Introduction

In South Africa, the term `heritage' is more often associated with contemporary art, music and dance than with the nation's rich archaeological past. However, this rich archaeological past, which includes rock art, is an important part of the nation's history. A need therefore exists to educate people about the importance and wonder of this past, and in particular to teach them about rock art, as well as the people who created the art. One way of doing this is by incorporating rock art with traditional stories from different cultural groups. In this way, people can learn about the heritage, beliefs and culture of these cultural groups from the narrative of their stories and the visual of the rock art images they have created.

Motivation

The Archaeology department at the University of Cape Town has compiled a large amount of data concerning rock art. This data includes laser scans of rock art shelters, images of various rock art and site information from a range of rock art sites in the Western Cape. At present this information is not being used, other than for research purposes. The information would, however, be an extremely useful source for educating the public, and in particular school children, about rock art and the heritage of the people who created the rock art. The problem that exists, however, is that no tools exist for showcasing this information in a useful and educational way.

Aim

The research question that the Storytelling component of the School of Rock Art project seeks to address is:

Is it possible to build an engaging and dynamic storytelling environment to encourage learning about rock-art?