Van Riet Lowe was born in
Aliwal North,
Cape Colony to James Martin Lowe and Maria Wilhelmina Lowe (née van Riet). He was the eldest of three children. He went to school in
Zastron, at
Grey College, Bloemfontein and the
South African College in
Cape Town, where he studied civil engineering. He served in the
South African artillery during both
World War I and
World War II. During WWI he was stationed in East Africa,
Egypt,
Palestine,
Italy and
France. During WWII he returned as artillery battery commander and was promoted to the rank of Major. His interest in archaeology was piqued when he collected
hand axes in the
Wadi el-'Arish between
Egypt and
Gaza in 1917. After the First World War he returned to Cape Town to complete his degree in civil engineering. He worked in
Pretoria and
Natal and in 1922 he transferred to
Knysna where he replaced the Westford Bridge that had been washed away in a flood. It was here that his interest in archaeology was again sparked. In 1923 he became assistant engineer in the
Orange Free State which meant that he spent considerable time out assessing and supervising construction of 89 bridges. This also gave him time to locate, catalogue and collect artefacts from more than 300 prehistoric sites, mainly in the valleys of the
Wilger,
Vals, Rhenoster,
Caledon,
Modder and
Riet rivers and around the towns of
Smithfield,
Fauresmith and
Wilton. From 1926 he corresponded with the School of African studies at the
University of Cape Town and the
South African Museum regarding his finds and donated his artefacts to museums in
Bloemfontein, Cape Town and the
University of the Witwatersrand in
Johannesburg. After 1928 he travelled to many areas in the
Transvaal and
Cape Province. During this time he wrote and illustrated a paper on Smithfield culture and co-authored
"Stone Age Cultures of South Africa" with A.J. Goodwin for the
"Annals of the South African Museum". In 1931 he became President of section E of the
South African Association for the Advancement of Science and represented them at the
British Association for the Advancement of Science (BSA) Centenary Meeting in
London. He also represented South Africa on the International Historical Monuments Commission at the
League of Nations in
Geneva. He was involved in the investigations of
Mapungubwe in conjunction with Professors Fouché, Malan and Tromp of the
University of Pretoria in 1933 and wrote about it in 1936. The president of the BSA,
Jan Smuts initiated the creation of the Bureau of Archaeology in 1935 with van Riet Lowe as its first director. In the same year the University of the Witwatersrand awarded him the title "Professor of Archaeology", but the title did not include any teaching responsibilities. He spent his time creating a basic geological and climatological background for investigation of early man in South Africa using data obtained from the deposits of the Vaal River in conjunction with South African Geological Surveys. In 1937 van Riet Lowe was elected President of the
South African Museums' Association. He undertook research in, amongst other places, Egypt and
Southern Rhodesia. In 1938 he received his D.Sc. (Archaeology) from the University of Cape Town. In the same year he collaborated with
Robert Broom, the co-discoverer of
Mrs. Ples. In 1939 he collaborated with E.J. Wayland to produce
"The Pleistocene Geology and Prehistory of Uganda, Part II" (published in 1952). During the Second World War the government of
Mozambique invited him to
Lourenco Marques in the company of
Abbé Breuil in 1941 and 1944. He attended the Pan-African Congress on Prehistory in
Nairobi,
Kenya (1947) and
Livingstone, Zambia (1955). In 1954 he retired from the Bureau of Archaeology (then called the "Archaeological Survey") and lectured for a single term at the University of Cape Town. == Awards, recognition and membership ==