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

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Designing Digital Recording for Volunteers in Rock Art Surveys, Management Plans and Public Outreach in the Cederberg, South Africa See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/325092989 Designing Digital Recording for Volunteers in Rock Art Surveys, Management Plans and Public Outreach in the Cederberg, South Africa Article in African Archaeological Review · June 2018 DOI: 10.1007/s10437-018-9293-3 CITATIONS READS 5 202 3 authors: Janette Deacon Nicholas Wiltshire University of South Africa OpenHeritage NPC 73 PUBLICATIONS 3,176 CITATIONS 4 PUBLICATIONS 28 CITATIONS SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE Rika Du Plessis Western Cape Nature Conservation, Western Cape South Africa 1 PUBLICATION 5 CITATIONS SEE PROFILE Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects: Karoo Cosmos, Shared Sky and the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) radio astronomy project. View project Comparative analysis of southern African rock art sites View project All content following this page was uploaded by Nicholas Wiltshire on 12 August 2020. The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file. Afr Archaeol Rev https://doi.org/10.1007/s10437-018-9293-3 ORIGINAL ARTICLE Designing Digital Recording for Volunteers in Rock Art Surveys, Management Plans and Public Outreach in the Cederberg, South Africa Janette Deacon & Nicholas Wiltshire & Rika du Plessis # Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2018 Abstract The rock art survey and recording project de- rock art sites have been added to the database since 2007 scribed in this paper was designed for volunteers and by the members of the South African Archaeological heritage professionals involved in locating and mapping Society. The information forms the basis for rock art the position of rock art and other archaeological sites in the management plans that are given to property owners to field, recording basic details for conservation and manage- guide them in maintaining the value of the rock art. Inter- ment, and making these details accessible in digital format pretation of the information has raised awareness of the for researchers who might want to undertake further inves- significance of the rock art in its historical and landscape tigation. An OpenDataKit (ODK) App with a digital site setting with a trail and information boards. Local residents recording form was designed for mobile phones to be used and CapeNature staff, who have received training in rock in the field and to send data directly to the digital inventory art monitoring and tourist guiding, play a key role in of the South African Heritage Resources Information Sys- implementing the management plans for CapeNature prop- tem (SAHRIS). The inventory has accumulated over 3000 erties, and monitoring individual sites and trails. The sites with Later Stone Age rock paintings in the mountain- broader international context of volunteer programmes ous terrain of the Cederberg, a region that includes prop- for archaeological site recording suggests that this type of erties in the serial Cape Floral Region World Heritage Site programme has the potential to raise awareness of rock art in the Western Cape Province. More than a third of these beyond books and visits to museums and public lectures. Résumé Le projet décrit dans cet article a été conçu J. Deacon pour les volontaires et les professionnels du Rock Art Research Institute, University of the Witwatersrand, patrimoine en vue de repérer et de tracer la position Johannesburg, South Africa des peintures rupestres et d’autres site archéologiques sur le terrain, d’enregistrer les informations J. Deacon (*) 49 Van Riebeeck St., Stellenbosch 7600, South Africa élémentaires pour la préservation et la gestion de e-mail: [email protected] cet art, de rendre ces informations accessibles en format numérique aux chercheurs qui souhaiteraient N. Wiltshire éventuellement entreprendre une étude approfondie OpenHeritage, 34 Harries Street, Plumstead, Cape Town 7800, South Africa dans le domaine. Une application intitulée e-mail: [email protected] OpenDataKit (ODK), assortie d’un formulaire numérique d’enregistrement de site, a été conçue R. du Plessis pour les téléphones portables utilisés sur le terrain, CapeNature, PO Box 356, Clanwilliam, Cape Town 8135, South Africa et pour envoyer des données directement à e-mail: [email protected] l’inventaire numérique du South African Heritage Afr Archaeol Rev Resources Information System (SAHRIS) (Système The first lesson is that people are the key to a project d’information de l’Agence des ressources pour le of this kind and there are multiple advantages in involv- patrimoine sud-africain). L’inventaire accumule plus ing volunteers and property owners in the location and de 3000 sites comprenant des peintures rupestres du description of rock art and other archaeological sites. néolithique dans la région montagneuse du These advantages include the obvious one of raising Cederberg, qui inclut des propriétés situées sur le site awareness of rock art and enthusiasm amongst a variety du Patrimoine mondial du bien en série des Aires of people from different walks of life, but they can also protégées de la Région florale du Cap, dans la prov- impact on the conservation of sites and on management ince du Cap Occidental. Plus du tiers de ces sites at by organisations responsible for heritage places on pub- été ajouté à la base de données depuis 2007, par des lic land. A strong social element is key to a project of membres de la Société archéologique d’Afrique du this kind, as Loubser (2001, pp. 108-9) has remarked: Sud. Ces informations servent de fondement aux plans de gestion de l’art rupestre, qui sont remis aux …the secret of rock image conservation lies in the propriétaires fonciers afin de les aider à maintenir la proper management, education, and involvement valeur des peintures rupestres. L’interprétation de ces of people, rather than in the constant hands-on informations a permis de sensibiliser le public à la repair of damage caused by people. Put another signification de l’art rupestre dans son contexte way, prevention by means of low-key informative historique et son cadre paysager, avec des sentiers presentation is more desirable than high-profile balisés et des panneaux d’information. La population intervention preservation. Only time and critical locale et le personnel de CapeNature qui ont suivi analysis will tell if this is indeed a democratic and uneformationenmatièredegestiondel’art rupestre workable model for conserving places with rock et de visites guidées, jouent un rôle clé dans la mise imagery. en œuvre des plans de gestion des propriétés de CapeNature et le suivi des sites et des sentiers The second lesson is that the design of the recording individuels. Le contexte international élargi des programme that will involve volunteers should take into programmes de volontariat pour l’enregistrement consideration both the quality of information that is des sites archéologiques indique que ce type de pro- needed, and the capabilities of the people who will be gramme a le potentiel pour sensibiliser à l’art rupestre gathering it. We emphasise the importance of identify- au-delà des livres, des visites de musées et des con- ing the reason for undertaking a rock art survey before férences publiques. designing the recording system. Working from the pre- mise that one digital rock art recording system will not fit all needs, we apply a less sophisticated model than Keywords Rock art . Cederberg . Mobile phone app some other projects with similar aims. It can be adapted for use wherever there are enthusiastic members of the public willing to participate in fieldwork in exchange for Introduction adventure. In limiting the descriptive fields for recording rock The project we describe in this paper was designed to paintings, the model recognises the inherent flaws, test a model for volunteer involvement in recording the highlighted by Lewis-Williams (2006), of recording rock art of a geographical region, in this case the eastern rock art details without a clear idea of what they might Cederberg in the Western Cape, South Africa (Fig. 1). have meant to the original artists. The surveys are there- We wanted to locate and record rock paintings as well as fore not designed for interpreting rock paintings or for other archaeological and historical sites for future re- testing hypotheses about the role of rock art in hunter- search, conservation management (including impact as- gatherer or herder society, although some of the data sessments), public education and outreach, without hav- could be used in the first phase of an academic research ing to raise funds and be accountable for expenses. proposal. We have learned two important lessons. Neither is In 2007, we began the eastern Cederberg Rock Art particularly new, but they have worked well for us on Group (eCRAG) with 25 members of the Western Cape several levels over the past decade. branch of the South African Archaeological Society and Afr Archaeol Rev Fig. 1 Map of South Africa with provincial boundaries showing the location of the eastern Cederberg area surveyed by eCRAG between 2007 and 2017 (images in full colour online) now have a membership of 35. Two (Janette Deacon and that can make accurate digital copies of rock shelters Nicholas Wiltshire) are professional archaeologists and and the paintings in them (Küper 2013). The reason is the others come from a wide variety of professions: not that we are not in favour of such detailed work, but medical doctors to business people, artists, a geologist that the project was conceived as a modest contribution and an electrician. Members have an opportunity to add to knowledge and public awareness of rock art that to the existing database of rock art and other archaeo- would operate outside of a bureaucratic structure and logical sites within a few hours’ drive from Cape Town. financial accounting. To date, they have organised nearly 100 weekend field Although the eCRAG recording programme was also trips that have added more than 1000 sites to the national not intended as a local community training project per database.
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