The African Rock Art Digital Archive (ARADA) under the Rock Art Research Institute (RARI) at the University of the Witwatersrand has a substantial collection of historical documents, photographs, redrawings, and slides in addition to its large working collection of slides, tracings, and redrawings. Over time, many of the older slides started to change colour and deteriorate in quality, prompting a programme to preserve the historical documents, photographs, and slides in RARI's possession and reduce their handling by researchers and visitors.
Preservation was possible by digitising the collections and making them available on a database, thereby reducing physical handling while facilitating access to images and documents. The laboratory had the daunting task of digitising all the existing archives at RARI as well as providing a database from which the archives could be accessed and viewed. The African Rock Art Digital Laboratory started its digitisation process in August 2002.
During the course of digitisation, RARI realised that it could use the expertise and equipment it has access to through the Ringing Rocks project to record other important collections, both private and institutional. This vision culminated in the African Rock Art Digital Archive (ARADA), a resource that includes collections owned by the Analysis of Rock Art of Lesotho (ARAL) project, Iziko Museums of Cape Town, Natal Museum, National Museum (Bloemfontein), University of Cape Town (UCT), the University of South Africa (UNISA), RARI and Janette Deacon (private collection) and many more.
ARADA is registered as a Section 21 company not for financial gain, but with the sole purpose of furthering research, education, and site management, thereby helping promote the development and reconstruction of Southern Africa's history.