Dr. Ghilraen Laue is currently part of an exciting excavation project at the newly established research center at Kaingo Game Reserve. As one of the first researchers to work at this state-of-the-art facility, Dr. Laue is collaborating with a team of experts on the excavation of Pride Rock, a site of significant archaeological interest. The ongoing project is organized by Professor Lyn Wadley from the Evolutionary Studies Institute, Wits University, and includes leading researchers such as Dr. Rosa Moll (Wits University), Dr. Bongekile Zwane (University of Johannesburg), and Dr. Chrissie Sievers (Wits University).

18 September 2024

WhatsApp Image 2024 09 18 at 20.33.18 6f9711fb

Continued excavations at the site of Pride Rock, first excavated in 2023

WhatsApp Image 2024 09 18 at 20.33.18 65c90c69

WhatsApp Image 2024 09 18 at 20.40.00 5b0b34f7

Dr Bongekile Zwane, University of Johannesburg and Dr Rosa Moll,Wits University

WhatsApp Image 2024 09 18 at 20.41.02 decd3e0d

Professor Lyn Wadley from the Evolutionary Studies Institute, Wits University, and Dr. Chrissie Sievers from Wits University sorting through excavated material at the Pride Rock site.

19 September 2024

clive walker

Today we were visited on site by internationally renowned conservationist Clive Walker (picture with Dr Laue)

Ghilraen mapping

Dr Laue Mapping her recent findings

21 September 2024

Working on a big 5 Game Reserve means we need armed rangers with us when we do survey work, but it also means we see many different animals on our drive to and from the site each day.

Michael and Jaque

Michael and Jaque keeping us safe

We were joined by Pieter Norval from Metohm South Africa and Linda Prinsloo (Wits University). They used a handheld Raman Spectrometer for non-destructive material identification of rock art pigments.

WhatsApp Image 2024 09 21 at 20.56.39 3e56a498

Pieter and Linda at work at Kaingo Sheep Shelter

Pieter

Back in the on site lab at the Kaingo Research Centre Pieter and Linda used a portable laboratory Raman spectrometer and a desktop FTIR spectrometer for analysis of some of the material removed from the excavations. These two methods are complementary and among other things allowed us to confirm the presence of an ancient hearth.

24 September 2024

Working on Heritage Day!

GL 2

WhatsApp Image 2024 09 24 at 10.33.11 67d11f34

WhatsApp Image 2024 09 24 at 10.47.21 55de38ce

Find from this morning, grooved stone for either bead making or arrow straightening.

WhatsApp Image 2024 09 24 at 17.54.50 3bab1512

Some pictures of the Kaingo sheep shelter where Pieter and Linda did the Raman Analysis spoken about above

28 September 2024

WhatsApp Image 2024 09 28 at 10.45.22 205ec2cd

Maggie Loubser with the XRF spectrometer at Rock art site DWA 6

Maggie Loubser and Salomé ale Roux, from the University of Pretoria, joined the team. They used a handheld XRF spectrometer for non-invasive elemental analysis of the rock art pigment as well as Ultraviolet induced visible photography to look at the difference in fluorescence between different white pigments. The analysis is still in progress, but we hope that these non-destructive methods will be able to give us further insights into the rock art pigments used in the Waterberg.

WhatsApp Image 2024 09 28 at 10.45.56 c3dc3cfd

We had to wait until dark for Salomé to do her Ultraviolet Induced Photography

WhatsApp Image 2024 09 28 at 10.45.57 d7c52bb1

Some of the preliminary results of the above photography

WhatsApp Image 2024 09 28 at 10.45.58 877015bd

WhatsApp Image 2024 09 28 at 11.14.06 b69003f4

Ghilraen Laue with Janette Deacon and Lyn Wadley, two of South Africa’s top archaeologists

WhatsApp Image 2024 09 28 at 11.21.47 815d5610

Maria van der Ryst (formerly of Unisa) joined us for some of the excavation. Maria carried out a number of excavations in the Waterberg published in 1998 and in her PhD in 2006

WhatsApp Image 2024 09 28 at 11.37.55 6e23d5f7

One of the great things about the new Kaingo Game Reserve research facilities is a large lab space for sorting and washing our finds and microscope work. From left to right Dr Janette Deacon, Dr Maria van der Ryst, Dr Bongekile Zwane, Dr Chrissie Sievers.

WhatsApp Image 2024 09 28 at 11.38.40 50544590

Prof Lyn Wadley and Dr Rosa Moll washing the finds

WhatsApp Image 2024 09 28 at 11.46.32 0c4da6e5

Dr Bongekile Zwane (University of Johannesburg) spend some of her time in the lab looking at the charcoal from the current excavation. Dr Zwane is an anthracologist, meaning she specialises in identifying woody species from ancient charcoal. So far she has identified over twenty different woody plant species from Pride Rock excavations

WhatsApp Image 2024 09 28 at 11.49.06 d0258445

Next to the lab, the research centre has a conference area for more formal discussions

WhatsApp Image 2024 09 28 at 11.51.31 9f3945c8

Nearing the end of this season’s excavation we are still finding evidence of human occupation. This means we will have to come back to the site for a third excavation season.

WhatsApp Image 2024 09 28 at 11.54.02 922c46b3

The research centre entrance.

2 October 2024

Over the last three days, Lyn Wadley and Dr Laue have been working with Professor Pearce, Rock Art Research Institute, University of the Witwatersrand to sample rock art pigments for possible dating. They had a permit to sample images from sites at Kaingo, Lapalala, Lindani and Masebe. The samples will be sent to Adelphine Bonneau at the Université de Sherbrooke, Canada, for analysis. This analysis will show which pigments will be suitable for dating and a second round of sampling will be conducted at these sites.

WhatsApp Image 2024 10 02 at 14.00.54 3b32611f

Prof David Pearce taking a tiny (less than 1 mm squared) sample.

WhatsApp Image 2024 10 02 at 14.09.19 9263bb4f

Two of the black images which were sampled

WhatsApp Image 2024 10 02 at 14.23.58 efae3bdf

Another, this enhanced image shows a black rhino and human figure

As Dr. Laue wraps up her blog from this trip, she shares a few more images and assures us that new updates will follow when she returns to the site in February/March 2025.

WhatsApp Image 2024 10 08 at 08.42.48 41d3b3cb

Two animals with storage heads at a site near the Lapalala Wilderness school

WhatsApp Image 2024 10 08 at 08.44.52 66d4a619

An enhanced image of a black rhino. Rhino paintings are not common in the Waterberg but are found at at least 5 rock art sites

WhatsApp Image 2024 10 08 at 08.46.35 9a9ca1ca

An enhanced image of a human figure. This site was small with only 5 or 6 paintings but exciting as it is the furthest south painted site we have found n the Waterberg

WhatsApp Image 2024 10 08 at 08.52.02 3dfe9de7

Another enhanced image from the same site

SOCIAL2S_SHARE_TEXT

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 1980

Death Jewellery by Inandi Maree, Senior Exhibitions Manager

This unusual necklace made from snake vertebrae was accessioned into the museum in 1980. Unfortunately, no provenance was provided for the necklace and therefore it is not possible to identify the woman and little girl in the ivory locket. The Victorian era saw the extensive use of death jewellery, or memento mori. Death jewellery was worn when mourning the passing of a loved one and was made from materials which lacked lustre, such as jet, vulcanite or onyx. The poor reflective qualities of the jewellery symbolised the absence of life. It was also common to add a piece of hair and/or an image of the deceased. A snake eating its own tail was a recurring symbol, indicating that the deceased will live on eternally in the memories of the wearer. This particularly rare necklace has all these mentioned elements; the vertebrae and ivory lack lustre, the snake portion of the necklace has no head or tail and is linked in a circle. Instead of hair, there are photographs of a woman and a girl. A mother and daughter, perhaps? We might never know. All we can be sure of is that the memory of them has been living on for more than a century.

Victorian memento mori locket made out of snake vertebrae and ivory.

SOCIAL2S_SHARE_TEXT

120 Years in 120 Objects

Today’s Object is from 1975

The Fly Collection by Kirstin Williams, Chief Curator of Arthropoda

In 1975, the Diptera (flies) collection of the Transvaal Museum was donated to the Natal Museum, following an agreement reached between the Councils of the Transvaal and Natal Museums. During that time, such agreements were common amongst South African museums as efforts were made to centralize and consolidate collections. The Transvaal Museum became the largest repository for Coleoptera (butterflies) while the Natl Museum became the principal repository for Diptera in the country. The donated collection contains valuable type material of various European dipterists, such as Engel, Bezzi and Krober. In addition, it includes the Diptera collection of Dr H. Brauns (a German medical doctor). Dr Brauns settled in Port Elizabeth in 1895 and worked in both the Orange Free State and Cape Province where he finally settled in Willowmore in 1900. He was very interested in Hymenoptera (bees and wasps) and generated a collection of over 70 000 specimens that was sold to the Transvaal Museum in 1925. Part of that collection included a Diptera (true flies) collection that formed part of the donation to the Natal Museum. The collection has been incorporated into the KwaZulu-Natal Museum entomology collection, which has made it accessible to researchers from all over the world. There are over 6 000 specimens collected by Brauns.

Part of the Braun Collection of more than 6,000 Diptera specimens.

SOCIAL2S_SHARE_TEXT

120 Years in 120 Objects

Today’s Object is from 2006

Madiba Shirt by Heather Frost, Senior Exhibitions Officer

In 1994, the father of the nation, Nelson Mandela, wore a hand-printed batik shirt designed by Desre Buirski to a dress-rehearsal for the opening of the first democratic parliament. Over the years, Madiba would wear many printed, embroidered and hand-painted shirts that became iconic of the man himself. This shirt, designed by Sonwabile Ndamase, is a replica of the shirt Mandela wore when he received the Freedom of the City of Pietermaritzburg in 1997. Ndamase was the keynote speaker at the opening of the Mandela Centenary exhibition in 2018. He kindly donated the shirt to the museum collection.

The Director of the KwaZulu-Natal National Museum, Mr Luthando Maphasa (left), greets Sonwabile Ndamase (Right), the designer of the Madiba Shirt on exhibit at the museum.

SOCIAL2S_SHARE_TEXT

Start
Prev
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Next
End

120 Years in 120 Objects

Today’s Object is from 1980

Death Jewellery by Inandi Maree, Senior Exhibitions Manager

120 Years in 120 Objects

Today’s Object is from 1975

The Fly Collection by Kirstin Williams, Chief Curator of Arthropoda

120 Years in 120 Objects

Today’s Object is from 2006

Madiba Shirt by Heather Frost, Senior Exhibitions Officer

Opening Times