ABSTRACT
The management of cultural resources in the uKhahlamba Drakensberg Park (uDP) has seen many kinds of interventions over the years. What characterizes them all is that they were carried out in an uncoordinated fashion. There have been technical interventions such as the application of silicone to divert water flow from painted surfaces, surveys, and the fencing of rock-art sites (see Mazel 1981; Rudner 1989; Ward 1979a, 1979b). More recently, the Provincial Resources Authority has created a custodian policy. Under this policy, custodians are appointed and, after being given basic training, are expected to ‘police’ access to sites declared ‘public sites’. Besides these actions, there has also been a proliferation of scientific studies aimed at understanding various aspects of the sites that have a direct impact in the long-term management of the rock-art. Some researchers have set up environmental stations at rock-art sites with the aim of analyzing microclimate dynamics (Hoerle and Salomon 2004), considering rock structure (Hoerle 2005; 2006; Meiklejohn 1995; 1997), developing management and conservation strategies (Fordred 2011; Hall et al. 2007; Venter 2011), and studying the rate of rock-art deterioration (Leuta 2009). However, no appropriate lessons have been learnt from the many failures that have been registered over the years.
