ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews the history and structure of the scheme before evaluating what has, and has not, been done by way of archaeological resource management in the affected areas. It draws brief comparisons with a more recent dam-related archaeological project in Lesotho to highlight the challenges to which archaeological work on future phases of Lesotho Highlands Water Project (LHWP) must rise. Principal components of that record include rock paintings, rock-shelters with surface stone tool assemblages and/or archaeological deposit, rare stratified open-air occupation sites and open-air artefact scatters. In addition to being key archives for understanding the hunter-gatherer history of the wider Maloti-Drakensberg region, highland Lesotho's archaeological resources are important in at least few ways. Lesotho's geology helps us understand LHWP's impact on this archaeological heritage. Except for limited areas of the western lowlands, only two geological formations are exposed.
