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Brief description of site: This site is located at one of the highest points in the area with a magnificent view to almost all points. The rock is a hard granite that weathers to a light and sometimes dark brown but speckled appearance. The site covers several hundred metres, running down the ridge line that proceeds from the hill summit. A fence line cuts through the site.

Unusually, there is no visible associated archaeology. No stone tools, pottery, bone, stone-walled structures or any other cultural indicator. There is only the path to the hill summit. A survey of the surrounding area also revealed no artefacts. The altitude of the site would militate against this being a living site for any cultural group.
Brief description of art: RSA MPC1`s rock-engravings all have a grey, relatively fresh-looking appearance. The engraved marks are unlikely to be older than approximately 50 years as natural weathering causes such grey marks to weather to a light brown colour. Though some of the rock-engravings were discovered under protective rock cappings, natural seepage would still have weathered the rocks. The rock-engravings are, however, tremendously interesting. Here is a brief description of each engraved rock.

Hill Summit Rock 1: On a large flat rock next to the path is a remarkable 950 mm x 1 000 mm rosette-like circular motif consisting of concentric rings of short, sausage like grooves around a central 'dot'.

Hill Summit Rock 2: On an adjacent flat rock is a lock' of 5 rows of 10 thick grooves.

Hill Summit Rock 3: On a long, flat rock there is a 2 m + row consisting of 3 - 4 sausage-like grooves that extends in track-like fashion. It is possible that the facing, shorter grooves were meant to join up and were, for some reason, left incomplete. Some of this engraved panel was covered over purposefully with rocks.

Hill Summit Rock 4: Adjacent rock to the 3 has a tree-like design engraved out and which then seems to have been covered over with a large rock.

Hill Summit Rock 5: Now placed near 1, was a boulder on which an arms-raised male human figure was engraved on the vertical surface. The 'W' shape of the arms is unusual and distinctive.

Hill Summit Rock 6: 10 m beyond 1-5 on the other side of the fence line is a small flat rock on which two human figures have been engraved. The larger figure has its arms raised in the distinctive 'W' fashion. This figure has either a large stomach or large buttocks. Very unusually, it has what appear to be breasts, sculpted in a bas-relief. The smaller human figure has a portion of unengraved rock in its torso. This smaller human figure also has its arms up in a W shape. The smaller figure also has feet. Neither of these figures has a distinct head represented.

Ridge Rock 7: Less then 100 m downslope is the 1.4 m 'Thermometer' motif that consists of two parallel engraved lines from which a series of shorter lines regularly radiate at right angles. These shorter lines exhibit patterning such as two shorter grooves alternating with a single longer groove, though this patterning is not consistent. It seems as if all or part of this engraving was also purposefully covered or capped with medium-sized loose rocks.

Ridge Rock 8: Between 7 and 6 is an unusual 'PI' motif consisting of two short parallel grooves with their one end capped by a third similar groove, giving an appearance similar to the mathematical symbol for Pi. This motif was also covered.

Ridge Rock 9: Between 7 and 8 is an engraving that is partially covered by earth. This unusual design consists of a central 4 -pointed star-like motif with 'V' shapes nestling between the arms of the 'star'. It is noticeable how the earth has weathered the one half of this motif while the above-ground portion looks very fresh.

Brief description of site: The site RSA MEK1 has both Bushman (also known This site is located amongst an extensive but isolated scatter of doleritic rock outcrops. The site is by no means the largest or the smallest of these outcrops - it is on a medium sized outcrop with two peaks and extensive rock pavement area. The site seems to have been selected as a focus of human activity on account of the rocky water pools found there as well as the cave-like system present near the top of the easternmost peak. Though views are extensive, the landscape has a very localised character. The surrounding veld is a sandy thorn semi-arid scrubveld that supports a wide variety of game both now and in times past.

There is evidence of a Later Stone Age (c. 30 000 years ago until approx. CE 1850) Bushman campsite on the eastern side of the site, just off the rock pavement and near its southern foot. The deepest rock water pool is less than 100 m to the north-east. This campsite consists of numerous lithics (stone tools) located on the surface of the site. These stone tools are mostly made from both semi-precious opalines and from lydianite of 'hornfels' - also known as indurated shale. Among the stone tools are flakes - which were general purpose tools used to cut, scrape and so forth. There is no bone preserved but a few ostrich eggshell pieces and beads were observed. There may be pockets of archaeological deposit among the rocks but generally not. There is a well-preserved lower grindstone and also some upper grindstones that may date to within the last 2 000 years when the Bushmen had contact with Khoe herders. Grinding was, however, always an important part of Bushman food-processing and there are numerous grinding patches visible near this camp on the rock apron around smaller pools of water. On the top of the larger peak, there is an ashy deposit associated with the extensive cave-like system of rock blocs. Here bone and larger hornfels flakes are visible. This may represent a Khoe herder occupation, though no pottery was observed. There is also an Historic Period square and very substantial kraal (stock enclosure) at the southern and eastern end of the site.
Brief description of art: Bushman rock engravings: These form the majority of the engravings at the site. Most engravings have been made in the pecked technique. This includes pecked outlines and pecked infills, though there are also some images that have been scraped into the rock surface. This procedure removes the black outer layer or cortex of the rock, exposing the lighter, almost white heart rock beneath. Over time this white heart rock weathers through exposure to the elements and becomes browner and sometimes it even becomes black. As a general rule, the darker the engraving, the older it is - though a lot of this also depends on whether the engraving is made in a sheltered or exposed position. Melkboom is a significant Bushman rock engraving site in that it has more than a dozen engravings of animal spoor and human footprints. At one time thought to represent fossilised footprints of real animals, microscopic examination of the spoor shows typical engraved peck marks. In addition, no 7-toed feline is ever known to have existed and the very small human footprints are far too small to have been made by any human or ape now or in the past. Spoor engravings are, in fact, a feature of Northern Cape and Namibian rock art and relate to Bushman concerns with the extra-ordinary animals and people that are lived in the Spirit World, which was believed to have been located behind the engraved rock surface. There are many other engravings such as of the large antelope the eland (Tragelaphus oryx) as well antelope, buffalo, elephant, equids (probably zebra), felines, giraffe, human figures, jackal-like animals, ostrich, very rare depictions of porcupines, rhinoceros and so forth. The engravings cover a wide area but are concentrated in several clusters with isolated outliers. Most of these engravings occur on the rock pavement on the site's northern side.

Khoe herder rock engravings: There are fewer of these engravings- perhaps 50-75. Most of the Khoe herder rock engravings are located higher up on the larger peak, nearer the caves. These engravings have few representational forms and are dominated by geometric forms such as circles (with or without internal divisions), sunburst-like motifs, grids and so forth. There are also some Khoe engravings mixed in with the Bushman engravings and these take the forms of a few bags, at least one apron and a number of 'spread-eagle' animal skins.

Historic Period rock engravings: Usually fresh-looking there are a number of instances of 'graffiti' where people have pecked out names and dates. This 'graffiti' often has historical value as it chronicles the arrival and occupation of this landscape by White settlers as well as latter-day KhoeSan groups such as the Nama. Thus, much of this 'graffiti' is, in fact, Historical period rock art. A number (perhaps 20) of the animal engravings have been made by non-Bushman people. These include a horse, dog and some of the larger megaherbivores like elephant, buffalo and rhino.