R34 million painting can't be exported Bizcommunity.com ... while the Qatar Museums Authority bought Irma Stern's painting Arab Priest for R34 million on auction six months ago it hasn't been able to hang the painting because its export has been blocked by the South African Heritage Resource Agency (Sahra). ... |
Irma Stern export ban challenged Mail & Guardian Online This week the eyes of the art world will be on the headquarters of the South African Heritage Resources Agency (Sahra) when a decision is made about whether an important work by the late Irma Stern can leave the country in the hands of a foreign owner. ... |
Alan Morris Launches Missing & Murdered at The Book Lounge Books LIVE (blog) Not only does palaeoanthropology run in her blood, but as part of the research for her latest novel, Gallows Hill, Morris taught Orford how to “put bones together”. Ahead of the launch, the infamous Philip Tobias sent a letter to Morris congratulating ... |
 Independent Online (blog) | Digging up the dirt on our ancestors Independent Online (blog) “Why would you leave so suddenly, leave the paint behind, and why would you not come back? It's a question that keeps coming back to me, it fascinates me.” l The “toolkits” are on display at the Iziko South African Museum in Queen Victoria Street. ... and more » |
 Independent Online | Science Centre hits heritage hiccup Independent Online Refurbishment work at the centre resumed only late last month after a month-long delay following a “stop works” order from Heritage Western Cape. The science centre, previously known as the MTNScienCentre, changed its name and moved from Canal Walk to ... |
Three UCT scientists, all in their early to mid 30s, have been named among the 20 founder members of the new South African Young Academy of Science (SAYAS).
 |  |  |
| Dr Shadreck Chirikure | Assoc Prof Genevieve Langdon | Dr Jeff Murugan |
Dr Shadreck Chirikure of the Department of Archaeology, Associate Professor Genevieve Langdon of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, and Dr Jeff Murugan of the Department of Mathematics and Applied Mathematics, were inaugurated into SAYAS at a function hosted by the deputy minister for science and technology, Derek Hanekom, in Pretoria in September. \"The group,\" said SAYAS in a statement, \"was selected from among the best scientific minds in South Africa and represents a diverse range of talent in terms of race, gender and scientific discipline.\"
SAYAS is designed to bridge the gap between the more senior and well-established Academy of Science of South Africa, and the up-and-coming young scientists who may well be future leaders in their fields. It will also give a voice to young scientists on national and international issues, and creates a platform for them to have their say in policy decisions.
\"For so long, young researchers have been excluded in charting the country's destiny,\" says Chirikure (33). \"SAYAS is an opportunity to put this behind us, by showing the world that young South African researchers can distil solutions that can move the country forward in topical issues such as climate change, employment creation and sound governance.\"
Now still in its infancy, the academy will need to gain ground and credibility. Which is where the young members can contribute, says Langdon (34).
\"Our first priority is to establish SAYAS as a credible and effectively functioning organisation, which means applying our minds, raising some funding and identifying a strategy for projects and involvement across the country.\"
Being singled out in such early stages in a career is a feather in any young scholar's cap. But there is perhaps just a dint of expectation that comes with the honour.
\"I guess there's a greater sense of responsibility,\" says Murugan (35). \"And that there were only 20 founding members selected from nearly 150 nominations from across the country means that this is something of a vote of confidence.\"
Painting centre of first appeal under Heritage Resources Act Legalbrief (subscription) The SA Heritage Resource Agency (Sahra) is dealing with its first appeal in terms of the National Heritage Resources Act after dismissing an application for an export permit for an Irma Steyn painting that was sold at a record price of R39m in London. ... |
 Independent Online | New rules for Berg rock art visits Independent Online By Daily News Correspondent AMAFA/Heritage KwaZulu-Natal has embarked on a programme of cleaning up graffiti that has defaced some rock art sites in the uKhahlamba/Drakensberg region. And it has also set up a system of access control. ... |
 The Witness | Rocks of ages The Witness He subsequently held posts at Heritage Western Cape and the South African Heritage Resource Agency in Johannesburg. He's currently the Collections Manager: Archaeology at Wits. Ndlovu was briefly in Pietermaritzburg recently to give a talk titled Rock ... |
I know that some readers are starting to wonder if I've forgotten about paleoanthropology lately. Let's just say that the Neandertal and Denisova genomes have me very busy, and I don't think you'd want it any other way.
But on the paleoanthropological front, Science has released a paper by Chris Henshilwood and colleagues [1] describing two toolkits used by ancient MSA people more than 100,000 years ago to grind pigment and mix it with animal fat, presumably for painting.
I want to share a picture from the article (credit G. Moéll Pedersen), which shows one of the two toolkits in situ. I want to make a point about it that would be difficult without seeing the photo:
That photo shows Tk1, the first toolkit. Now, here's the description of what Henshilwood and colleagues were able to interpret from the artifacts in the photo:
We infer that manufacturing proceeded as follows: Pieces of ochre (FS1 and FS2) were rubbed on quartzite slabs to produce a fine red powder, and some were knapped with large lithic flakes. The ochre chips resulting from the latter were crushed with quartz, quartzite, and silcrete hammerstones/grinders. Quartzite grinders were used to crush goethite or hematite-rich lutite. Medium-sized mammal bone was crushed, probably with a stone hammer. The red or reddish brown color and cracked, flaky texture of some of the trabecular bone suggest that it was heated before crushing, probably to enhance the extraction of the marrow fat. The hematite powder, charcoal, crushed trabecular bone, stone chips, and quartz grains and a liquid were then introduced into the Haliotis shells and gently stirred (figs. S5, S25, and S26). Charcoal is rare in the layer-CP matrix, suggesting that it was a deliberate addition to the mix. The quartz and quartzite chips, produced during the action of crushing the ochre, and the quartz grains may have been incidentally incorporated.
You can see how the complex interpretation was made possible by finding these things in association as part of one feature. If one or two of these pieces had been found separately, many archaeologists would be skeptical of such a story. Indeed, even the interpretation of this toolkit might appear incredible were it not for the second toolkit also found at the site. Archaeologists are conservative that way, they don't like to overinterpret the evidence. Even this series of events -- grinding, heating, mixing, and so on -- isn't very complicated compared to many activities that humans do every day. It's an example where Henshilwood and colleagues have advanced what archaeologically can show beyond a shadow of doubt about ancient people, but still leaves a gap in our understanding of the ancient cultural system.
A complex behavioral pattern that is actually found cannot have been an isolated instance. Complexity implies a tradition of which these toolkits are only miniscule remnants.
In this light, I should point out that the Blombos evidence is by far earlier than other evidence of pigment grinding and heating, but not unique in the South African MSA. Last year I linked to a Jennifer Viegas story about red ochre production at Sibudu Cave, South Africa. This is Lyn Wadley's work [2], and the research paper has since been published in the Journal of Archaeological Science. Also in that journal last year was a paper by Francesco d'Errico and colleagues [3], which described pigment nodules found in the Middle Paleolithic in Mt. Carmel site of Skhul, Israel. We have quite a lot of circumstantial evidence about pigment use in these early contexts both inside and outside Africa, and more is building all the time.
The archaeological record is bad in many ways. The wooden artifacts preserved at Abric Romani, Spain, are another example of an exceptional archaeological find. I've been meaning to write about them since Julien Riel-Salvatore mentioned them last month. Archaeologists have been working the Middle Paleolithic for nearly 150 years, yet we know next to nothing about wooden artifacts. Abric Romani is not entirely alone, but is enough to show the existence of a broader tradition occupying this blind spot, because the extensive shaping of artifacts and labor used to create them implies a cultural knowledge and utility.
Palaeoanthropology: Malapa and the genus Homo Nature.com (subscription) Following on from the announcement last year by Berger et al. 1 of the remains of a newly discovered hominin species, Australopithecus sediba, the same group has now published five reports 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 in Science detailing additional fossils and ... and more » |
Deputy Minister of Science and Technology Derek Hanekom On the Gazetting of ... Middle East North Africa Financial Network Sep 22, 2011 (South African Government/All Africa Global Media via COMTEX) -- The Department of Science and Technology has published the South African Strategy for Palaeosciences (incorporating Palaeontology, Palaeo-anthropology and Archaeology) for ... and more » |
