Benjamin Smith

Benjamin W. Smith is Professor of Archaeology (World Rock Art) and was the Associate Dean, Research and Research Training, from 2013 to 2021 at the University of Western Australia. He joined UWA Archaeology in 2013. He has taught undergraduate and postgraduate courses in: African archaeology; World Rock Art Studies; Archaeological Theory and Method; Heritage and Society. His major research interests include theory and method in rock art studies, rock art dating, digital archiving in archaeology, rock art and identity, contextual approaches to the interpretation of meaning and motivation in rock art, and the role of rock art in modern societies.

From 2000 he was director of the Rock Art Research Institute in South Africa. He grew the Institute, from a local research hub into the world’s leading institution for training, publication and public outreach in the field of rock art studies. During his time as director he raised in excess of $15 million to run special projects and built the institution from a staff of three to a staff of eleven. One of his most important projects was the creation of the South African Museum of Rock Art and the consolidation of the offices and laboratories of the Rock Art Research Institute as well as the world’s largest collection of rock art recordings within this institution. Another major project was the creation of the world’s largest online digital rock art archive containing more than 250,000 digital images of rock art from around the world (www.sarada.co.za).

He has supervised more than 30 postgraduate students and many have gone on to take up leading jobs in the field and to become prolific publishers. He was the draftsperson of the South African Transformation Charter for Archaeology in 2008 and the South African National Policy on Archaeology and Palaeontology in 2011.

He has published extensively on rock art from across Africa, with a strong emphasis on contextual interpretation as well as on the arts of African herders and farmers. He edited the South African Archaeological Bulletin from 2005 until 2013.