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

Aron joined the museum in 1979 immediately after completing his honours in Archaeology at the University of Cape Town. He undertook a project, funded by the Department of Forestry, to record rock paintings in the uKhahlamba-Drakensberg mountains and make management recommendations about them. In 1981, a second post in archaeology was created at the museum and Aron took up this position. While employed at the museum, he obtained his master's degree and then his doctorate from the University of Cape Town. His master's dissertation focused on the rock paintings in the uKhahlamba-Drakensberg, while his doctorate, based on his excavation of eight rock shelters, investigated the last 10 000 years of San hunter-gatherer history in the Thukela Basin. Thereafter, he excavated another seven rock shelters in the Thukela Basin. Both his rock art and excavation research have significantly expanded our knowledge of hunter-gatherer history in KwaZulu-Natal and substantially contributed to our understanding of the South African past prior to colonialism. Aron became Assistant Director at the Natal Museum in 1994 before becoming Director of the South African Cultural History Museum in Cape Town in 1998. Today, he lives in the United Kingdom where he recently retired as a Reader in Heritage Studies at Newcastle University. He remains attached to the university as an Associate Researcher.