Melanie Gosling
Environment Writer
THE skeleton accidentally uncovered in the Noordhoek dunes two weeks ago is that of a child, according to archaeologists.
The pre-colonial remains were initially thought to be those of a teenager, but yesterday Cape Town archaeologist Tim Hart said on closer examination the skeleton appeared to be a child of about eight or nine years old.
One of the age indicators was that it appeared the child had only recently acquired adult teeth.
“There is nothing yet to indicate how the child died, nor whether it is a boy or a girl. Someone with greater skills would need to look at the remains to establish that kind of detail,” Hart said.
The child was most likely part of one of the hunter-gatherer communities that lived along the South African coast for many thousands of years. The child was buried in a sitting position, with its legs drawn up to its chest. Hart said this was typical of burials of pre-colonial people on the coast.
“It was definitely a proper burial. There was nothing buried with the child, no shell necklaces or ostrich eggshells. It is not particularly unusual to have nothing buried with the person. In fact, finding grave goods is unusual.”
He was unable to say how old the skeletal remains were, other than they dated to pre-colonial times. They could be just hundreds of years old, or several thousand. Radio-carbon dating would be able to establish how long ago the child had been buried.
The skull was accidentally uncovered by Noordhoek resident Rob Speedy, whose foot had struck a bone during a community beach clean-up on April 18. Speedy then saw the top of the skull and, thinking it was an animal skull, uncovered it.
On realising it was human, the authorities were called in, which led to Heritage Western Cape giving Hart a permit to excavate the complete skeleton.
Hart said there was a midden five to six metres from the burial, so it was possible that the child belonged to the people who had formed the midden. Middens, made up of the remains of discarded shells from the shellfish people ate, are found all round the South African coast.
Some are many metres deep, built up over thousands of years. Artefacts such as stone tools, shell scrapers or ostrich eggshell beads are sometimes found in these shell middens, as are the discarded bones from animals people ate, including small antelope, seals and tortoises.
“Shellfish formed a large part of their diet, as well as seals, lobster and the occasional whale washout on the southern peninsula. And fish when they could get it, and watsonia bulbs.”
Hart said there were several other archaeological sites in the Noordhoek-Fish Hoek valley, including Peer’s Cave. The top layers of the archaeological deposit in the cave had been destroyed by curious humans. It is estimated that the deposit in the cave accumulated over 160 000 years.
Hart would write a preliminary report on the excavation, and the child’s skeleton would be kept for the moment at UCT’s archaeology department.