New publications by Museum staff

Last month the volume Perspectives on Differences in Rock Art, edited by Jan Magne Gjerde and Mari Strifeldt Arntzen, was published by Equninox Press. The volume presents 25 papers written by rock art scholars from across the globe, and includes papers by Dr Ghilraen Laue and Dr Geoffrey Blundell of the Human Sciences Department at the KwaZulu-Natal Museum. Dr Blundell considers how rock art was used in identity construction and contestation in the Nomansland region after the arrival of people other than the San. Dr Laue considers the question of regionality in rock art and explores how concepts of communities and constellations of practice offer tools to reconceptualise regional differences. These two concepts are applied to motifs of flight and transformation in three areas of rock art to interrogate difference and regional variation in the art.

This volume explores the differences observed in rock art through time and space, synchronically and diachronically. These differences can, for example, be in form, content or space (macro and micro), where explanations might relate to a variety of factors such as political or societal beliefs and rituals. This volume also discusses the many-sided and complex issues connected with authenticity and presentation, and the efforts and choices that are taken to preserve and present rock art.

Introduction to the volume is free to read here