4 South African Archaeological Bulletin 71 (203): 4–13, 2016 Research Article LEAVING A MARK: SOUTH AFRICAN WAR-PERIOD (1899–1902) REFUGE GRAFFITI AT TELPERION SHELTER IN WESTERN MPUMALANGA, SOUTH AFRICA TIM FORSSMAN* & CHRISTIAN LOUW Rock Art Research Institute, School of Geography, Archaeology and Environmental Studies (GAES), University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa *Corresponding author. E-mail: tim.forssman@gmail.com (Received August 2015. Revised November 2015) ABSTRACT The South African War is unambiguously associated with men. Their conflicts, politics and war-time activities are well known and dominate research trends. More recently, however, there has been a shift in focus to specifically deal with black and white women and children, exposing their lifeways during the conflict period. Telperion Shelter in western Mpumalanga Province affords us an archaeological insight into a South African War refuge camp. The site was occupied by both Boer women and children, who were imprisoned in the Balmoral and Middelburg concentration camps in 1902, and by black Africans of whom little is known. Either while living in Telperion or after the war, it appears that both groups inscribed the shelter’s wall, writing their names and producing depictions of life as a refugee. Through these records it is possible to develop a historiography of Telperion’s war-time use and consider the antagonistic, defiant, and rebellious nature of veld-life seen through the site’s ‘graffiti’. The art further functions as an identity marker and artefact of memorialisation. These testimonies are unlike those written in diary entries and provide us with an unusual narrative about the difficulties faced by the women and children who took to the veld to avoid capture by the British and to assist Boer commandos. Key words: South African War, graffiti, women and children, Telperion shelter, concentration camps, memorialisation, veld-life, western Mpumalanga. INTRODUCTION Many historical narratives about the South African War, such as those relating to battles and politics, have become well-worn (Nasson & Grundlingh 2013: 18). Studies have tended to overlook domestic or family life; black and white women and children have, until recently, largely gone unstudied (see Warwick 1977, 1983; Mohlamme 1985, 2001; Bradford 1996, 2013: 47; Porter 2000; Kessler 2001; Pretorius 2001a,b; Nasson & Grundlingh 2013: 19). In their attempt to survive in a tolerable and decent fashion on a landscape of conflict (Nasson & Grundlingh 2013: 20), some of this neglected group left their mark, which would come to haunt the archaeological annals as stark reminders of a past forgotten. Black and white families became the war ’s lost victims and remained as such through neglect in dialogues, narratives, and studies exploring the political, economic and social demography of the war. In recent times, scholars have advocated transformation within South African War studies, deploring the neglect and suffering of those who remained at home during the 1899–1902 war (Grundlingh 2013: 25). A recent study of the graffiti in Telperion Shelter, western Mpumalanga Province (Fig. 1), allows for the observation of family life during the South African War, and to a lesser extent the lives of black Africans. This creates a scenario in which an archaeological study becomes directly relevant on a micro-resolution familial scale. The ‘graffiti’ within the shelter offers us an insight into the individual experiences of the South African War. Whereas graffiti is generally viewed as unsavoury (cf . Brouwers 2014), we instead consider it as a contributing factor to the site’s heri- tage significance (see Merrill & Hack 2012). We also prefer the term graffiti to ‘wall art’ (Campbell 2004) because it refers to writings of text, symbols or figures often with counter-societal views (Brouwers 2014; Frederick & Clark 2014; discussed further below). Graffiti’s aesthetic, political and social tenets render it a viable resource with socio-historical value for heri- tage practitioners (Brouwers 2014; Merrill & Hack 2012), albeit often overlooked or viewed as merely subversive. Few studies in southern Africa have investigated graffiti despite its appear- ance at battle fields, campsites, concentration camps, cemeter- ies and monuments (Ouzman 1999, 2010). This is unfortunate since graffiti offers a historical narrative which provides an individualised perspective on the past. The aim of this paper is to study the accounts of those who occupied Telperion during the South African War. The devas- tating impact of concentration camps is well documented (e.g. Warwick 1983; Raath 1999; Bradford 2013; Grundlingh 2013: 25; Hasian 2003; Krebs 1992; Nasson & Grundlingh 2013: 18; Van Heyningen 2013; but see Devitt 1941) and, coupled with Britain’s scorched-earth policy (Bradford 2013: 48; Grundlingh 2013: 32), made many black African and Boer women and children choose to subsist off the veld in order to survive and avoid capture. However, very few written accounts of veld-life exist and stories remain elusive (Van Heyningen 2013: 107). Telperion is an example of a site used for refuge by families living in the veld, who left behind debris, refuse, a small stock kraal or grain storage area, and graffiti. The purpose of this paper is to trace the shelter’s South African War history and by doing so, contextualise the site’s period-specific graffiti. Guided by an oral history of the site, we explore the lifeways of those who used Telperion, and provide a view of South African War-period domestic life seldom before considered. IT ALL STARTED WITH A STORY The potential archaeological value of Telperion was imme- diately noticed on initial inspection: Bushman 1 , Khoekhoe and Sotho-Tswana rock art traditions predating the graffiti are painted on its walls; there is a substantial deposit with various artefacts on the surface from different techno-complexes; and the site has a secluded context alongside a permanent river. After initiating research, we were told of the site’s more recent history. According to two relatives of landowners and Pedi farm workers, the site was used as a refuge camp during the