Debating Access to Internationally Acclaimed Rock Art Sites: Has the ‘Future Generation’ Been Born?

ABSTRACT

Rock art is one of the most attractive heritage resources. Yet, some of these sites are either closed from the public or were never officially opened in the first place. Based on them being inaccessible to the public, various replicas have been built to allow tourists to still see their images. While these sites are inaccessible to the general public, they are not spared from natural and human induced damage. Informed by the three issues I discuss in this paper, namely: (1) the idea of selecting identified heritage resources as being important, (2) critiquing the concept of managing heritage resources for future generations, and (3) debating the question of who are we managing rock art for, I conclude that rock art should not be closed to the public. Such an approach promotes a view that such valuable spaces are preserved only for the privileged few.

KEYWORDS:

• Rock art
• authenticity
• integrity
• lascaux
• uKhahlamba Drakensberg
• Chauvet
• Altamira

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

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Ndukuyakhe Ndlovu

Ndukuyakhe Ndlovu is Manager: Archaeology at the South African National Parks. He was most recently a Senior Lecturer (Archaeology), Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Pretoria. His research focuses on southern African rock art, heritage resources management, and transformation in archaeology.