By Frederick Philander WINDHOEK A precious and important Namibian archaeological collection was formally handed over this week to the National Museum of Namibia in the capital, it was announced by the Director of Exhibitions, Antje Otto-Reiner. She told Art/Life that from 1968 until 1984 the well-known archaeologist, Dr Wolfgang E. Wendt, was commissioned by the German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft) to carry out a survey of all archaeological sites in Namibia. Archaeological investigations into more than 30 rock art sites and over 100 open settlements are the result of his research. At the height of his archaeological career, he discovered in the Apollo 11 Cave the oldest-dated rock art thus far in Africa. “The large collection of artefacts was, until recently, kept in storage, where it was inaccessible to scientists and members of the general public. During the past week the whole archaeological collection, all photographic records and the excavation documentation were brought to the National Museum of Namibia. The systematization, cataloguing and preliminary inventarization, which now lie ahead, will be carried out early next year by the archaeologist and museologist, Klaus-Dieter Gralow, from Mecklenburg in Germany, in collaboration with Dr Wendt Otto-Reiner, who has been with the Namibia National Museum since 1974,” said the head of exhibitions at the museum, Antje Otto-Reiner. The project is sponsored by the Namibische-Deutsche Stiftung (NaDS) and the Goethe Centre in Windhoek.