This text is a groundbreaking work by archaeologist Lynn Meskell that examines the conflicts inherent in natural vs. cultural heritage. The author brings archaeological and ethnographic evidence to bear on a holistic understanding of one nation's self-identification by developing its protected areas and cultural heritage sites.

Acknowledgments viii Abbreviations xiii Introduction: Past Mastering in the New South Africa 1 1 Naturalizing Cultural Heritage 13 2 Making Heritage Pay in the Rainbow Nation 37 3 It’s Mine, It’s Yours: Excavating Park Histories 63 4 Why Biodiversity Trumps Culture 98 5 Archaeologies of Failure 125 6 Thulamela: The Donors, the Archaeologist, his Gold, and the Flood 149 7 Kruger is a Gold Rock: Parastatal and Private Visions of the Good 176 Conclusions: Future Perfect 203 References 217 Index 248

The Nature of Heritage: The New South Africa is a groundbreaking work by archaeologist Lynn Meskell that examines the conflicts inherent in natural versus cultural heritage. The author brings archaeological and ethnographic evidence to bear on a holistic understanding of one nation's self-identification by developing its protected areas and cultural heritage sites. Post-apartheid South Africa is a classic example of how nations attempt to overcome negative heritage through past mastering. The case study of Kruger National Park vividly demonstrates this process through both cultural and natural resource development, as it becomes enmeshed in the interventions of the state and private sectors, salvage, conservation, and notions of social good. Meskell argues that cultural heritage has emerged as secondary to the conservation of nature, but that the idea of heritage as therapy provides a potential ongoing strategy for socio-economic empowerment and development.

“Lynn Meskell’s book is carefully researched and engagingly written, and is essential reading for anyone interested in archaeology and heritage in South Africa.”  (South African Archaeological Bulletin, 1 October 2013)

“With a rhetoric of diversity, sustainability, and conservation, neoliberal forces typecast entire societies as both money-spinning tourist fodder and evil destroyers of pristine nature.  Meskell incisively exposes the resulting structural violence of conservation in South Africa, showing how managerial simplification of the country’s painful historical experience and complex archaeological record perpetuates past oppressions and exclusions.  The Nature of Heritage gives timely shape and heft to concern for the future of the past – and the future of humanity.” - Michael Herzfeld, Harvard University “In one sense this is a book about the loss of innocence – of how the dream of cultural heritage in a new South Africa has been swamped by narrower interests and the tourism market.  But it also a reassertion of the value and significance of archaeological ethnography, of showing how ‘past-mastering’ is invariably the outcome of compromises, and imbued with politics.” - Martin Hall, University of Salford

Acknowledgments Abbreviations Introduction: Past Mastering in the New South Africa 1.Naturalizing Cultural Heritage 2.Making Heritage Pay in the Rainbow Nation 3. It?s Mine, It?s Yours: Excavating Park Histories 4. Why Biodiversity Trumps Culture 5.Archaeologies of Failure 6.Thulamela: the Donors, the Archaeologist, his Gold,and the Flood 7. Kruger is a Gold Rock: Parastatal and Private Visionsof the Good Conclusions: Future Perfect References Index