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News
After a long period of being closed due to maintenance, we welcome back three of the KZN Museum's most popular attractions, the Sounds of Africa Gallery, Mapungubwe Gallery and the Portuguese Trade Gallery.
Here is what you can look forward to when visiting these galleries.
๐’๐จ๐ฎ๐ง๐๐ฌ ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐€๐Ÿ๐ซ๐ข๐œ๐š ๐†๐š๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ž๐ซ๐ฒ:
Learn about a varied selection of African musical instruments and get to play a tune on the ever-popular Marimba set.
๐๐จ๐ซ๐ญ๐ฎ๐ ๐ฎ๐ž๐ฌ๐ž ๐“๐ซ๐š๐๐ž ๐†๐š๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ž๐ซ๐ฒ:
Travel back time and experience life on the ocean as a 16th-century trader as you walk onto the wooden deck of a wrecked trading ship.
๐Œ๐š๐ฉ๐ฎ๐ง๐ ๐ฎ๐›๐ฐ๐ž ๐†๐š๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ž๐ซ๐ฒ:
Learn all about the ancient African Kingdom of Mapungubwe and its ascent to power during 1200 and 1290 AD.
KwaZulu-Natal Museum, a journey of never-ending discovery!
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May 2023 Newsletter

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Read all about our recent happenings in the Museum in our May 2023 Newsletter

Celebrating Fifty Years of Archaeology-Remembering Past Staff: Dr Bronwen van Doornum

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Celebrating Fifty Years of Archaeology-Remembering Past Staff: Dr Bronwen van Doornum Bronwen Louelle van Doornum was born on 25 May 1976. She star...

Celebrating Fifty Years of Archaeology-Remembering Past Staff: Valerie Ward

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Celebrating Fifty Years of Archaeology-Remembering Past Staff: Valerie Ward Val Ward was born in 1935 in Durban, where she later studied and then p...

Celebrating Fifty Years of Archaeology-Remembering Past Staff: Dr Aron Mazel

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Celebrating Fifty Years of Archaeology-Remembering Past Staff: Dr Aron Mazel Aron joined the museum in 1979 immediately after completing his honour...

Celebrating Fifty Years of Archaeology-Remembering Past Staff: Dr Timothy Maggs

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Celebrating Fifty Years of Archaeology-Remembering Past Staff: Dr Timothy Maggs Tim Maggs (on the left in the picture above) became involved in arc...

Rock art at Bamboo Mountain โ€“ Part 2

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Rock Art at Bamboo Mountain โ€“ Part 2 ย  In April Drs Ghilraen Laue and Justine Wintjes of the Department of Human Sciences, KZN Museum, and Dr Vibeke...

Rock art at Bamboo Mountain โ€“ Part 1

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Rock Art at Bamboo Mountain โ€“ Part 1 In April Drs Justine Wintjes and Ghilraen Laue of the Department of Human Sciences, KZN Museum, along with Dr Vi...

Youth Empowerment Workshop

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In anticipation of Youth Month the KZN Museum has prepared a Youth Development Workshop on the 15 June 2023, from 9am - 1pm, to empower young peop...

KwaZulu-Natal Museum at Tourism Indaba

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KwaZulu-Natal Museum at Tourism Indaba ย Come and visit the South African Museums Association (SAMA) stand at the Tourism Indaba at the Durban Interna...

Storeroom Talk - May

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Mark your schedules and save the date! The KZN Museum's next storeroom talk will take place on Wednesday, 10th of May at 10h30. Gunther Moller will ...

April 2023 Newsletter

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Click on this link to:ย Read all the latest happenings from the month of April! ย  ย  ย  ย 

Data Liberator through PLAZI

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Data Liberator through PLAZI ย  ย  By Siya Zamisa ย  Dr John Midgley and I attended a Plazi workshop that seeks to promote the development of pers...

Excavations near Weenen

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Excavations near Weenen Archaeologist Gavin Whitelaw, KwaZulu-Natal Museum, and a team from the University of Pretoria led by Kefilwe Rammutloa are c...

Rare slug from Drakensberg

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RARE SLUG FROM DRAKENSBERG Over a 130 years ago, Henry Clifden Burnup (1852โ€“1928), lived in Pietermaritzburg and was, essentially, the founder of the...

March 2023 Newsletter

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Click on this link to:ย Read all the latest happenings from the month of March! ย  ย 

Visit by Royal Armouries

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Visit by Royal Armouries Between 1919 and 1920, the Secretary for State for the Colonies offered material from the Tower of London, which was part of...

Storeroom Talk

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Easter Weekend Hours 2023

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New insights from old collections

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New insights from old collections The KwaZulu-Natal Museumโ€™s Human Sciences department is hosting three visiting researchers from Europe, Dr Gregor B...

A surprising find at Sibhudu Shelter!

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A surprising find at Sibhudu Shelter! ย An exciting new kind of object was found during recent excavations at Sibhudu Shelter, near Ballito, on the no...

Human Rights Day

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Happy Human Rights Dayย Today we celebrate the cornerstone of democracy in South Africa, the rights of all people in our country and the democratic v...

World Poetry Day

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World Poetry Day celebrates linguistic diversity and recognizes the unique ability of poetry to capture the creative spirit of the human mind. ย  ...

Natural Science Lesson

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Getting a closer look at the differences between animal and plant cells with Mashaka Combined School during their formal Natural Science lesson on...

Fuzeโ€™s Gourd Installation discussed in International Seminar

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Fuzeโ€™s Gourd Installation discussed in International Seminar At a seminar hosted by the Research Centre for Material Culture in the Netherlands and h...

New Collaborative Research between Members of the Khoesan Community and Scholars at the KwaZulu-Natal Museum Published

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New Collaborative Research between Members of the Khoesan Community and Scholars at the KwaZulu-Natal Museum Published A paper entitled โ€˜Mijnheer Loc...

Newsletter February 2023

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Read all about the happenings at the Museum during the month of February.ย  Click on the word Febuary to access the newsletter.ย ย 

Recent book donations to the KwaZulu-Natal Museum Library!

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Recent book donations to the KwaZulu-Natal Museum Library! Our warmest thanks go to recent donors of art, history, and archaeology books to the KwaZu...

South Coast sampling

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South Coast sampling by Dr T Nxele Another interesting earthworm survey at Oribi Gorge took place in December 2023, where sugarcane was one of the si...

January 2023 Newsletter

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Our newsletter is out! Catch up on all things KZN Museum, click on the link below. ย  January 2023 Newsletter

Documenting rock art in the Waterberg

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Documenting rock art in the Waterberg A panel of antelope in a small but densely painted shelter (Waterberg, photograph: G. Laue). ย  The rock art o...

Posthumously-published paper by Professor Thomas N. Huffman available as open access

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Posthumously-published paper by Professor Thomas N. Huffman available as open access Venda-type walling, Limpopo Province. Image credit: T. N. Huffma...

Seasonal Survey of horse flies

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Seasonal Survey of horse flies by Dr Kirsten Williams Horse flies are usually seen as a nuisance that bite, but they are also important vectors of di...

Progress made on pollinating fly conservation

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Progress made on pollinating fly conservation by Dr John Midgley While most people are well aware of the role bees play in pollination, the role of o...

Fieldwork in the Groot Winterhoek Mountains, Eastern Cape

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Fieldwork in the Groot Winterhoek Mountains, Eastern Cape In November 2022, Dr Vibeke Viestad from the University of Oslo joined Drs Ghilraen Laue an...

Research into โ€˜Bushmanโ€™ dress by visiting scholar Dr. V. M Viestad

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Research into โ€˜Bushmanโ€™ dress by visiting scholar Dr. V. M. Viestad The Department of Human Sciences recently hosted Dr Vibeke Maria Viestad from th...

Fuzeโ€™s gourd

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Fuzeโ€™s gourd In 1904, the Museum received a donation of a beer gourd. The donor was probably the amakholwa writer and intellectual Magema Magwaza Fuz...

Long Service Awards

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ย  Congratulations to our staff that received long service awards today! Your years of service at the KwaZulu-Natal Museum are a true testimony of y...

World Aids Day

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Raising awareness to help fight the stigma and discrimination against HIV/AIDS.#kznmuseumย #WorldAIDSDayย #1stofDecemberย #RockTheRibbon ย  ย  ย 

Holiday Programme

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Shark Dissection Show

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The Black People and Whence They Came

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UKZN Press and The KwaZulu-Natal Museum invite you to celebrate the republication of Abantu Abamnyama Lapa Bavela Ngakona & The Black People and Whenc...

Indian Africans

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The public is invited to attend this book launch, to be held at the KZN Museum on Saturday, 26 November at 3pm. Entrance is free. Please RSVP...

Donโ€™t worry! We have more snakes in the collection room

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Donโ€™t worry! We have more snakes in the collection room by Matabaro Ziganiraย  Over the last few months, our successful outreach programmes led by th...

San tortoise-shell boxes, past and present

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ยซThis little thing of oursยป, as one Ju|โ€™hoan woman expressed it earlier this year, is a distinct part of San material culture. The tortoise-shell bo...

Excavations at Border Cave 2022

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Excavations at Border Cave 2022 Border Cave is located in the Lebombo mountain range in KwaZulu-Natal overlooking eSwatini. This site is one of a few...

Night at the Museum: Halloween Edition FAQ's

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Where to park?

Exploring coral reef resilience

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Exploring coral reef resilience When looking at the sand on a beach, one might not realise that it can contain many different types of shells: from t...

Imisundu iwuvundisa kanjani umhlabathi

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Imisundu njenga ihlala emhlabathini kusho ukuthi nokubaluleka kwayo kuse mhlabathini. Imisundu idla umhlabathi ihlanganise namacembe asefile awela pha...

Opening Times and Entry Fees

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Request for Quotations

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Professor Judith Masters, 1956 โ€“ 2022

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Professor Judith Masters, 1956 โ€“ 2022By Dr Gavin Whitelaw On the 3rd of October 2022, Professor Judith Masters and her partner Dr Fabien Gรฉnin were...

Game Pass Shelter Symposium

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The Department of Human Sciences of the KwaZulu-Natal Museum hosted a lively symposium about Game Pass Shelter from 14 to 16 September 2022, which inc...

Woodstock Rocks Excavation โ€“ September/October 2022

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Dr Ghilraen Laue, Human Sciences Department, KwaZulu-Natal Museum is currently working on an archaeological excavation directed by Professor Lyn Wadle...

Natural Science Department at International Hover Fly symposium

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With the relaxation of international travel restrictions, KwaZulu-Natal Museum scientists are able to share their research with a global audience agai...

The 16th PanAfrican Archaeological Association Congress, Zanzibar, Tanzania

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The 16th PanAfrican Archaeological Association Congress, Zanzibar, Tanzania In August, Dr. Justine Wintjes and Dr. Ghilraen Laue, Human Sciences De...

SAMA Conference

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KwaZulu-Natal Museum participationย at the regional South African Museums Association Conferenceย and the fieldwork in Zululand The conference took pla...

Ukuphosa itshe esivivaneni

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Opening of UKUPHOSA ITSHE ISIVIVANENI, an art installation by UKZNโ€™s Centre for Visual Arts at the KwaZulu-Natal Museum19th September 2022 @ 5.30pm ...

Spears week: annual intervention into the Human Sciences collections

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Spears week: annual intervention into the Human Sciences collections Spears were the focus of the annual intervention into the KwaZulu-Natal Museumโ€™s...

Archaeological Society Talk: Excavation and Rock Art in the Waterberg

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Archaeological Society Talk: Excavation and Rock Art in the WaterbergGhilraen Laue and Professor Lyn Wadley in front of the large sheep painting at th...

Mandela Day 2022

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The KZN Museum commemorated Mandela Day with a special visit to Sivuli Zandla Children's Home Care Centre located in Willofontein. The visit ...

Bat Rescue

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An unexpected visitor to the museum recently caused consternation for some of the staff.ย  On returning to work after a weekend, a bat was discovered d...

Visiting Scholar from the University of Toronto, Canada

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Visiting Scholar from the University of Toronto, Canada Ms. Hopper measuring the internal diameter of an ostrich eggshell bead. Courtneay Hopper, a ...

Outreach Holiday Programme

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ย  KZN Museum Outreach Education Officer Marsha Kalika conducted a 3-day outreach holiday programme at the Old Prison Museum this week. The k...

Visiting Researchers from the University of Johannesburg

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Visiting Researchers from the University of Johannesburg In early June the KwaZulu-Natal Museum, Human Sciences Department, welcomed University of Jo...

Night at the Museum: Winter Edition

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The KwaZulu-Natal Museum presents Night at the Museum. So much to see including live snake shows! Loads of activities: archaeological exc...

Sharing Continuedโ€ฆLeads to Standardization of Datasets Information

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RECAP: One of the mandates for the Natural Science Department, is to publish its collections data that fall under its umbrella to the free access data...

Archaeoacoustic project in the uKhahlamba-Drakensberg Park

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Archaeoacoustic project in the uKhahlamba-Drakensberg Park Recently, Dr Ghilraen Laue, Human Sciences Department, Kwazulu-Natal Museum, joined the ER...

Just out: the book Archives of Times Past

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Just out: the book Archives of Times Past ย  A book titled Archives of Times Past: conversations about South Africaโ€™s deepย history, edited by Cynth...

Chemists, druggists and theatrics: a new donation for the KwaZulu-Natal Museum

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Chemists, druggists, and theatrics: a new donation for the KwaZulu-Natal Museum ย Mr. Coyne holding one of the items donated: the โ€˜Dispensing Deptโ€™ si...

Call for suppliers

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INVITATION TO SMEs TO SUBMIT THEIR COMPANY PROFILES KwaZulu-Natal Museumโ€™s procurement operations are governed in accordance with the Public Finance ...

Taxonomy and Systematics Training Course

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From the 28th April to the 8th May a training course in Taxonomy and Systematics of African Pollinating flies was held at Shawswood in Karkloof, KZN. ...

Africa Day at the Museum

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The KZN Museum will be celebrating Africa Day on the 25th May 2022 from 9am โ€“ 12:00 pm. The first part of the celebrations includes a lecture on Afric...

International Museum Day 2022

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Every year we celebrate International Museum Day on the 18 May! This year the focus is on "Museums have the power to transform the world around us." ...

Collection expansion by interns

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In June 2019 the Museum hosted two interns in the department of Natural Sciences (Malacology) in partnership with CATHSSETA. In their first week of a...

A visit to Patricia Vinnicombeโ€™s childhood home

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A visit to Patricia Vinnicombeโ€™s childhood home "My main aim has been to demonstrate that the Bushman rock paintings are concerned not so much with t...

Launch of reading corner

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KZN Museum celebrated World Book and Copyright Day by launching a reading corner at the Learners Resource Centre.ย  Special thanks to guest sp...

World Book and Copyright Day

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Happy World Book and Copyright Day! ๐Ÿ“–๐Ÿ“— Created by UNESCO on 23rd April 1995, World Book Day is a worldwide celebration, promoting the enjoyme...

Reading Corner Launch

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THE PUBLIC IS INVITED TO ATTEND as we celebrate World Book and Copyright Day by launching a reading corner at the KZN Museum. Join us this c...

Easter Weekend Hours

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๐—ฃ๐—น๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐˜€๐—ฒ ๐˜๐—ฎ๐—ธ๐—ฒ ๐—ป๐—ผ๐˜๐—ฒ ๐—ผ๐—ณ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐— ๐˜‚๐˜€๐—ฒ๐˜‚๐—บ ๐—ต๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—ฟ๐˜€ ๐—ผ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ถ๐˜€ ๐—ณ๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜๐—ถ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ ๐˜„๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐—ธ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐—ฑ. Wishing you and your loved ones a peaceful long weekend. Stay safe. ...

Thomas Neil Huffman (17 July 1944 โ€“ 30 March 2022)

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Thomas Niel Huffman 17 July 1944 โ€“ 30 March 2022 Thomas (Tom) Huffman, professor emeritus of archaeology at Wits University, died yesterday at hom...

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Adults (over 17 years) : R15.00

Children (4-17 years) : R 5.00 

School Learners on tour : R 2.50 per child

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