CT burial site making waves
2003-08-19 13:10
Cape Town - The SA Heritage Resources Agency (Sahra) now has a preliminary report on a startling finding - a burial site, believed to date back to the 1700s in a prime Cape Town development area, says a University of Cape Town academic.
"I e-mailed the report, which has 10 pages of main text and appendices that go on and on, late last night to Sahra's CEO Pumla Madiba," said Dr Antonia Malan of the University of Cape Town's cultural sites and resources forum on Tuesday.
The report sets out details of a public consultation process and includes suggestions on the development of the mass burial site discovered in the Green Point area, near Cape Town's city centre.
Archaeologists and experts believe the site to be that of an 18th century burial ground where slaves and others found their final resting place.
Malan said the ball was in Sahra's court and stakeholders "await their statement with enormous interest. The matter now is between the city, the developer and Sahra".
Malan said she was finishing details for the final document, which would contain a "full record" of all meetings and comments.
Exhumation permit issued
The "final" public consultation on the mass grave unearthed during construction in a prime position in central Cape Town took place at Alexander Sinton High School on Saturday.
About 50 people attended the report-back on the public consultation process, done in terms of the conditions attached to an exhumation permit issued by Sahra to the archaeological contracts office on behalf of the developer.
This allows for a 60-day period of consultation from June 9 to August 16.
Malan said previously the discovery was a "test case for the implementation of the National Heritage Resources Act and associated regulations and guidelines to an accidentally discovered, historically old and complex burial ground in an urban redevelopment context."
According to a document circulated by Malan, the Prestwich Place site covered an area of 1 200m², with the team exhuming skeletons across 30% of this area and finding on average about one skeleton a square metre.
Poses considerable challenges
"This means the site as a whole is likely to yield more than 1 000 skeletons.
"This will be the most skeletons ever recovered from a single burial ground in South Africa, and poses considerable challenges in terms of curation and storage," she said.
Meanwhile, Pumla Madiba said that Sahra's permit committee would meet on Wednesday to look at the report.
"This will influence the way forward. We have also provided for further public consultations on the side of Sahra, and have extended the amendment of the permit to the end of the month," she said.
- SAPA