Shanade Barnabas

The Biesje Poort rock art project focused on the recording of previously undocumented rock engravings as well as the research teams’ reactions to and interpretations of the rock art, associated artefacts and site. The multidisciplinary and multicultural Biesje Poort research team included local representatives from the Kalahari. The greater scope of this paper is the gaining and sharing of knowledge in relation to the Biesje Poort rock art site.

The Biesje Poort rock art project was a research collaboration led by the University of KwaZulu-Natal’s Centre for Communication, Media and Society (CCMS) and funded by the National Heritage Council. The project focused on the recording of previously undocumented rock engravings as well as the recording of the research teams’ (including Kalahari representatives) stories inspired by the rock art site. The greater scope of the paper is that of the gaining and sharing of knowledge in relation to the Biesje Poort rock art site.

These writings are about the experience of recording the rock engravings at Biesje Poort farm, north of the Orange (Gariep) River, Northern Province, South Africa - a place of extreme terrain and climate - by not only dedicated professionals and academics, but through the recorded voices of the Kalahari peoples themselves.