Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Designing Digital Recording for Volunteers in Rock Art Surveys, Management Plans and Public Outreach in the Cederberg, South Africa

  • Original Article
  • Published:
African Archaeological Review Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The rock art survey and recording project described in this paper was designed for volunteers and heritage professionals involved in locating and mapping the position of rock art and other archaeological sites in the field, recording basic details for conservation and management, and making these details accessible in digital format for researchers who might want to undertake further investigation. An OpenDataKit (ODK) App with a digital site recording form was designed for mobile phones to be used in the field and to send data directly to the digital inventory of the South African Heritage Resources Information System (SAHRIS). The inventory has accumulated over 3000 sites with Later Stone Age rock paintings in the mountainous terrain of the Cederberg, a region that includes properties in the serial Cape Floral Region World Heritage Site in the Western Cape Province. More than a third of these rock art sites have been added to the database since 2007 by the members of the South African Archaeological Society. The information forms the basis for rock art management plans that are given to property owners to guide them in maintaining the value of the rock art. Interpretation of the information has raised awareness of the significance of the rock art in its historical and landscape setting with a trail and information boards. Local residents and CapeNature staff, who have received training in rock art monitoring and tourist guiding, play a key role in implementing the management plans for CapeNature properties, and monitoring individual sites and trails. The broader international context of volunteer programmes for archaeological site recording suggests that this type of programme has the potential to raise awareness of rock art beyond books and visits to museums and public lectures.

Résumé

Le projet décrit dans cet article a été conçu pour les volontaires et les professionnels du patrimoine en vue de repérer et de tracer la position des peintures rupestres et d’autres site archéologiques sur le terrain, d’enregistrer les informations élémentaires pour la préservation et la gestion de cet art, de rendre ces informations accessibles en format numérique aux chercheurs qui souhaiteraient éventuellement entreprendre une étude approfondie dans le domaine. Une application intitulée OpenDataKit (ODK), assortie d’un formulaire numérique d’enregistrement de site, a été conçue pour les téléphones portables utilisés sur le terrain, et pour envoyer des données directement à l’inventaire numérique du South African Heritage Resources Information System (SAHRIS) (Système d’information de l’Agence des ressources pour le patrimoine sud-africain). L’inventaire accumule plus de 3000 sites comprenant des peintures rupestres du néolithique dans la région montagneuse du Cederberg, qui inclut des propriétés situées sur le site du Patrimoine mondial du bien en série des Aires protégées de la Région florale du Cap, dans la province du Cap Occidental. Plus du tiers de ces sites at été ajouté à la base de données depuis 2007, par des membres de la Société archéologique d’Afrique du Sud. Ces informations servent de fondement aux plans de gestion de l’art rupestre, qui sont remis aux propriétaires fonciers afin de les aider à maintenir la valeur des peintures rupestres. L’interprétation de ces informations a permis de sensibiliser le public à la signification de l’art rupestre dans son contexte historique et son cadre paysager, avec des sentiers balisés et des panneaux d’information. La population locale et le personnel de CapeNature qui ont suivi une formation en matière de gestion de l’art rupestre et de visites guidées, jouent un rôle clé dans la mise en œuvre des plans de gestion des propriétés de CapeNature et le suivi des sites et des sentiers individuels. Le contexte international élargi des programmes de volontariat pour l’enregistrement des sites archéologiques indique que ce type de programme a le potentiel pour sensibiliser à l’art rupestre au-delà des livres, des visites de musées et des conférences publiques.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Australia ICOMOS. (2013). The Burra Charter: The Australia ICOMOS Charter for Places of Cultural Significance. Burwood: Australia ICOMOS Incorporated.

    Google Scholar 

  • Barnett, T. (2010). Putting people in the picture: Community involvement in rock art recording. In T. Barnett & K. Sharpe (Eds.), Carving a future for British rock art. New directions for research, management and presentation (pp. 25–36). Oxford: Oxbow Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Barnett, T., & Díaz-Andreu, M. (2005). Knowledge capture and transfer in rock art studies: Results of a questionnaire on rock art decay in Britain. Conservation and Management of Archaeological Sites, 7(1), 35–48.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bassett, S. T. (2001). Rock paintings of South Africa: Revealing a legacy. Cape Town: David Philip.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bassett, S. T. (2008). Reservoirs of potency: The documentary paintings of Stephen Townley Bassett. Johannesburg: University of the Witwatersrand Rock Art Research Institute.

    Google Scholar 

  • Council of Europe. (1999). Core data standard for archaeological sites and monuments/Fiche d’indexion minimale pour les Sites archéologiques. Strasbourg: Council of Europe Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Davis, H. A. (2010). Heritage resource management in the United States. In P. M. Messenger & G. S. Smith (Eds.), Cultural heritage management. A global perspective (pp. 188–198). Gainesville: University Press of Florida.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Deacon, J. (1994). Management guidelines for rock art sites in two wilderness areas in the Western Cape. Pretoria: Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism.

    Google Scholar 

  • Deacon, J. (1997). A regional management strategy for rock art in southern Africa. Conservation and Management of Archaeological Sites, 2(1), 29–32.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Deacon, J. (1998). Some views on rock paintings in the Cederberg. Cape Town: National Monuments Council.

    Google Scholar 

  • Deacon, J., & Agnew, N. (2012). Theoretical approaches and practical training for rock art site guiding and management. In B. W. Smith, K. Helskog, & D. Morris (Eds.), Working with rock art. Recording, presenting and understanding rock art using indigenous knowledge (pp. 247–256). Johannesburg: Wits University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Deacon, J., Walker, S.J., & Wiltshire, N. (2013). Conservation of South Africa’s west coast archaeological heritage. In A. Jerardino, A. Malan, & D. Braun. (Eds.), The archaeology of the west coast of South Africa (pp. 155–163). Oxford: BAR S2526, Cambridge Monographs in African Archaeology 84.

  • Duval, M., & Smith, B. (2012). Rock art tourism in the uKhahlamba/Drakensberg World Heritage Site: Obstacles to the development of sustainable tourism. Journal of Sustainable Tourism. https://doi.org/10.1080/09669582.2012.699060.

  • Galani, A., Mazel, A., Maxwell, D., & Sharpe, K. (2013). Situating cultural technologies outdoors: Empathy in the design of mobile interpretation of rock art in rural Britain. In E. Ch'ng, et al. (Eds.), Visual heritage in the digital age (pp. 183–204). Springer Series on Cultural Computing. London: Springer-Verlag.

  • Hallinan, E., & Parkington, J. (2017). Stone Age landscape use in the Olifants River Valley, Clanwilliam, Western Cape, South Africa. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa. https://doi.org/10.1080/0067270X.2017.1365438.

  • Harman, J. (2005). Using decorrelation stretch to enhance rock art images. Available at: http://www.dstretch.com/AlgorithmDescription.html [2016, June 18].

  • Harman, J. (2016). Enhancing faint pictograms in the field. Rock Art Research, 33(2), 236–238.

    Google Scholar 

  • Janik, L. (2014). ‘Preservation by record’. The case from eastern Scandinavia. In T. Darvill & A. P. Batarda Fernandes (Eds.), Open-air rock-art conservation and management. State of the art and future perspectives (pp. 112–124). New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Johnson, T., Rabinowitz, H., & Sieff, P. (1959). Rock paintings of the South-West Cape. Cape Town: Nasionale Boekhandel Bpk.

    Google Scholar 

  • Küper, R. (2013). Wadi Sura—The Cave of Beasts. A rock art site in the Gilf Kebir (SW-Egypt). Koln: Heinrich-Barth-Institut.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lewis-Williams, J. D. (2006). The evolution of theory, method and technique in southern African rock art research. Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory, 13(4), 343–377.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Loubser, J. H. N. (2001). Management planning for conservation. In D. S. Whitley (Ed.), Handbook of rock art research (pp. 80–115). Walnut Creek: AltaMira Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Maggs, T., & O’C, M. (1967). A quantitative analysis of the rock art from a sample area in the Western Cape. South African Journal of Science, 63, 100–104.

    Google Scholar 

  • Maggs, T., & O’C, M. (Eds.). (1979). Major rock paintings of southern Africa. Facsimile reproductions by R. Townley Johnson. Cape Town: David Philip.

    Google Scholar 

  • Manhire, A. (1998). The role of hand prints in the rock art of the south-western Cape. South African Archaeological Bulletin, 53, 98–108.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Manhire, A. H., Parkington, J., Mazel, A. D., Maggs, T., & O’C, M. (1986). Cattle, sheep and horses: A review of domestic animals in the rock art of southern Africa. South African Archaeological Society Goodwin Series, 5, 22–30.

    Google Scholar 

  • Manhire, A., Parkington, J., & Van Rijssen, W. (1983). A distributional approach to the interpretation of rock art in the south-western Cape. South African Archaeological Society, Goodwin Series, 4, 29–33.

  • Manhire, A. H., Parkington, J., & Yates, R. (1985). Nets and fully recurved bows: Rock paintings and hunting methods in the Western Cape, South Africa. World Archaeology, 17(2), 161–174.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mazel, A., & Ayestaran, H. (2010). Visiting Northumberland rock art virtually: The Beckinsall Archive analysed. In T. Barnett & K. Sharpe (Eds.), Carving a future for British rock art. New directions for research, management and presentation (pp. 140–150). Oxford: Oxbow Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mazel, A., Galani, A., Maxwell, D., & Sharpe, K. (2012). I want to be provoked’: Public involvement in the development of the Northumberland Rock Art on Mobile Phones Project. World Archaeology, 44(4), 592–611.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mguni, S. (2016). Archival theory, chronology and interpretation of rock art in the Western Cape, South Africa. In Cambridge Monographs in African Archaeology, 93. Oxford: Archaeopress.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mitchell, L. J. (2002). Traces in the landscape: Hunters, herders and farmers on the Cedarberg frontier, South Africa, 1725-95. Journal of African History, 43, 431–450.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Parkington, J. (1977). Soaqua: Hunter-fisher-gatherers of the Olifants River Valley, Western Cape. South African Archaeological Bulletin, 32, 150–157.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Parkington, J. (1989). Interpreting paintings without a commentary: Meaning and motive, content and composition in the rock art of the Western Cape, South Africa. Antiquity, 63, 13–26.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Parkington, J. (2003). Cederberg rock paintings. Cape Town: Krakadouw Trust.

    Google Scholar 

  • Parkington, J. E., & Manhire, A. (2003). The domestic context of fine line rock paintings in the Western Cape, South Africa. Kronos: Journal of Cape History, 29, 30–46.

    Google Scholar 

  • Parkington, J. E., Yates, R., Manhire, A., & Halkett, D. J. (1986). The social impact of pastoralism in the south-western Cape. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, 5, 313–329.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Paterson, A., & Parkington, J. (2016). Observing and painting elephants: San rock art of the Cederberg region South Africa: A symbiotic, symbolic and spiritual relationship. Hommage à Norbert Aujoulat. Les Eyzies: Musée Nationale de Préhistoire.

  • Pearson, M., & Sullivan, S. (1995). Looking after heritage places: The basics of heritage planning for managers, land-owners and administrators. Melbourne: Melbourne University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Thornes, R., & Bold, J. (1998). Documenting the cultural heritage. Los Angeles: The Getty Conservation Institute.

    Google Scholar 

  • Van Rijssen, W. J. (1984). South-western Cape rock art—Who painted what? South African Archaeological Bulletin, 39, 125–129.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Van Rooyen, G., Steyn, H., & De Villiers, R. (1999). Cederberg: Clanwilliam and Biedouw Valley. South African Wildlife Guide 10. Cape Town: Botanical Society of South Africa.

  • Van Tilburg, J.-A. (2012). Introduction. In J.-A. Van Tilburg, G. E. Hull, & J. C. Bretney (Eds.), Rock art at Little Lake: An ancient crossroads in the California desert (pp. xv-xxi). Los Angeles. University of California: Cotsen Institute of Archaeology.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wiltshire, N.G. (2005). Digitising the Cedarberg Rock Art records and handheld recording. BSc (Hons.) thesis, University of Cape Town.

  • Wiltshire, N.G. (2011). Spatial analysis of archaeological sites in the Western Cape using an integrated digital archive. MSc thesis, University of Cape Town.

  • Wiltshire, N.G. (2013). The use of SAHRIS as a state sponsored digital heritage repository and management system in South Africa. XXIV International CIPA Symposium, Strasbourg, France, September 2–6.

  • Yates, R., Golson, J., & Hall, M. (1985). Trance performance: The rock art of Boontjieskloof and Sevilla. South African Archaeological Bulletin, 40, 70–80.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yates, R., & Manhire, A. (1991). Shamanism and rock paintings: Aspects of the use of rock art in the south-western Cape, South Africa. South African Archaeological Bulletin, 46(153), 3–11.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yates, R., Manhire, A., & Parkington, J. (1994). Rock paintings and history in the south-western cape. In T. A. Dowson & D. Lewis-Williams (Eds.), Contested images: Diversity in southern African rock art research (pp. 29–60). Johannesburg: Witwatersrand University Press.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We thank all the members of eCRAG for their dedication to the task of surveying properties in the Cederberg and recording rock art and other cultural heritage sites over the past 10 years. We are particularly grateful to CapeNature staff for their support and encouragement as well as free accommodation, and to all the private property owners who provided accommodation during surveys, especially Johan van der Westhuizen, Arrie Beukes, Tony Kings, Louis Melis, Ernst Hartwig and Rudi Andrag. We acknowledge with special thanks the rock art conservation and management training programmes supported by the Southern African Rock Art Project under the leadership of Neville Agnew at the Getty Conservation Institute, and the Clanwilliam Living Landscape Project under the leadership of John Parkington (University of Cape Town). These programmes and their graduates have established a strong public presence in the region that stimulated the initiation of eCRAG. We extend our special thanks to Elizabeth Galvin and Helen Anderson at the British Museum and to the two referees for their welcome and helpful comments on drafts of this paper, while acknowledging that any errors are our own.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Rock Art Research Institute, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa

    Janette Deacon

  2. 49 Van Riebeeck St., Stellenbosch, 7600, South Africa

    Janette Deacon

  3. OpenHeritage, 34 Harries Street, Plumstead, Cape Town, 7800, South Africa

    Nicholas Wiltshire

  4. CapeNature, PO Box 356, Clanwilliam, Cape Town, 8135, South Africa

    Rika du Plessis

Authors
  1. Janette Deacon
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Nicholas Wiltshire
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Rika du Plessis
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Janette Deacon.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Deacon, J., Wiltshire, N. & du Plessis, R. Designing Digital Recording for Volunteers in Rock Art Surveys, Management Plans and Public Outreach in the Cederberg, South Africa. Afr Archaeol Rev 35, 225–239 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10437-018-9293-3

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10437-018-9293-3

Keywords

Search

Navigation