SiteRecordings

The area is very remote and undeveloped. Farm complexes are very far apart and the only other anthropogenic features on the landscape are fences and farm tracks. Aerial photography makes it is clear that the landscape is almost entirely natural. The oldest available historical aerial photography dates to 1954 and shows just one man-made feature to be present – the gravel road. Significantly, the area has experienced the recent addition of an electrical ‘layer’. While the N14 running some 14 km southeast of the Alternative 1 corridor can be considered a scenic route, the power lines would not be visible from that road. The local gravel road through the broader study area provides only farm access and is of no consequence. There is a precolonial archaeological component to the cultural landscape as well. This is related to the very large number of sites clustered around the rocky hills. The northern part of the study area, where many hills and many archaeological sites occur, is certainly an example of such a precolonial cultural landscape and would be classed as a Type 3 landscape by Orton (2016c). Until recently, the landscape was largely natural with only very minimal human alteration but now it has gained a strong electrical ‘layer’ with several solar energy facilities and related infrastructure present. Clustering of this infrastructure is more desirable than spreading it out over the landscape. Because it is only very weakly developed (i.e. minimal human imprint on the landscape) and has been altered by modern electrical developments, the cultural landscape is considered to have low cultural significance for its aesthetic and historical values. The archaeological aspect is of greater significance and is most strongly developed around the rocky hills in the far north.