Digital Preservation and Access to Cultural Heritage in South Africa: The Case of the African Rock Art Digital Archive

Abstract Rock art, in the form of paintings and engravings made on rock surfaces worldwide, has garnered the interest of scholars since the nineteenth century. In southern Africa, rock art is one of the most ubiquitous kinds of material cultural heritage, allowing researchers access to the lifeways and thoughts of people through millennia, whose identities were shaped and impacted by contact between African groups and, later, all but eradicated by the colonial project. In this manner, rock art stands as a statement of indigeneity for marginalized peoples across the world, in the postcolonial present, and must be preserved. The African Rock Art Digital Archive (ARADA) at the University of the Witwatersrand’s Rock Art Research Institute (RARI) contributes to such preservation by digitizing rock art collections and related materials from cultural heritage sites across the African continent. Such an initiative ensures that the materials are permanently stored in the digital archive, preventing physical damage and loss of information while providing access to researchers and the wider public. This paper describes the tools and strategies used by ARADA to achieve this important work. In turn, it aims to raise awareness of the continuing cruciality of preserving South Africa’s cultural heritage.