Contributions of a Heritage Values-based Approach to Rock Art Management. Lessons from the Maloti-Drakensberg World Heritage Site, South Africa

Abstract

This paper is based on rock art sites of the Maloti-Drakensberg massif (South African part), where more than 600 decorated shelters have thus far been identified. Being both institutionalised heritage sites open to the public and living heritage sites associated with various social practices and utilizations, their preservation requires us to consider the complexity of the values attributed to them. Combining a multidisciplinary and empirical approach, our paper highlights the processes of hybridization between attributed values, which therefore do not adhere to a strict category approach. Being strongly linked to the contexts in which they are articulated, their identification is coupled with a consideration of the macrodynamics in which rock art sites are integrated, as well as an analysis of the links between these different contexts and the value systems identified. In conclusion, the operational dimensions of such a methodology is questioned and some initial possibilities for action are proposed.

Keywords:

• Rock art site
• preservation
• heritage values
• multidisciplinary approach
• Maloti-Drakensberg
• South Africa

Acknowledgements

We thank Amafa aKwaZulu-Natali and Ezemvelo KwaZulu-Natal Wildlife for allowing research within the UDP and granting Access Permits 2012/12 and W/2060/10 respectively. We thank all people interviewed during this research (local people, tourists, local guides, Ezemvelo KwaZulu-Natal Wildlife and Amafa staff). We express our gratitude to Lwazi Bhengu and Nokukhanya Khumalo, students in archaeology at the time of this research, who helped with data collection in the field and acted as isiZulu interpreters. All errors and omissions are our own.

Notes

1. According to the regulations instated by Amafa in 2004, only members of the local community (Zulu) can be custodians and must not have full-time employment elsewhere to ensure that they are available to lead tourist visits (Cf. Duval and Smith 2013). During our last fieldtrip (July 2017), the status of the custodians was in discussion and this regulation seems to have become more flexible.

2. Other rock art sites in the massif are used by several Christian Churches, as is the case, for example, in the Waterfall Shelter near Game Pass (central part of the Drakensberg). Here, the Shembe Church uses the shelter as a cleansing site and to baptise converts. The Shembe Church believes that the Holy Ghost ‘blessed’ the waterfall and that the Inkhanyamba (mythical Zulu water snake) lives in the pool beneath the waterfall (field notes, July 2017).