Preserving Heritage Through Close Observation and Innovative Recording Techniques
Stratum Unlimited combines archaeological expertise with modern tools, such as drones, GIS, and 3D modeling, to record, conserve, and manage rock imagery.
Our mission is to record sites with accuracy while making their history accessible for future generations.
Qualifications & Experience
Expertise Rooted in Global Experience
Dr. Johannes (Jannie) Loubser, PhD, RPA, is an archaeologist and rock art specialist with more than four decades of international fieldwork and conservation experience.
His qualifications span advanced academic training, international research, and hands-on preservation projects across Africa, the Americas, Australia, and the Caribbean.
Key Credentials
- PhD in Archaeology – University of the Witwatersrand (1989)
- Diploma in Rock Art Conservation – University of Canberra (1989)
- Research Associate – RARI & LAMAR Research Institute
- Member – Getty Conservation Institute, Rock Art Network
- Author – 350+ reports & 120+ publications
- Award Recipient – ACHP Chairman’s Award & global honors
Career Highlights
1979–1987
Ethno-archaeological studies in South Africa
1987–1993
Founder and Head of Rock Art Dept., National Museum (SA)
1989–1996
Conservation projects with Getty Institute
1993–2006
CRM archaeology in Southeastern U.S. and abroad
2006–Present
Founder of Stratum Unlimited, National and international proj.
CV for Dr. Loubser
Loubser CV 25.pdf
Download File
Awards & Recognition
In partnership with the Tennessee Valley Authority and other stakeholders, Stratum Unlimited received the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation’s Chairman’s Award for Achievement in Historic Preservation for the Painted Bluff Graffiti Removal and Camouflage Project at Guntersville Reservoir, Marshall County.
Publications & Research
Johannes Loubser from Stratum Unlimited has written 118 published articles and 222 Cultural Resource Management reports.
Loubser wrote and illustrated “Archaeology: The Comic” for AltaMira Press and contributed chapters to various edited volumes, including his “Management Planning for Conservation” in David Whitley’s “Handbook of Rock Art Research” and “The Conservation and Management of Rock Art:
An Integrated Approach” for “The Oxford Handbook of the Archaeology and Anthropology of Rock Art.” Spectacular ball court petroglyph boulders discovered in southern Puerto Rico are reported in the Cambridge Archaeological Journal 20(3):323-344. Loubser’s most recent publication appears in a volume on cognitive archaeology that he co-edited with D. S. Whitley and G. Whitelaw.
Comprehensive reports that deal with Stratum’s archaeological rock art-related field work include “Petroglyph Documentation and Excavations at 35ML1019, The Watson Petroglyph Complex, Owyhee Reservoir, Malheur County, Oregon” and ” Recording and Condition Assessment of Seventeen Rock Art Sites, Carrizo National Monument, San Luis Obispo County, California.” A comprehensive report dealing with Loubser’s rock art projects in the southeastern United States is “The Recording and Interpretation of Two Petroglyph Locales, Track Rock Gap and Hickorynut Mountain, Georgia.”
Loubser has also done ethnographically informed archaeological investigations of piled stone features in the mountains and foothills of Georgia, including Track Rock Gap, Yamacutah, and River Glen. Loubser’s work on the piled stone features in Jackson County, Georgia, is published in an edited volume by Arizona University Press.. He regularly shares the results of his rock art and archaeological work at conferences and workshops.
Key Downloads
Sample Publications & Reports
petro_boudlers_reduced
Download File
management_planning_for_conservation
Download File