About Us | Heritage

Our Heritage Legacy

Mpumalanga Heritage began as the Mpumalanga Historical Interest Group, formed in Nelspruit in January 2012, and was registered as a Non-Profit Organisation in August 2013 (Registration Number 126-240 NPO).

We are a volunteer civic group, run by our members through an elected executive committee, working to ensure that Mpumalanga's valuable cultural heritage is retained for future generations.

From promoting the province's history and prehistory to preserving documents, photographs and places of historical interest, our work is rooted in research, community participation and responsible heritage practice.

We also act as a community watchdog against the neglect of, and threats to, our local, provincial and national heritage — and we recognise those who make a significant contribution to recording and preserving it.

We are proudly affiliated with the Heritage Association of South Africa (HASA).

A Lydenburg Head — one of seven terracotta heads made by Early Iron Age communities near Lydenburg (today Mashishing) around 1 200 to 1 500 years ago. Shaped like an inverted pot with an incised, ringed neck, these heads are thought to have been used in initiation ceremonies.

Photo: Mike Peel (www.mikepeel.net), Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

One of the two larger Lydenburg Heads — big enough to be worn as a ceremonial helmet mask and topped with a small modelled animal. The Lydenburg Heads are the earliest known examples of sculpture in Southern Africa.

Photo: Nkansahrexford, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0.

The original Lydenburg Heads are held at the Iziko South African Museum in Cape Town.