Dr Siyakha Mguni

Biographical Profile  

For nearly 30 years my research and professional practice endeavoured towards understanding and preserving southern Africa’s ancient visual arts heritage. Fulfilled at different multi-scalar levels, this work integrated the fields of heritage management, museology and curatorship, historical and archival studies. With a specialist emphasis on KhoeSan painted and engraved imagery which are the subject matter of rock art studies, my research draws on two broad categories of scholarship, the anthropological hunter-gatherer studies primarily among contemporary KhoeSan societies of the Kalahari Basin and the archaeological Later Stone Age studies. My period of focus spans the advent of the Holocene epoch from 10,000 years ago down to the precolonial and colonial interface that ended in the mid-19th century. Sub-Saharan Africa is my geographical range, mainly South Africa, Zimbabwe, Botswana, and Namibia, although I have also worked farther afield in Zambia, Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, Kenya, and Uganda. Beyond Africa, my research partnerships have led me to many rock art sites along the alpine region of Europe chiefly in France, Germany, Austria and Italy, while in East Asia I have teamed up with Chinese colleagues in northern and southeastern China. These continuing multi-regional research ventures have exposed me to extraordinary indigenous art traditions from diverse periods and cultural backgrounds, but each region consistently highlights the authority of local knowledge and practice.

 

My theoretical and methodological interests are vested within modern cognitive approaches in order to understand notions of perception and representation as observed to be rooted in age-old indigenous practices of image making and symbolic thinking, generally explored and translated under the broad rubrics of ‘meaning’ and ‘motivation’. This work encompasses an innovative amalgamation of both the archaeological and textual analysis of the prehistoric record and the ethnographic record. There exists a vast body of accounts and stories in the folklore containing KhoeSan indigenous knowledge and worldviews preserved in the Bleek and Lloyd collections held at the Centre for Curating the Archive and other cognate but dispersed repositories. Based on the material from these archived storehouses and related archaeologies of belief systems and worldviews, my work concerns the development of critical tools and systematic approaches for contemporary application and art practice that draws on ancient indigenous knowledge and modes of thinking and artistic expression. This approach flows from the imperative necessity of methodological innovation rooted in the authority of local theorising, as opposed to traditional reliance on received Western art theory, which is a most pressing challenge not only for any African-based art institution, but also for the art world at large.

 

My rock art studies journey began in 1997 at the University of Cape Town where I pursued an archaeology Honours degree using a Harris Matrix methodology for the analysis and organisation of entire overpainted panels at Diepkloof Kraal Shelter, a rock art site on West Coast. This was one of the first three projects in the world to use this technique—developed for analysing complex stratigraphies of large excavation projects—to organise rock art superimpositions. I then built onto this work interpretative research in 2002 through a Masters (with distinction) project at the University of the Witwatersrand, expanding my geographical reach to cover South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Namibia. This interdisciplinary work resolved a research problem concerning a southern Africa wide rock art category that had eluded interpretation for a century. That category, formerly called formlings, was analysed, identified and interpreted as cutaway depictions of anthills, or precisely termite nests (also termitaria). Central to this work was a close analysis of the images, their details and complex associations from small individual sites to larger transnational clusters. The research breakthrough, whose central conclusions were first reported in a peer-reviewed publication, was recognised through an international award, the Ben Cullen Prize overseen by Antiquity, administered from Cambridge University at the time. I completed my  doctoral research at the University of Cape Twon in 2014 based on KhoeSan rock art in the Cederberg, Western Cape. My project was formulated to think of rock art as an archive, an approach that allows a fragmentation of imposed boundaries of ancient indigenous art traditions as unassailable and self-contained categories. Instead,  this work advances the recognition of interdigitating ideologies and practices for the subcontinent’s communities who shared their landscapes in varying degrees of repeated contact for several millennia. Overall, it is an approach to visualise multistranded interconnections and continuities in early visual arts in a manner that transcends rudimentary ethnic boundaries and chronocentrism of established research paradigms.

 

Professional memberships

Association of Southern African Professional Archaeologists

European Association of Archaeologists

 

Partnerships and Collaborations

Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA

Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology (Chinese Academy of Social Sciences), Beijing, China

 

Selected publications

 

Books

2016: “Archival theory, chronology and interpretation of rock art in the Western Cape, South Africa”. Cambridge Monographs in African Archaeology. Oxford: Archaeopress (ISBN 978 1 78491 446 2/print and ISBN 978 1 78491 447 9/digital).

2015: “Termites of the Gods: San cosmology in southern African rock art”. Johannesburg: Wits University Press (ISBN 987-1-86814-776-2/print and ISBN 978-1-86814-777-9/digital).

 

Chapters in Peer-reviewed edited volumes

2024: “Rock art and the African landscape: explorations of paintings from Matopo Hills, Zimbabwe and Chongoni Hills, Malaŵi”. In Sinamai, A., Giblin, J. & Chirikure, S. (eds). Routledge Handbook for Cultural Studies in Africa (Co-author: Smith, B.W.). DOI: 10.4324/9781003025832-26.

2014: “God’s termites’ nests and trees as overlapping concepts in the Khoesan cosmology and belief systems”. In Manyanga, M. & Katsamudanga, S. (eds). Zimbabwean archaeology in the post-independence era. Harare: SAPES Books.

2012: “Five years of southern African rock art research”. In Bahn, P., Franklin, N. & Strecker, M. (eds). Rock Art Studies: News of the World IV. Oxford: Oxbow books.

 

Articles in Peer-reviewed ISI/IBSS listed Journals

2015: Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa. “Using the archive to formulate a chronology of rock art in the southwestern Cape, South Africa”.

2013: South African Archaeological Bulletin: “Enigmatic rock paintings of insectiforms in the Cederberg, Western Cape, South Africa”.

2010: South African Archaeological Bulletin: “Microanalysis and dating from rock art studies: towards a common analytical strategy” (Co-authors: Hoerlé, S., Bertrand, L. and Jacobson, L.).

2009: International Newsletter on Rock Art: “Ecotourism and conservation, preserving our rich rock art patrimony in South Africa”.

2009: Current Anthropology: “Natural and supernatural convergences: trees in southern African rock art”.

2006: Antiquity: “King’s Monuments: identifying formlings in southern African San rock paintings”.

2006: Cambridge Archaeological Journal: “Iconography of termites’ nests and termites: symbolic nuances of formlings in southern African San rock art”.

2005: South African Archaeological Society Goodwin Series 9: “A new understanding of ‘Formlings’, a pervasive motif in Zimbabwean rock art”.

2005: Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa. “Landscape and environmental change in semi-arid Regions of East & Southern Africa: developing interdisciplinary approaches, a summary of results from Malilangwe Trust, southeastern Zimbabwe” (Co-authors: Thorp, C., Clegg, B., Scott, K. and L., Swan).

2004: Journal of Social Archaeology: “Cultured representation: understanding ‘formlings’, an enigmatic motif in the rock art of Zimbabwe”.

2002: Before Farming: “The rock art research institute in the new millennium”.

2001: Antiquity: “Research into the formlings in the rock art of Zimbabwe”.

 

Conference papers

2024: (30th European Association of Archaeologists Annual Conference, Rome, Italy) “The hole, the bird, the larvae: Predicting transcendental terrains in the mundanity of harvesting insect biota in the |xam myth ‘The Mantis and the Koro-twi:tǝn’”.

2020: (Gordon Research Conference on Scientific Methods in Cultural Heritage, Les Diablerets, Switzerland): “Perspectives on Southern African rock art research methods”.

2014: (Congress of the Pan African Archaeological Association for Prehistory and Related Studies and the Biennial Meeting of the Society of Africanist Archaeologists, Johannesburg, South Africa, with co-presenters: Namono, C., Seabela, M.G.). “Reconstructing and archiving the past: a community heritage archive for the Makgabeng and surrounding areas, Limpopo Province, South Africa”.

2011: (The courage of ||Kabbo Conference: Celebrating 100 years of the publication of Specimens of Bushman Folklore, Cape Town, South Africa): “The meerkats and |kaggen’s arrows of fury: metaphors of sociality and antagonism in southern San mythology and paintings”.

2008: (Keynote presentation: Conservation Services Imbizo - People and Conservation, George, South Africa): “Heritage management and interpretation of rock art in National Parks, South Africa”.

2008: Second presentation at the Conservation Services Imbizo, People and Conservation): “Figuring the meaning and interpretation: rock art and the use of Khoisan ethnography”.

2006: (South African Conference on Rock Art, Kimberley, South Africa): “The role of private game reserves in the development of rock art tourism in southern Africa”.

2005: (Science Networking Conference, Kruger National Park, South Africa): “Sustainable management and public presentation of rock art in the Kruger Park”.

2004: (Society of Africanist Archaeologists Conference, University of Bergen): “Kings’ Monuments: a new understanding of formlings and their symbolism in southern Africa”.

2003: (Congress of the Entomological Society of Southern Africa, University of Pretoria): Paintings of termite nests in southern African San rock art.

2002: (South African Association of Archaeologists Biennial Conference, South African Museum): Representation and abstraction: formlings in San rock art.

2000: (South African Association of Archaeologists Biennial Conference, Wits University): “Painted images revisited: formlings in the Matopo Hills, Zimbabwe”.

1999: (World Archaeology Congress 4, University of Cape Town): “The sequence of Diepkloof Kraal Shelter paintings: an insight from the Harris matrix methodology”.

 

Unpublished chapters and reports

2013: “Regulatory impact assessment report on the feasibility of the provision of exceptions to the 1913 Cut Off date to accommodate the descendants of the Khoe and San, heritage sites and historical landmarks”. RIA study report for The Department of Rural Development and Land Reform (Co-author: Murimbika, M.)

2002: “Archiving, curation and management of rock art collections”. In Deacon, J. (ed). Training Manual, Tsodilo Hills Management and Conservation Workshop (Co-author: Hampson, J.).

2001: “Archiving, curation and management of rock art collections”. In Deacon, J. (ed). Training Manual, Kasama Conservation and Management of Rock Art Workshop (Co-author: Hampson, J.).

 

Conference and workshop organising

2008: (Member of the Organising Committee: Logistics and Fieldwork coordinator) GDRI international conference on rock art materials analysis held in the Cederberg, Western Cape, South Africa.

2006: (Workshop Coordinator and Lecturer: Fourth International Technical Course on Rock Art Conservation Workshop, Namibia: AFRICA 2009 Programme, International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property (ICCROM) and The Getty Conservation Institute.

 

Curated Exhibitions and Displays

2012: (National Museum of Botswana, Gaborone) International rock art travelling exhibition “Sharing Our Ancient Rock Treasures”.

2011-2012: (Origins Centre, Johannesburg) International rock art travelling exhibition “Sharing Our Ancient Rock Treasures”.

2000: (Durban International Convention Centre; 3-day display with Azuma Bee Museum of Osaka, Japan, at International Bee Keeping Conference), “Formlings and the Rock Art of Bee Keeping”.

2000: (Wits University Galleries, “Seeing and knowing: 21 years of Rock Art Research”.

1996: (Museum of Human Sciences, Zimbabwe) “Who am I? Style, Dress and African Identity”.

 

Selected fieldwork

2013: Participated in a research project for the study on the interpretation and dating of paintings, in preparation for their nomination to the World Heritage List, in the Huashan Valley, Guangzhi Province, Southern China. The inscription to the World Heritage List has now been achieved.        

2012: Participant in a surveying project of the new engraving sites of Inner Mongolia, Northern China.

2004, 2010: Specialist Researcher on study tours to nearly all major Upper Palaeolithic rock art caves in South-Western France in collaboration with the French CNRS and University of the Witwatersrand.

2003: Project Leader on Malilangwe rock art research: British Institute in Eastern Africa led and funded project on Landscape and Environmental Change in Sub-Saharan Semi-Arid Landscapes.

2001-2004: Conservation Assistant: Worked with US-based rock art conservator Claire Dean on archiving rock art materials, University of the Witwatersrand.

1999: Cambridge University Research Intern: Participated in rock art fieldwork across various Alpine regions of Europe, covering the rock art engravings in Germany, Austria, Italy, Switzerland and France.

1998-2004: Researcher: Performing fieldwork studies in southern, central and eastern Africa.

1998 Specialist Advisor: Zimbabwe-Norway-Sri Lanka tripartite collaboration programme for National Rock Art Documentation Project.

1998: Specialist Archeologist Guide to Zimbabwean cabinet ministers and international guests at the official opening of Old Bulawayo National Monument by the then State President, HE R.G.B. Mugabe.

1997: Training conservation assistant: Graffiti removal project in the Cederberg under the leading South African rock art conservator Dr. Janette Deacon.

1996: Assistant Project Manager in a successful conservation grant bid to World Monuments Fund and application to list Khami Ruins Monument, Zimbabwe, on ‘World’s 100 Most Endangered Monuments’.

1996: Project Leader: Comparative survey of rock art conservation in Malilangwe Trust Conservancy and Matopo National Park.

1995-1998: Under-graduate student supervision: Reconstructing Old Bulawayo National Monument site surveys and excavations.

 

Selected heritage and community projects

2012-2014: Co-investigator: Makgabeng Community Rock Art Project jointly directed by Rock Art Research Institute, Ditsong Museums, Blouberg Municipality and Limpopo Rural Communities.

2005: Project coordinator: Original Kruger National Park rock art management plan and proposals for community participation in cultural heritage programmes.

2005: Lecturer: Cultural heritage training workshop (Government with Community at Tséhlanyane National Park) for the Maloti-Drakensberg Trans-Frontier Project involving public and private officials. 

2003: Rock art adviser: Sustainable rock art tourism and local community participation workshop in Namibia sponsored by EU and Namibia (Spitzkoppe, Brandberg and Twyfelfontein areas).

2002: Lecturer: Rock art conservation management workshop (Tsodilo Hills: World Heritage Site, Botswana).

2002-2005: Researcher: Development Committee for design and development of rock art exhibition for the Origins Centre at the University of the Witwatersrand.

2002-2005: Researcher: Development Committee for design and development of visitor interpretation centres at two rock art sites (Drakensberg and Kimberley, South Africa).

2001: Lecturer and facilitator: Rock art guide training course under the Government Poverty Alleviation Programme, Highmoor Dam, Drakensberg, South Africa.

2001: Lecturer: Rock art documentation and conservation management workshop, Kasama Hills, Zambia.

 

Selected public lectures

2010: Guest speaker: International Museum of Prehistory, Les Eyzies, France: “Tourism and conservation around the southwestern Cape Rock Art, South Africa”.

2009: Guest speaker: Archaeological Society, Cape Town: “Heritage management and conservation: Case of rock art in the Cederberg, southwestern Cape”. 

2009: Guest speaker/Specialist guide: Friends of South African Museum: “Distributions and interpretation of rock art in the Cederberg locality, southwestern Cape”.

2007: Guest lecturer, 3rd-Year Heritage and Tourism Students: University of KwaZulu-Natal: Rock art tourism and conservation in South Africa.

 

Selected public TV outreach

2016: CNN Africa Focus discussing the intersection in ways of representation between ancient San rock art and contemporary street art in Johannesburg, South Africa.

2015: Radio 702 prime time broadcast with Azania Mosaka: Discussion of my book ‘Termites of the Gods’.

2011: Radio 702 discussing the international rock art collaboration at and the international travelling exhibition from Wits University.

2010: BBC (TV) discussing northern Cederberg rock art.