Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1986 (Creation)
Level of description
Extent and medium
Context area
Name of creator
Name of creator
Biographical history
Background of the Recorder
The Rock Art Research Institute had its small beginnings in 1979 when Professor David Lewis-Williams moved from the Social Anthropology Department at the University of the Witwatersrand to the Archaeology Department. A few years later, in 1983, he started a research project focused on surveying and recording the rock art of the Harrismith district, South Africa. This project was headed by Professor Lewis-Williams, with Bruce Fordyce as the only other researcher, and was funded by the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC). This project grew and the necessity for interpretation of the rock art, not just finding the rock art sites, became a primary focus. In 1986 the entity became more widely recognized and, through a series of successful projects, achieved Unit status becoming the Rock Art Research Unit (RARU), with Professor Lewis-Williams as the director of the Unit. The HSRC still funded the Unit, and additional funding came from the Centre for Science Development, as well as from Wits University. Some of the people employed (full or part time, or as research students) by RARU are Terence Kohler (1984), Conrad Steenkamp (1984), Paul den Hoed (1984-1985), Zachary Kingdon (1986-1987), Colin Campbell (1987-1988), Thomas Dowson (1988-1994), Anne Holliday (1989-1995), Geoff Blundell (from 1993), Sven Ouzman (from 1993). In 2000, with the Professor Lewis-Williams's imminent retirement, Professor Barry Mendelow, then the Deputy Vice Chancellor, suggested that the Unit be ungraded to an institute. A unit is closed if the director leaves, but an institute can continue under different directorship. Institute status is the highest research status conferred by Wits University, and it was awarded to the Unit to recognise the high level of achievement in research publications and the breadth of research talent built up during Professor Lewis-Williams's twenty-one year directorship. Today the Rock Art Research Institute (RARI) is funded by the National Research Foundation, Wits University's own Research Fund and the Anglo-American Chairman's Fund. Some activities have been and are privately resourced. Dr Benjamin Smith became the new director of the Institute after Professor Lewis-Williams. He is still the director today. RARI is dedicated to developing an understanding of rock art by researching indigenous beliefs, rituals, customs and lifeways. Research is currently underway in all South African provinces as well as in Zimbabwe, Swaziland, Lesotho, Botswana, Mozambique, Zambia, Malawi, Tanzania and Kenya. Research therefore includes the rock arts of San and Pygmy hunter-gatherers, Khoi and Nilotic pastoralists, as well as of African farmers, such as the Chewa and the Northern Sotho. Underpinning this diverse research is a focus on the complex symbolism of African image-making. RARI has become one of the largest specialist rock art institutions in the world, attracting students and researchers from around the world. It is a leading centre for rock art training and offers undergraduate and post-graduate courses in rock art recording, interpretation and management. It is also active in rock art conservation and in the development and management of rock art tourism in South Africa. Included in these initiatives is the establishment of the Origins Centre in 2006 (www.origins.org.za), a world-class museum facility located in Johannesburg on the Wits University campus.
Name of creator
Biographical history
Repository
Archival history
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Content and structure area
Scope and content
Date of aquisition from: 01/01/1986
Date of aquisition to: 31/12/1986
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
Accruals
System of arrangement
Conditions of access and use area
Conditions governing access
Conditions governing reproduction
Language of material
- English
Script of material
- Latin
Language and script notes
Physical characteristics and technical requirements
Iziko Museums of Cape Town
Finding aids
Allied materials area
Existence and location of originals
Existence and location of copies
Related units of description
Notes area
Note
Tongue's Eastern Cape copies are her earliest. Her first copy was made on a farm in Molteno District. In this early work, she worked alone. But, the bulk of her copies were made during three longer fieldtrips beyond the Eastern Cape border, together with Dorothea Bleek. At the beginning of 1906, Tongue and Bleek made a train trip from Cradock to Bloemfontein and Ladybrand (Free State), where they recorded various rock art sites. Most of the sites visited were located by using the descriptions of George Stow. A second expedition in the summer of 1906/07 took them through the Eastern Cape and into Lesotho. Their third and final expedition was by train to Fauresmith (Free State) and wagon to Luckhoff in the Karoo (Western Cape). In 1908 a selection of Tongue copies were exhibited at the South African Public Library in Cape Town and then at the Royal Anthropological institute in London. In 1909 a series of copies were brought together in a handsome portfolio of 54 plates and an accompanying book with two collotype plates and eight black-and-white photographs. Helen Tongue wrote descriptions for each site and each plate, Dorothea Bleek contributed 'Notes on the Bushmen' and Henry Balfour wrote a preface. The book was titled 'Bushman Paintings', it was Tongue's first and only rock art publication.
Note
Iziko Museums of Cape Town