Aron Mazel is a Reader in Heritage Studies in Media, Culture, Heritage at Newcastle University and a Research Associate in the School of Geography, Archaeology and Environmental Sciences at the University of the Witwatersrand. Aron had a 25-year career in archaeological research and heritage and museum management in South Africa (SA) before moving to the United Kingdom (UK) in 2002. Management posts he has held include Assistant Director of the Natal Museum (1994-1997), Director of the South African Cultural History Museum (1998-2002), and Director of the International Centre for Cultural and Heritage Studies, Newcastle University (2012-2015). His publications have comprised archaeological investigations, including rock-art; museum and archaeology histories; digital heritage; and the safeguarding and interpretation of tangible and intangible cultural heritage.

In terms of rock art, Aron has done extensive recording of rock paintings in the uKhahlamba-Drakensberg (South Africa) and carved panels in Northumberland (UK). His rock-art publications have included the management and public presentation of rock art, the distribution of different painted themes, the role of acoustics in the location of rock-art, domestic animals in rock-art, animal seasonality, colonial rock-art, chronology and dating, and integrating rock-art with excavation datasets to improve our understanding of hunter-gatherer history.

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