The Boomplaats rock engraving complex contains the most significant collection of rock engravings made by pre-colonial Later Iron Age farming communities in South Africa and serves as an invaluable historic record of a deep-rooted cultural identity associated with the landscape. This identity survives to the present day where local descendants of the Later Iron Age farmers identify with the site. The site also has significant potential to be developed for tourism and to serve as a place where this rich cultural heritage can be dispersed to visitors. Boomplaats was the first site of its kind to be recorded more than a century ago and has been at the centre of scientific research for this type of archaeological site ever since, greatly contributing towards our understanding of Later Iron Age farmer communities’ social organisation, and also served to corroborate interpretations of researchers regarding Later Iron Age settlement layout and function, serving as a window into the world of the BaKoni. These socio-cultural, historic, and scientific research values, along with the stunning aesthetic value of the engravings, coupled to their fine state of preservation, bestow on Boomplaats a site significance of national importance.
