Janette Deacon (née Buckland, born 25 November 1939) is a South African archaeologist specialising in heritage management and rock art conservation. She has studied the changes in stone tools from sites in the southern Cape in relation to climate change over the past 20,000 years.Deacon, H.J., Deacon, J. 1999
''Human beginnings in South Africa: uncovering the secrets of the Stone Age.''
Altamira Press. From 1985, she located rock engravings at places where the /Xam informants of

Wilhelm Bleek Wilhelm Heinrich Immanuel Bleek (8 March 1827 – 17 August 1875) was a German linguist. His work included ''A Comparative Grammar of South African Languages'' and his great project jointly executed with Lucy Lloyd: The Bleek and Lloyd Archive ...

and

Lucy Lloyd Lucy Catherine Lloyd (7 November 1834 – 31 August 1914) was the creator, along with Wilhelm Bleek, of the 19th-century archive of ǀXam and !Kung texts. Early life Lucy Catherine Lloyd was born to a Welsh family in Norbury in England on ...

lived in the nineteenth century.Deacon, J., Foster, C. 2005
''My heart stands in the hill.''
Struik. She served as a member of the

SAHRA ''Sahra'' is the third studio album from Algerian raï artist Khaled, released in 1996. It was the artist's biggest production to date, being co-produced by Philippe Eidel, Don Was, Jean-Jacques Goldman and Clive Hunt, and including performances ...

Council and was first chairperson of

Heritage Western Cape Heritage Western Cape (HWC) is a provincial heritage resources authority established by the Minister of Cultural Affairs and Sport of the government of the Western Cape province in South Africa. It is a public entity set up under the terms of ...

Early life and education

Born Janette Buckland, on 25 November 1939 in Cape Town, she attended the Rustenburg School for Girls in Cape Town before graduating from the

University of Cape Town The University of Cape Town (UCT) (, ) is a public university, public research university in Cape Town, South Africa. Established in 1829 as the South African College, it was granted full university status in 1918, making it the oldest univer ...

(UCT) in 1960 with a BA, followed by a MA in 1969 and a PhD in 1982 in which she analysed later Stone Age assemblages from Nelson Bay Cave, Boomplaas Cave and Kangkara shelter.

Career

After her BA graduation she worked as W.J. Talbot's research assistant in the Geography Department at UCT and lectured in the Archaeology Department in 1962 and from 1972 to 1975. From 1976 to 1988 she was a research assistant in the Department of Archaeology at

Stellenbosch University Stellenbosch University (SU) (, ) is a public research university situated in Stellenbosch, a town in the Western Cape province of South Africa. Stellenbosch is the oldest university in South Africa and the oldest extant university in Sub-Sahara ...

. Deacon was the editor of the '' South African Archaeological Bulletin'' from 1976 to 1993. She has been Honorary Secretary of the

South African Archaeological Society The South African Archaeological Society was founded in 1945 to promote public awareness of archaeology and its findings in southern Africa, facilitating interaction between professional archaeologists and people with a lay interest in the subject. ...

since 1997. In 1989 she was appointed as Archaeologist at the National Monuments Council (NMC), until she retired in 1999. During this time she represented the NMC at the Arts and Culture Task Group and the writing team for the National Heritage Resources Act No 25 of 1999. After her retirement she became the first chairperson for

(HWC) in 2002 serving until 2007. As secretary for the Southern African Rock Art Project, she arranged courses and workshops for the nomination of rock art sites on the

World Heritage List World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural heritag ...

. From 1995 to 2011 this programme was further developed as a

Getty Conservation Institute The Getty Conservation Institute (GCI), located in Los Angeles, California, is a program of the J. Paul Getty Trust. It is headquartered at the Getty Center but also has facilities at the Getty Villa, and commenced operation in 1985.J. Paul Gett ...

field project. In 2016, she was awarded an honorary doctorate in literature from UCT for her contributions to archaeology and rock art research.

Select awards

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Personal life

Deacon was married to

Hilary Deacon Hilary John Deacon (10 January 1936 – 25 May 2010) was a South African archaeologist and academic. He was professor of archaeology at the University of Stellenbosch in Stellenbosch, South Africa. His research focused on the emergence of modern ...

, who also taught archaeology at the University of Stellenbosch, until his death in 2010. They have three children.

References

External links

Janette Deacon Collection

Rock Art and the World Heritage Convention
(video)
Archaeology and preservation of
Nelson Bay Cave (video) * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Deacon, Janette 1939 births South African archaeologists South African women archaeologists University of Cape Town alumni South African women writers People from Cape Town Living people Alumni of Rustenburg School for Girls