Archaeologists uncover 300 year old burial ground
UCT archaeologists believe that a newly discovered unmarked burial ground in
Green Point is of international significance, and that it has profound
implications for city planning in the area.
Earmarked for development into a mixed residential, office and retail centre,
work was stopped at construction site in Green Point, Cape Town five weeks ago when the
contractors started uncovering human remains.
Archaeologists have already uncovered more than 200 skeletons, 40% of which
are babies at the site they believe was an informal cemetery three hundred years
ago.
As quoted in the Cape Times, archaeologist Tim Hart believes that the cemetery
was most likely a paupers' burial site and that many of the people were probably
slaves. He said that it was probably first used in the early 1700s and remained
in use for about 100 years.
Initial estimates were that it would take about six weeks to exhume the
graves on site, but after UCT archaeologists Tim Hart and Dave Halkett, from the
Archaeology Contracts Office, were called in as principal investigators, they
quickly discovered that they were dealing with an unprecedented number of
bodies.
Halkett said they found up to four burials per square metre on the site, with
bodies stacked one on top of the other. They have already passed the 200 mark
for intact skeletons. They have also removed an estimated 100 disturbed bodies.
Given this density, it is believed there could be up to 800 skeletons on site.
The density of the burials, and the disturbance of earlier bodies before they
had properly decomposed, seems to indicate that it might have been used during
an epidemic, possibly smallpox.
But all these questions remain to be answered fully. Chemical
analysis which archaeologists use to determine diet at different phases of life,
can give important pointers to the background of those who are buried.
From an earlier burial ground excavated by the Archaeology Contracts Office a
few blocks away UCT researchers were able to tell which of the skeletons were first
generation slaves, which came from Africa and which from the East, by studying
their dietary history, among other things.
And its not just human remains they are finding, the team are also unearthing the layers of Cape Town’s history,
including late stone age artifacts at the surface, a smithy’s forge and items
such as porcelain from the time of the first building which was erected around
1860.
Hark told the Cape Times `If these people were paupers, their lives were never recorded
in the historic literature and the only tangible evidence of their existence is these bones.
We can learn a lot about them with thorough analysis, but it
will need funding. No one can put a name to any individual we`ve dug up, but they
are ancestors of people who live in Cape Town today and are part of the city`s heritage,`
Hart said.
Now the pressure is on to clear the Prestwich site as, by law, the developer
has to pay for the unforeseen cost of both the work stoppage and the
archaeologists working on site. The delicate balancing act is to derive maximum
cultural heritage potential out of the area while keeping delays to a minimum.
Within these constraints, the work has to be carried out professionally,
carefully and as quickly as possible, with the team noting the position of
bodies, the direction in which they are buried, and what grave goods accompany
them. All this has to be carefully documented using digital cameras and
surveying equipment.
Halkett points out that the discovery of this second burial ground in Green
Point underscores the need for a the City of Cape Town to draw up a plan to deal
with the redevelopment of Green Point, which has become hot urban property.
There are several marked graveyards in the area behind Buitengracht Street,
and now this discovery of a second unmarked graveyard, seems to indicate that
parts of Green Point could indeed be a huge burial site.
While many of the formal burial grounds were closed and graves exhumed, it is
the “forgotten”, unmarked burial grounds outside the official cemeteries,
which are being discovered with each new development.
Sources: UCT Monday Paper www.uct.ac.za;
Cape Times
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