game Reserve, Kaingo. During the two-week excavation season, the team dug the Later Stone Age deposits in the shelter with finds including beautifully crafted stone tools, ostrich eggshell beads, botanical remains including seeds, and Iron Age pottery fragments. Charcoal was recovered for ¹⁴C dating. Two pigment samples from the unusual rock paintings were taken for analysis. Publication of the finds and on the pigment samples will follow once analysis is complete.

Waterberg 2

The excavation trench ready for the finds to be mapped. Note that the shelter floor has been lined with geotextile to minimize dust which can damage the paintings.

Waterberg 3

One of the stone artefacts found: a tiny scraper.

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Cell C Take a Girl Child to Work Day continued with part 2. The guest speaker was Ntokozo Tono, a masters student in Sociology from UKZN and he spoke on career choices and how to compile a curriculum vitae to the grade 9 learners who are about to make subject choices for grade 10. Thembikosi Sithole, an Information Officer from the KZN Museum also gave the learners some insight into the work he does.

The learners all received Museum branded water bottles . We look forward to the 12 November for our concluding workshop which will be hosted at the KZN Museum. Learners will have some on the ground experience in the working environment.

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