Wishing you all everything of the best this new year! May it be a prosperous one!

The KZN Museum Human Science department recently hosted a visiting researcher, Dr Gerrit Dusseldorp and a team from the Faculty of Archaeology, Leiden University in the Netherlands. The team recently excavated at the Umhlatuzana Rock Shelter, which is just off the N3 near Marianhill Toll Plaza. The site was first opened and excavated in the late 1980’s due to the building of the N3 Marian Hill Toll-Gate, and is a Middle Stone Age (100 000- 30 000 years ago) and a Late Stone Age site (30 000 - 2 000 years ago). The KwaZulu-Natal Museum currently stores the material excavated from this site. Dr Dusseldorp and his team spent some time at the KZN Museum sorting through this material. 

On Saturday 16 November 2019, Dr Geoff Blundell presented preliminary results of historical research on the Lochenberg family to descendants of the Lochenberg’s, as well as the Fynn’s Ogle’s, Rudd’s, Kok’s, Dunn’s, Biggar’s and others at Durban East Primary School. Nicholaas Lochenberg, a Dutch-speaking white man, born into the Cape Colony, absconded in the late 1790s when the British took over the Cape. He partnered a Khoisan woman, Sarah, with whom he had five children. Nicholaas was an influential figure on the south-eastern seaboard, assisting missionaries and being recognized as a ‘chief’ by a number of the paramount leaders in that part of the world. He lived close to Hintsa’s Great Place and in 1829, Faku, the principal leader of the Mpondo requested Nicholaas to fight against the invading Qwabe. In the battle Nicholaas and his Khoi forces, after wounding the Qwabe leader, Nqetho, were overwhelmed and killed.

After Nicholaas’ death, his son, Hans played a prominent role in the Nomansland region, between the Cape and Natal colonies. Hans was widely acknowledged as a Chief as well and the Mpondomise payed tribute to him while several San groups collaborated and joined his followers. By the 1860s, Hans boasted a retinue of 200 guns and 900 shields and was cultivating crops as diverse as coffee, sugar and bananas. Hans’ brother, William, was a catechist for the London Missionary Society. Some of William’s children married those of Henry Francis Fynn and throughout the late 19^th and 20^th centuries, the Fynn’s, Ogle’s, Rudd’s, Kok’s, Dunn’s, Biggar’s and Lochenberg’s have intermarried. Somewhat fittingly, the great-great granddaughter of Hans Lochenberg also attended the event. While scattered throughout the country, many descendants of these pioneering surnames are today based in Wentworth; this community’s struggle for recognition is the subject of an ongoing research collaboration between Troy Meyers, a descendant of Hans Lochenberg, Angela Ferreira, a volunteer at the KwaZulu-Natal Museum, and Dr Blundell, the Head of the Department of Human Sciences at the museum.

Celebrating Women in Science

The KZN Museum celebrated Women’s Day on Wednesday 08 August. The event celebrated Women in Science. The two guest speaker were Dr Kirstin Williams, Chief Curator of Arthropoda at the KZN Museum and Miss Nomandla Ngcoya, founder of Dlamini Chemicals. Dr Williams addressed the learners about her work at the Museum as an Entomologist and gave a very enlightening presentation on Forensic Entomology. Ms Ngcoya addressed the learners about her journey about career choices since she was in high school and how she came to study chemistry. The Cedara Soil Science Department, UKZN Science Department and Olwazini Discovery Centre were also present at the event and showcased the different work/programmes that they run in their institutions.