Heritage Cases

.Canteen Kopje site in Barkly West, Northern Cape, (permit: 9/2/008/0003) has been the focus of our team’s research since 2009. We wish to renew the current permit (issued in 2014 valid until 31/7/2017) for an additional three-year period. The scientific and historical value of the site has been known for many years, but new discoveries annually shed light on just how important this site is to our understanding of human ancestor and modern human history. Excavations at Pit 4 West have applied tighter methods of spatial control to excavations of the upper Hutton Sands. This is the first true effort at distinguishing the Middle Stone Age material from Fauresmith technology based on statigraphy and technology rather than incorporating abrasion state. Optically-Stimulated Luminesence (OSL) dating samples as well as geochemical sediment samples were taken from the Western profile of Pit 4 West and is currently being processes at Wits University. Pit 4 gravels, initially thought to be ca. 2 Ma have produced biface technology at a stratigraphic unit thought to be Oldowan aged. This warrants new cosmogenic dating efforts and new site formation models on top of increased technology samples. The southern Hutton Sands of the site have also recently produced an historical site which is believed to be a contact period between early European settlers and the land’s original inhabitants. This site has been the focus for Sol Plaatje University student fieldschools, providing an opportunity for hands-on learning of local history and cultural heritage. Our research will to focus on specific research goals: Continue and begin new research of whole of the Canteen Kopje site (Erf 91, Portion 9 of Farm 687 or Barkly West commonage 687). Dr George M. Leader IV plans to continue excavations of the gravels of Pit 4 and nearby to increase the site’s southern side Early Acheulean and (potentially) Oldowan assemblage as well as obtain samples for cosmogenic nuclide burial dating. Find the maximum range of the historical contact assemblage at the southern area of the site to preserve and document this important period of history. This goal can potentially be achieved through research collaboration with the local Sol Plaatjies University. Test pit the Hutton Sands across the site for resolution of the Stone Age industries contained in these sands that cap the gravels, which have been shown to contain Later Stone Age of different periods, Middle Stone Age of unknown age, and the Fauresmith techno-complex at the sands’ basal level. This is a research project for which we hope to attract one or more postgraduate students. Geoarchaeology is a multi-disciplinary specialization that has been applied at Canteen Kopje but only recently in a more high resolution approach (by Kelita Shadrach). There is great potential to expand current, and develop new, geoarchaeological research questions, particularly using the recently opened central mining trench to study excavate Fauresmith material from the Hutton Sands at a high resolution.