Heritage Cases

Naroep 45, K1 is an archaeological artefact scatter on Naroep farm in Namaqualand, Northern Cape. It is 55km West of Pella, a historical mission station, and can be found below the Orange River. The site is approximately 100m by 800m in area. Dr Jayson Orton has already conducted preliminary surveys of the area, and found a broad assemblage featuring mixed artefacts, some examples of which are European and indigenous ceramic sherds, LSA lithics, ostrich eggshell, a bullet casing, fragments of cans and an iron potjie, as well as three European-style millstones. He has granted me permission to use this site as the foundation for my Masters research, which focuses on identity formation and lifeways of transient herding groups in the Northern Cape during the 19th century. The site appears to be largely a surface site, with a granite gravel substrate close to bedrock. The survey portion of the project will include an aerial survey of the site and surrounding areas using Google Earth or other aerial photographs, in order to identify any particularly promising landmarks before entering the field. The site will then be surveyed using a total station to plot artefacts, archaeological features and landscape features such as waterways. The survey performs two functions. It hopes to catalogue the macro-artefacts present at the site, to create an assemblage that may provide information as to interaction and trade networks as well as offer an approximate date for the site. The artefacts will also be plotted in order to search for patterns in artefact clusters which may offer evidence of spatial use, behaviour use, as well as investigating site formation patterns – namely, whether the scatter is anthopogenic in origin, and ruling out environmental agents such as floods and washes, that may be responsible for the distribution of artefacts. All artefacts will be photographed in situ. Certain materials, such as ceramics, bullet casings and other diagnostic artefacts, may be taken back to the laboratory for further typological analysis. These will be marked, both physically and with the DGPS, and where possible returned when data collection is complete. The intention of this project is to be as non-invasive as possible, and leave as much of the site undisrupted as possible. All artefacts will be returned at the end of the project, and placed back where they were found using a total station for accuracy.