"Rock Art - Making Connections" with Aron Mazel

Aron Mazel

Aron retired from Newcastle University in 2022 after a professional career spanning over 40 years. It was divided almost equally between South Africa and the UK. His research career has involved archaeological investigations, museum management and teaching. He has published on a range of topics, including the management and interpretation of tangible and intangible heritage; museum and archaeological histories; the construction of the San hunter-gatherer past in the uKhahlamba-Drakensberg mountains and Thukela basin (South Africa) based on 15 rock shelter excavations; and on various aspects of rock art in the uKhahlamba-Drakensberg (South Africa) and Northumberland.

'Making connections: using rock art and excavated material to improve our understanding of the hunter-gatherer past in the uKhahlamba-Drakensberg mountains'

A topic that has concerned Aron since his excavation of Clarke’s Shelter, in 1980, in the uKhahlamba-Drakensberg mountains, in the eastern part of South Africa, is the integration of research information derived from both excavations and rock art in order to strengthen our understanding of past societies. The talk will address the relative and absolute dating of uKhahlamba-Drakensberg rock art during the last three decades, and how this has enabled, for example, (i), the connection of rock art and excavation datasets to deepen our understanding of the occupation history of hunter-gatherers and, (ii), how migration events led to innovations within southern Africa hunter-gatherer rock art around 2000 years ago. Particular emphasis will be placed on the iconic shaded polychrome paintings of the uKhahlamba-Drakensberg and surrounding areas.