Rediscovering the intriguing patrimonies depicted in rock shelters of Iringa, Tanzania

Baden-Baden is a complex of spring mounds located 70 km northwest of Bloemfontein in the western Free State Province near a large pan known as Annaspan (Bousman and Brink, 2008, 2012) (Figure 1). The site is locally well known due to a pre-Boer War bath house built over a large mineral spring on the east side of the largest mound. The bath house is historically interesting because of the inscriptions written by bathers on the outside walls. Historical records indicate that Dr. Brownlow from Europe believedthe spring water, which is rich in NaCl and MgSO4, had healing properties and established a hospital near the site ca. 1905 (N. Nel, pers. comm., letter from Dr. Albert Wessels). The palaeoenvironmental and archaeological potential of this site was first recognized by Louis Scott in 1987.