SAHRIS: using the South African Heritage Register to report, track and monitor heritage crime

Abstract

South Africa has experienced a recent increase in thefts of heritage objects from museums and galleries around the country. While the exact number of incidences is not known, the increase in thefts is nonetheless apparent, and has revealed the weaknesses of the systems currently in place to respond to these crimes. The South African Heritage Resources Information System (SAHRIS) is an integrated, online heritage resources management tool developed by the South African Heritage Resources Agency (SAHRA) in 2011 in terms of Section 39 of the National Heritage Resources Act (NHRA), No. 25 of 1999. The system’s combined heritage resources and site and object management functionality has been expanded to provide an integrated, responsive tool for reporting heritage crimes and tracking the progress of the resultant cases. This paper reviews existing legislative frameworks and crime reporting and monitoring systems relevant to fighting heritage crime, and identifies current gaps in those responses. SAHRIS is presented as an innovative tool to combat heritage crime effectively in the South African context by offering a centralised, consolidated platform that provides the various stakeholders involved in reporting heritage crimes and locating and retrieving stolen objects with a means to coordinate their responses to such instances.

Decolonising archaeology in South Africa: two decades after the National Heritage Resources Act of 1999

“…Our data comes exclusively from the South African Heritage Resources Information System (SAHRIS), the online, interactive database established by the South African Heritage Resources Agency (SAHRA) in 2012 to hold all documentation related to South Africa’s national estate (Mlungwana, 2015; Mlungwana and Jackson, 2017; Smuts, 2015; Wiltshire, 2013). The data held by SAHRIS includes archaeological surveys, archival documents, heritage impact assessments, permit applications, and archived reports dating from the 1980s (Wiltshire, 2013).…”

Architectural Inventories. Evolution of Graphic Documentation of Heritage

“…Based on the need for standardization and standardization of information, we find several examples of Heritage Inventory and Management Systems, whose primary component is Geographic Information Systems. First, we describe SAHRIS (South African Heritage Resources Information System), created in 2011 by "The South African Heritage Resources Agency (SAHRA), whose main mission is to report crimes against heritage (Smuts, 2015). The Management System is an open source web platform, developed through Drupal, a content manager (CMS), which in combination with the Linux operating system, Apache web server, MySQL database and PHP language configure a system that integrates with GIS technology.…”

Application of Open-Source Software in Community Heritage Resources Management

“…Emerging technologies such as digital photography, photogrammetry, panoramas, laser scanning, Global Positioning System (GPS), 3D modeling, distributed database, Web 2.0, and computer software for generating 2D and 3D information provide heritage professionals with tools that can acquire, process, and distribute heritage data more effectively and efficiently than decades ago [5]. However, CIPA Heritage Documentation, one of the oldest International Scientific Committees (ISC) of the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) and the total of 26,195 objects had been registered to the system; and (4) there were 260 stolen objects recorded on the system [20,[25][26][27][28].…”