The Metolong Cultural Resource Management Project (MCRM)

  • Author: Charles Arthur
  • Topic: Heritage studies,Rock art studies
  • Country: Lesotho

Additional phases planned for late 2010 include the tracing and removal of rock art and an extensive survey of oral history and intangible heritage. Findings of the MCRM to date include the excavation of a hitherto unknown Pleistocene sequence at one of the large rock shelters and the identification of previously unrecorded type of rock art. This project, funded by a World Bank loan to the Government of Lesotho, aims to set a high standard for future CRM projects in Lesotho. To illustrate this, we emphasise two key areas of our work. Firstly, we employed a holistic approach to heritage that not only includes the extensive mitigation of the internationally significant prehistoric archaeology in the affected area but also the recent archaeology and history of the present population. Secondly, by prioritising skills transfer during fieldwork and analysis, the project has made a real contribution to the training of future generations of Basotho archaeologists.


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