Heritage Cases

As far as I know this project is the first of its kind in South Africa using isotope data to understand migration along with diet during the early days of the migrant labour system. I believe that this research will complement osteological research that has already been carried out. New insights may arise from this meshing of techniques. As I have applied strontium carbon, and nitrogen isotope analyses to enslaved migration to the Cape, I believe I am well equipped to perform this research project. Understanding the migrant labour system is important as South Africa's economy's foundations were formed during this time and partly account for our current difficulties. Carbon, nitrogen, oxygen isotope analyses will be performed at the University of Pretoria. I will need to perform the strontium isotope analysis at the University College Dublin for a variety of reasons. Firstly I have been selected for a fellowship at UCD. This comes with an award of EUR 6000, a collaborator of the Dirisanang+ consortium has offered EUR1000 and a modest amount for living expenses. Iziko Museums of South Africa will also contribute to paying for my flight and some research costs. Thirdly the mass spectrometre required to do the analysis is not available in South Africa. There is another type of mass spectrometre used at UCT, however it requires samples double the amount of enamel to be sampled per tooth. Moreover, the precision of the data is not as not as high as that I have reported in previous archaeological journals. I have decided to process the samples at UCT and transport them in solution in Ireland. This will cost less than doing the processing in Ireland and will save time so I can maximise my time abroad.