3rd NWU-JGU Collaborative Seminar in History

Bionote

Dr Claudia Gouws is a Senior Lecturer in History at the North-West University, South Africa. Her main research interests are methods and theories of Cultural History, pre-colonial history of southern Africa, and southern African rock art. She has also an interest in environmental history. Her publications include, amongst others: Historical evidence of water management in the Vredefort Dome, South African Journal of Cultural History SAJCH 30, 2 (2016): 21-41, Vaal River drifts, Parys (Free State Province) 1834–1923, SAJCH 35, 2 (2021): 123-147, Evolution in Cultural History: an overview with particular reference to South Africa, SAJCH 37, 1 (2023): 175−187, Volksboukuns in die Vredefortkoepelomgewing 1850–1950, Tydskrif vir Geesteswetenskappe 63, 3 (September 2023): 686-707, Rock engravings marking the Redan landscape in Gauteng, South Africa, New Contree 91, 1 (2024): 9-18. Between 2006 and 2016 she was a member of Cultural Dynamics of Water (CuDyWat), an interdisciplinary research group on the NWU Vanderbijlpark campus. She also assisted with document collection, interviews and records management in the South African Water History Archive Repository (SAWHAR), at the NWU Vanderbijlpark campus. She is a member of the International Society for Cultural History. She is also on the editorial panel of the Ditsong: National Museum of Cultural History’s Research Journal.

Abstract

Human beings have always been toolmakers and makers of art works, as the urge to paint and engrave is common in most cultures. Rock art, an artefact that was consciously produced and closely concerned with identity, is one of the most theoretically informed means of reconstructing lifeways past and present. The Klip-Vaal region, being part of the Late Stone Age hunting, domestic and ritual sites of the San people and later migrants, has a variety of both documented and undocumented rock art sites. The researcher will discuss one engraving site in the Klip-valley near Redan, Vereeniging in the Gauteng province of South Africa. The engravings include a few representations of animals, one human being, one mask and more than 230 geometrical glyphs.