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Innovative Clanwilliam Project Launched An innovative new project in Clanwilliam, an area rich in rock art, has been launched by the University of Cape Town Archaeology Department. It is an attempt to return archaeological knowledge and records to the area from which it came. Professor John Parkington of the University of Cape has been working in the Clanwilliam area for three decades and it is his wish that some of what has been learnt can be returned to the community of Clanwilliam whose forebears were the indigenous inhabitants of this area. The hope of this project is that through the learning process the descendants of the original people will reconnect with a past that colonialism and apartheid had severed from them. The project takes a number of different forms. One is a schools programme that will offer courses to children from grades 8 to 10. This programme includes varied subcourses from palaeontology to fynbos. Also included is rock art and its management. This will expose students to the San/Bushman rock art that surrounds Clanwilliam, as well as to thinking about and understanding its significance. Students will communicate through e-mail with other students across the world about the rock art of the area. In this way they will acquire both important computer skills as well as knowledge of indigenous culture. In addition it is hoped that the trained students could monitor rock art in the area, checking for deterioration or vandalism. A further creative aspect of this project is the use of the landscape as a framework for integrating the learning process. This Living Landscape Project will be a system of nodal points in the landscape around Clanwilliam, where each point in the landscape will be an opportunity to learn about the history, rock art, geology, palaeontology and botany of the Clanwilliam area. The indigenous San people of the Clanwilliam area had a rich culture of elaborate religious thought, mythology and knowledge of plants and animals. It is hoped that some of this richness can find its way back and be reowned by the Clanwilliam community. ©Copyright Prime Origins 2001 CONTACT BRETT HILTON-BARBER primeorigins.co.za is an iafrica.com Private Label site