Sites

A cluster, of (ruined) stone buildings and features possibly relating to an early lime industry dating to the late 19th or early 20th century, were recorded during an archaeological impact assessment conducted by Kaplan (2006) for a proposed housing development on erf 159848, Cape Town. The buildings and associated structures had already (informally) been identified by archaeologists from the University of Cape Town Archaeology Contracts Office during the course of a survey of the Capricorn Science and Manufacturing Park (attached as Appendix 2). The ruins later became the subject of a teaching excavation conducted under the supervision of Dr Simon Hall from the University of Cape Town. According to Dr Hall (Kaplan, 2006), the historic ruins probably relate to a fledgling lime industry dating to the late 19th or early 20th century.

In consultation with Dr Simon Hall, Kaplan (2016) recommended that the archaeological heritage remains be graded as Grade IIIB/Grade IIIC (moderate/low local significance). Throughout the development phase, a relatively diverse collection of early / mid-20th Century household and kitchenware (including glass bottles, ceramic plates & saucers) and food waste (such as chicken & mutton bone) were recorded during archaeological monitoring operations (Kaplan 2016).

Several middens containing shellfish (for lime burning), large amounts of glass, rusted metal, pieces of ceramics and bone, were also identified by the archaeologist. According to Dr Hall (Kaplan, 2006), large volumes of glass were recovered from the excavated deposits on the site, and may possibly be linked to the early Cape Glass Company industrial enterprise at Glencairn (1902-1906) on the Cape Peninsula (Saitowitz & Lastovica 1998). In addition to the above, large amounts of crushed and fragmented shellfish lies scattered over the site, much of which is obscured by thick vegetation cover.