The University of Johannesburg (UJ) has launched an augmented reality platform for visitors to the Melville Koppies Nature Reserve and heritage site to use their smartphones to view digital reconstructions of structures at the 500-year-old African smelting site.

The aim of the project, launched in collaboration with the Melville Koppies Management Committee, is to show the labour, craftsmanship and advanced metallurgical knowledge of the pre-colonial ancestors of Sesotho and Setswana-speaking communities.

The project allows visitors to use their smartphones to see a historically grounded, three-dimensional reconstruction of the ancient smelter digitally overlaid onto the existing remains at the site.

Through animation and narration, the project transforms the site into an immersive learning environment and provides insights into early African engineering and resource use, the university says.

The project was developed in collaboration with UJ’s Department of History and Language Unit to ensure the experience is academically rigorous and accessible through multilingual narration.

“Melville Koppies, which has deep historical and cultural significance, may feel distant to many of the present generation. Through augmented reality, we can reconstruct, reanimate and re-experience a vital aspect of history,” says UJ Faculty of Humanities Dean Professor Kammila Naidoo.

History is embedded in the landscapes people inhabit and the communities they build, says UJ Metaverse Research Unit researcher Dr Izak Potgieter.

“The site offers a rare opportunity to represent pre-colonial African technological knowledge in-situ. By animating the past, we enable visitors to engage with history in a way that is immediate, accessible and meaningful,” he says.

By integrating archaeological and ethnographic evidence, UJ aims to show how digital storytelling can preserve cultural memory without disturbing protected conservation landscapes.

“Through this project, UJ and its partners aim to establish a precedent for immersive heritage interpretation in South Africa by demonstrating how digital technologies can deepen public understanding, enhance heritage conservation and foster meaningful engagement between communities, scholars and visitors,” says Potgieter.

The Melville Koppies augmented reality experience will preserve and celebrate the legacy of the Batswana settlement, as well as help to inspire future initiatives that integrate cultural heritage, research and innovative digital storytelling, he says.

The project will also be available at all the UJ libraries to attract students to the site. The technology is designed to be affordable, and the cheapest smartphone can access the quantity-recognition code for the animated and storytelling experience.