Dr. Ghilraen Laue is currently part of an exciting excavation project at the newly established research center at Kaingo Game Reserve. As one of the first researchers to work at this state-of-the-art facility, Dr. Laue is collaborating with a team of experts on the excavation of Pride Rock, a site of significant archaeological interest. The ongoing project is organized by Professor Lyn Wadley from the Evolutionary Studies Institute, Wits University, and includes leading researchers such as Dr. Rosa Moll (Wits University), Dr. Bongekile Zwane (University of Johannesburg), and Dr. Chrissie Sievers (Wits University).
18 September 2024
Continued excavations at the site of Pride Rock, first excavated in 2023
Dr Bongekile Zwane, University of Johannesburg and Dr Rosa Moll,Wits University
Professor Lyn Wadley from the Evolutionary Studies Institute, Wits University, and Dr. Chrissie Sievers from Wits University sorting through excavated material at the Pride Rock site.
19 September 2024
Today we were visited on site by internationally renowned conservationist Clive Walker (picture with Dr Laue)
Dr Laue Mapping her recent findings
21 September 2024
Working on a big 5 Game Reserve means we need armed rangers with us when we do survey work, but it also means we see many different animals on our drive to and from the site each day.
Michael and Jaque keeping us safe
We were joined by Pieter Norval from Metohm South Africa and Linda Prinsloo (Wits University). They used a handheld Raman Spectrometer for non-destructive material identification of rock art pigments.
Pieter and Linda at work at Kaingo Sheep Shelter
Back in the on site lab at the Kaingo Research Centre Pieter and Linda used a portable laboratory Raman spectrometer and a desktop FTIR spectrometer for analysis of some of the material removed from the excavations. These two methods are complementary and among other things allowed us to confirm the presence of an ancient hearth.
24 September 2024
Working on Heritage Day!
Find from this morning, grooved stone for either bead making or arrow straightening.
Some pictures of the Kaingo sheep shelter where Pieter and Linda did the Raman Analysis spoken about above
28 September 2024
Maggie Loubser with the XRF spectrometer at Rock art site DWA 6
Maggie Loubser and Salomรฉ ale Roux, from the University of Pretoria, joined the team. They used a handheld XRF spectrometer for non-invasive elemental analysis of the rock art pigment as well as Ultraviolet induced visible photography to look at the difference in fluorescence between different white pigments. The analysis is still in progress, but we hope that these non-destructive methods will be able to give us further insights into the rock art pigments used in the Waterberg.
We had to wait until dark for Salomรฉ to do her Ultraviolet Induced Photography
Some of the preliminary results of the above photography
