D M Witelson
Biographic Data
| ID | 55355 |
|---|---|
| NAME | D M Witelson |
| GIVEN NAMES | D M |
| FAMILY NAME | Witelson |
| SIGNATURE | WITELSON D M |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of the Witwatersrand |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-6575-0986 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 12 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 50 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 12 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2018 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
A Performance-Theory Revisit of the Conflict Scene at the Ventershoek (2927CA1) Rock Art Site
Late contact-era depictions of inter-group conflict in southern African rock art include references to the image-makers and their opponents, who must also have been able to view the images. Performance theory allows researchers to go beyond the conventional question about who made the images by also addressing for whom the images were made. This case study uses performance theory to explore several details of the well-known conflict scene at Vent…
Revisiting the South African Unicorn: Rock Art, Natural History and Colonial Misunderstandings of Indigenous Realities
European ideas about unicorns spread across the world in the colonial era. In South Africa, hunts for that creature, and indigenous rock paintings of it, were commonplace. The aim was proof from ‘terra incognita’, often with the possibility of claiming a reward. There has, however, been little consideration of the independent, local creature onto which the unicorn was transposed. During cross-cultural engagements, foreign beliefs in the mythical …
Performance theory: A growing interest in rock art research
It is always surprising to find clear examples in archaeology of researchers with common interests working, albeit unintentionally, without any awareness of their colleagues’ allied research. The sub-discipline of rock art research provides a striking example. All rock art practices involve performances of one kind or another. While performance is notionally implicated in rock art studies around the globe, earnest appeals to performance theory ar…
The Many Meanings of “Integration”: Some Thoughts on Relating Rock Art and Excavated Archaeology in South Africa
Rock art and performance in the Stormberg, South Africa
"Rock art and performance in the Stormberg, South Africa." Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa, 57(4), p. 559
The devil’s in the detail: Revisiting the ceiling panel at RSA CHI1, Kamberg, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
Recent work on a well-known San rock art panel from South Africa shows that continued movement between, on the one hand, San beliefs and rituals and, on the other, the images themselves allows us to move from general statements about San rock art to specific understandings. We demonstrate that continuing field research, combined with the revisiting of painted panels, is uncovering diverse ways in which San rock painters deployed and, at the same …
The place beyond the trees: Renewed excavations of the Middle Stone Age deposits at Olieboomspoort in the Waterberg Mountains of the South African Savanna Biome
Olieboomspoort is one of the few rock shelters in the vast interior of southern Africa documenting pulses of occupation from the Acheulean until the end of the Later Stone Age. Revil Mason excavated the site in 1954 and attributed the large Middle Stone Age (MSA) lithic assemblage to his middle phase of the so-called Pietersburg Industry. Recent work at the site has focused on the Holocene layers, but little is known about the earlier phases of s…
Project Piedemonte: Between the Maloti-Drakensberg and the Great Escarpment in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa
A new project maps mobility patterns and social networks from prehistory to historical times in the western piedmont of the Maloti-Drakensberg, South Africa, and considers how rock art sites relate to seasonal or transhumance patterns in the region
A pilot investigation into forager craft activities in the middle Limpopo Valley, southern Africa
The Matatiele Archaeology and Rock Art (Mara) Program Excavations: The Archaeology of Mafusing 1 Rock Shelter, Eastern Cape, South Africa
The rock shelter Mafusing 1 was excavated in 2011 as part of the Matatiele Archaeology and Rock Art or MARA research programme initiated in the same year. This programme endeavours to redress the much-neglected history of this region of South Africa, which until 1994 formed part of the wider ‘Transkei’ apartheid homeland. Derricourt’s 1977 Prehistoric Man in the Ciskei and Transkei constituted the last archaeological survey in this area. However,…
Trampling vs. Retouch in a Lithic Assemblage: A Case Study from a Middle Stone Age Site, Steenbokfontein 9KR (Limpopo, South Africa)
At the site of Steenbokfontein 9KR, virtually 80% of the lithic blanks presented retouch—an extreme proportion for Middle Stone Age assemblages. The high percentage of putative retouch led us to investigate whether post-depositional processes played a role in the preservation of the lithic assemblage. We designed and performed an experiment that reproduced all the archaeological conditions inferred from the site formation analyses to determine if…
Frogs or people: Dorothea Bleek and a genealogy of ideas in rock art research
Social status and experience both play a role in the history of rock art research. The weight of such influence has led to the questionable identification of certain images. Following her belief that much San (Bushman) rock art illustrated myths, Dorothea Bleek suggested that two copies made by Helen Tongue depict /Xam San narratives concerning the ‘New Maiden and the Rain’. Bleek argued that they show people transformed, or transforming, into fr…
Trampling vs. Retouch in a Lithic Assemblage: A Case Study from a Middle Stone Age Site, Steenbokfontein 9KR (Limpopo, South Africa)
At the site of Steenbokfontein 9KR, virtually 80% of the lithic blanks presented retouch—an extreme proportion for Middle Stone Age assemblages. The high percentage of putative retouch led us to investigate whether post-depositional processes played a role in the preservation of the lithic assemblage. We designed and performed an experiment that reproduced all the archaeological conditions inferred from the site formation analyses to determine if…
The place beyond the trees: Renewed excavations of the Middle Stone Age deposits at Olieboomspoort in the Waterberg Mountains of the South African Savanna Biome
Olieboomspoort is one of the few rock shelters in the vast interior of southern Africa documenting pulses of occupation from the Acheulean until the end of the Later Stone Age. Revil Mason excavated the site in 1954 and attributed the large Middle Stone Age (MSA) lithic assemblage to his middle phase of the so-called Pietersburg Industry. Recent work at the site has focused on the Holocene layers, but little is known about the earlier phases of s…
The devil’s in the detail: Revisiting the ceiling panel at RSA CHI1, Kamberg, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
Recent work on a well-known San rock art panel from South Africa shows that continued movement between, on the one hand, San beliefs and rituals and, on the other, the images themselves allows us to move from general statements about San rock art to specific understandings. We demonstrate that continuing field research, combined with the revisiting of painted panels, is uncovering diverse ways in which San rock painters deployed and, at the same …
A pilot investigation into forager craft activities in the middle Limpopo Valley, southern Africa
Rock art and performance in the Stormberg, South Africa
"Rock art and performance in the Stormberg, South Africa." Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa, 57(4), p. 559
The Matatiele Archaeology and Rock Art (Mara) Program Excavations: The Archaeology of Mafusing 1 Rock Shelter, Eastern Cape, South Africa
The rock shelter Mafusing 1 was excavated in 2011 as part of the Matatiele Archaeology and Rock Art or MARA research programme initiated in the same year. This programme endeavours to redress the much-neglected history of this region of South Africa, which until 1994 formed part of the wider ‘Transkei’ apartheid homeland. Derricourt’s 1977 Prehistoric Man in the Ciskei and Transkei constituted the last archaeological survey in this area. However,…
Frogs or people: Dorothea Bleek and a genealogy of ideas in rock art research
Social status and experience both play a role in the history of rock art research. The weight of such influence has led to the questionable identification of certain images. Following her belief that much San (Bushman) rock art illustrated myths, Dorothea Bleek suggested that two copies made by Helen Tongue depict /Xam San narratives concerning the ‘New Maiden and the Rain’. Bleek argued that they show people transformed, or transforming, into fr…
Project Piedemonte: Between the Maloti-Drakensberg and the Great Escarpment in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa
A new project maps mobility patterns and social networks from prehistory to historical times in the western piedmont of the Maloti-Drakensberg, South Africa, and considers how rock art sites relate to seasonal or transhumance patterns in the region
A pilot investigation into forager craft activities in the middle Limpopo Valley, southern Africa
The Matatiele Archaeology and Rock Art (Mara) Program Excavations: The Archaeology of Mafusing 1 Rock Shelter, Eastern Cape, South Africa
The rock shelter Mafusing 1 was excavated in 2011 as part of the Matatiele Archaeology and Rock Art or MARA research programme initiated in the same year. This programme endeavours to redress the much-neglected history of this region of South Africa, which until 1994 formed part of the wider ‘Transkei’ apartheid homeland. Derricourt’s 1977 Prehistoric Man in the Ciskei and Transkei constituted the last archaeological survey in this area. However,…
Trampling vs. Retouch in a Lithic Assemblage: A Case Study from a Middle Stone Age Site, Steenbokfontein 9KR (Limpopo, South Africa)
At the site of Steenbokfontein 9KR, virtually 80% of the lithic blanks presented retouch—an extreme proportion for Middle Stone Age assemblages. The high percentage of putative retouch led us to investigate whether post-depositional processes played a role in the preservation of the lithic assemblage. We designed and performed an experiment that reproduced all the archaeological conditions inferred from the site formation analyses to determine if…
Frogs or people: Dorothea Bleek and a genealogy of ideas in rock art research
Social status and experience both play a role in the history of rock art research. The weight of such influence has led to the questionable identification of certain images. Following her belief that much San (Bushman) rock art illustrated myths, Dorothea Bleek suggested that two copies made by Helen Tongue depict /Xam San narratives concerning the ‘New Maiden and the Rain’. Bleek argued that they show people transformed, or transforming, into fr…
Project Piedemonte: Between the Maloti-Drakensberg and the Great Escarpment in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa
A new project maps mobility patterns and social networks from prehistory to historical times in the western piedmont of the Maloti-Drakensberg, South Africa, and considers how rock art sites relate to seasonal or transhumance patterns in the region
The devil’s in the detail: Revisiting the ceiling panel at RSA CHI1, Kamberg, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
Recent work on a well-known San rock art panel from South Africa shows that continued movement between, on the one hand, San beliefs and rituals and, on the other, the images themselves allows us to move from general statements about San rock art to specific understandings. We demonstrate that continuing field research, combined with the revisiting of painted panels, is uncovering diverse ways in which San rock painters deployed and, at the same …
The place beyond the trees: Renewed excavations of the Middle Stone Age deposits at Olieboomspoort in the Waterberg Mountains of the South African Savanna Biome
Olieboomspoort is one of the few rock shelters in the vast interior of southern Africa documenting pulses of occupation from the Acheulean until the end of the Later Stone Age. Revil Mason excavated the site in 1954 and attributed the large Middle Stone Age (MSA) lithic assemblage to his middle phase of the so-called Pietersburg Industry. Recent work at the site has focused on the Holocene layers, but little is known about the earlier phases of s…
Performance theory: A growing interest in rock art research
It is always surprising to find clear examples in archaeology of researchers with common interests working, albeit unintentionally, without any awareness of their colleagues’ allied research. The sub-discipline of rock art research provides a striking example. All rock art practices involve performances of one kind or another. While performance is notionally implicated in rock art studies around the globe, earnest appeals to performance theory ar…
The Many Meanings of “Integration”: Some Thoughts on Relating Rock Art and Excavated Archaeology in South Africa
Rock art and performance in the Stormberg, South Africa
"Rock art and performance in the Stormberg, South Africa." Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa, 57(4), p. 559
Revisiting the South African Unicorn: Rock Art, Natural History and Colonial Misunderstandings of Indigenous Realities
European ideas about unicorns spread across the world in the colonial era. In South Africa, hunts for that creature, and indigenous rock paintings of it, were commonplace. The aim was proof from ‘terra incognita’, often with the possibility of claiming a reward. There has, however, been little consideration of the independent, local creature onto which the unicorn was transposed. During cross-cultural engagements, foreign beliefs in the mythical …
A Performance-Theory Revisit of the Conflict Scene at the Ventershoek (2927CA1) Rock Art Site
Late contact-era depictions of inter-group conflict in southern African rock art include references to the image-makers and their opponents, who must also have been able to view the images. Performance theory allows researchers to go beyond the conventional question about who made the images by also addressing for whom the images were made. This case study uses performance theory to explore several details of the well-known conflict scene at Vent…
Archaeology and Rock Art Studies (12 works) · Archaeology (11 works) · Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology (11 works) · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies (8 works) · Geography (8 works) · History (7 works) · Rock art (6 works) · Geology (4 works) · Sociology (4 works) · Art (3 works)