There are rocks underneath the skeleton. It is not possible to say yet if this was built for the grave or if it was an old floor. The rock layer does not show to the side where deeper stratigraphy of the floors has been opened up.
A lonely fish-eagle calls in the distance while the remains of Ingwe is carried down Mount Thulamela for the last time. He will make the journey up the mountain once more: to be buried again; his rest disturbed for a brief space in time. But by then we will now him slightly better and his memory will live far longer than the group he ruled.
Four days searing sun Four days heat Four days adrenaline Four days high Four days brushing Four days finding Four frantic days At an end. We're going home....I was pessimistic. On a first impressions the grave looked shallow. The bones were definitely rearranged in some way. Something was wrong in some way but the answer for that had to wait until we could open the grave. That moment has arrived. And the sun. And the paparazzi.
We drove through to the Kruger National Park. We planned to start work on Sunday and finish on Wednesday. On our way we stop at a place in Gyani to buy some vegetables. This is a rural centre with a lot of people in traditional dress. Of course all the vendors storm the microbus with their wares. Because Marko wanted to stop for avos, I just refer them to him, although I want to buy some oranges myself. The best way to approach this is to feign disinterest and subtly listen for prices and something you like. Then quickly buy what you want and hide the evidence. I buy some oranges and at R2.00 for six this is a give-away. In Pretoria you would pay at least R1.50 for one. And the quality in the city is not something to write home about. I take a photograph of Prof Meiring where he is busy browsing and - as I might have expected - someone storms me for a photo. Maria Mokgola. Everyone starts grooming her for the photo, even Marko helps. I put the camera away and try to get her address to send a photo but this is the cue for some more people to pose. In the end I take photographs of five people and we drive away before the queue gets too long. It is B/W film and if it the photos are any good, I will send them some. They all gave me the same address.
On this road we see again the stupidity of cattle: If one crosses the road, all the others have to. And if a car approaches, then one has to cross the road. And usually seconds before the car reaches them. In these parts it might be a good thing to get malaria. Then you have a fever in any case and don't notice how hot it is.
We arrived at Theba where we were going to stay at about 4 o'clock in the afternoon. The sun were taking a keen interest in things. It was a cool 28 degrees C in the shade. The house we stay in are a luxury compared to normal excavation accommodation. We are staying in a large house with a bathroom with shower, bath, washbasin and a mirror. There are a flushing toilet. Bedrooms with bedlights. A kitchen. And a large stoep (porch) which cools down the whole house, making the days bearable in these parts. If we want to, there is a place outside for a fire and a braai. Which is actually a good thing because we are not really geared to make food on a stove.
As planned we started on Sunday. One thing was different from the previous time. This time there were representatives from at least six different newspapers present. As well producer Jan Horn from 50/50 and his TV crew. But they were there the first time round and we were a bit used to them. And all of these were fighting for a spot in the sun, so to speak.
Ground rules were laid down to control traffic inside the enclosure. There were quite a few clayfloors enclosure that had been opened up during the normal excavation of the area. To try and protect these only those people working on the grave would be allowed inside the area of the enclosure. For the benefit of photographers a viewing platform was built next to the grave which gave an excellent view from above. If something special was found, everyone would have an opportunity to do close-ups with fill-in light and poses - one at a time. And there will also be an opportunity for photography during our documentation breaks. As can be imagined discipline had to be restored numerous times.
Another rule that took most of the people on the wrong foot was the no shoes rule. To further protect the relatively delicate surface of the floors no one was allowed inside the enclosure with their shoes on. Socks or barefoot. With the temperature sometimes going up to 45 degrees C this was no joke and those of us who worked seldom got up from the ground.
As planned, work started on Sunday. What I did not plan, was the bug that took control of my insides in the early hours of Sunday morning. By 10 o'clock I clutched out and slept through most of the rest of the day. Roundabout 3 o'clock I took some photographs and that took care of Day 1. The temperature for the day was about 38 degrees C in the shade and 45 degrees in the sun.
By the end of the day it is clear that the skeleton was disarticulated. Marko has also found the first gold: golden spiral wire and some gold "beads". These came out just behind the skull. The spirals are almost the same as the bracelet we found the first time. Thinly flattened gold wire was wound around a core made from either grass, sinew or elephant hair.
There are also strands of iron wire, completely rusted away after all this time in the ground. What appears at the first instance to be large golden beads are not beads, but rather flat pieces of gold crimped around iron wire to keep the wire together in strands (my descriptive English is dropping me on this one).
As can be imagined, the journalists went wild. It took a while, but discipline was eventually established and each got a few minutes to do their thing. This included photographs in full sun with and without reflector fill in; photographs with shadow and with and without reflector fill in; and a few posed one brushing away like mad at some imaginary spot of dirt still lying on a piece of gold. But although a bit pushy, they always gave their full co-operation.
We begin the morning at 8:00 am with a cool 28 degrees C. I am fully recovered and ready for the day. This is the kind of weather I can work in. We take some early photographs of the grave and a few detail shots.
By one in the afternoon we are at a level before we have to remove any bones.
There are rocks underneath the skeleton. It is not possible to say yet if this was built for the grave or if it was an old floor. The rock layer does not show to the side where deeper stratigraphy of the floors has been opened up.
We find a big golden clamp, about as big as a pea. To the south of the grave at the level of the base a yellow golden spiral was found. We also found some ostrich eggshell beads on the western side underneath the mandible. A small piece of golden foil and a golden nail comes out of the screens but we don't know where it came from in the grave.
The skeleton is not only disarticulated but has completely decomposed somewhere else before burial here. It is known that amongst some of the Venda, the body of an important person would be wrapped in a cowhide and left in his hut until it has fallen apart. The body is then buried in the floor of the hut. The long bones were placed in a north-south orientation with the other bones forming a base at the southern end. The skull was placed on top of this with the gravegoods in front of the skull. At this stage it still looks like the bones of the left side were placed on the left or eastern side and the right sided bones on the western side of the grave. They slipped on the fibulae - both are on the western side of the grave but a fibula is never an easy bone.
The scapulae formed a kind of a cradle for the rest of the bones. From the mandible, mastoid process and the sacrum we can already see that it was probably a male that was buried here. Would it have caused problems if it was a female!
A representative of Gold Fields Foundation, Willie Jacobz was present during the whole of the excavation. The highlight of the day was the visit by Mr Alan Wright, Chief Executive of Gold Fields, and Michael Tagg, Chairman of the Gold Fields Foundation, which is funding the Thulamela project, visited the site. During their visit, Gold Fields announced that because of the extraordinary national importance of Thulamela, the foundation would extend its funding. Something of more importance to anything with a camera, was the helicopter in which they arrived. They have generously organised that all those interested in an aerial photograph, have a chance at a quick flip over the site.
The place looks incredible from the air.
Although we knew that it was a kind of a hill - your feet and legs don't complain for nothing on the way up - nothing can prepare you for an aerial view. The captain's enclosure is at the sharp end of a promontorium with steep edges at both side. Virtually unassailable from the north, west and southern sides. There isn't really any time to enjoy the show - it is just shoot a few frames, swop camera, shoot a few frames, swop camera.......
At the right side of the grave the distal end of the right radius and humerus and the proximal end of the femur. On the left side the complete left tibia, a very curved femur and a tooth. As we remove the bones, Coen notes the exact position of the bones. The two sides are not mirror-images. Both fibulae are on the western side and the tibia on the eastern side is not visible yet, but on the western side was placed last into the grave. The right clavicle is very brittle and we glue it to try and salvage something. The left clavicle is a lost case. The bones are to small to glue before removing and we try and remove the pieces in order for later assembly. Analogy of the week - the bones look like a Provita on which someone has stomped.
By now it looks as if a base of rock was built for the bones inside a shallow grave. This can only be finalised at the end of the excavation and we remove the base. The ostrich eggshell beads were placed into the grave together with the iron and gold.
We removed most of the longbones today. This caused the second media sensation for the day after the helicopter flip. They said they were interested in the removal of the longbones. So we warned them - not now but in about 10 to 15 minutes so if we call, that's it and we won't wait. So now you have two people working in the grave and ten jockeying for position around them, each aiming for the best angle.
And then the call comes. Rules of the game: The first longbone will be removed. It will be removed only once. I might pause midway on the way to the waiting sorting board but if the bone is brittle, that's it. For the skull we had added another rule, but more about that later. The whistle blows and the bone comes up. Ever seen when two of these bigshots appear together in public for the first time ever and the media is trying to cover the event? Motorwinds and flashes. Same thing happened. Until the bone came near our bright green sorting boards. Then the artistic quality quotient of the picture went down to zero and it was as if somebody pulled the plug on the cameras.
We found and removed one golden spiral bracelet. This bracelet is in one piece and contains both red and yellow gold. It is now apparent that the red and yellow is not different types of gold but that something was adhering to the gold giving it a red colour (can't trust these Arab traders, leave something for 500 years in the ground and the colour goes off).
There is another potential seven or eight bracelets still in the soil.
At the western side we try and remove a piece of the iron wire in one piece still enclosed in soil. This uncovers a string of shell beads. Although the inside has already disappeared, the string can be followed exactly the way it was when it was placed in the grave. It is clear that the shell beads were placed in the grave together with the wire. It can also be seen that the beads and wire were placed into the grave on top of the first fibula but before the rest of the bones. There are still some bones that has to be removed so some of the other bones might also have been inside the grave before the gravegoods were placed inside.
Before I went to bed, I did a bit of brainstorming and come up with the following possible sequence of events in the burial of Ingwe.
Most of the bones were removed by now. The skull was next on the paparazzi's list. Again the alert with one rule added: If I remove the skull and it crumbles, everyone has to hand in their cameras and we will do stretching exercises with the film.
This time it took almost half an hour before we could safely remove the skull. Even then a bit of the zigoma got left behind. Those of you that has excavated a skull will know how heavy it can get. I picked it up. And put it down. Took a deep breath. And picked it up again. I did not do the requested "Alas poor Ingwe" bit but paused for a moment and then put it down on the waiting bean-bag. Maryna picked it up to take it to the fieldlab. This time the cameras did not stop whirring. History had been made.
The rest of the day we spent in removing the rest of the beads, golden spirals and iron wore. After removing some more of the bracelets, we could see that they were not worn at all. I could get one of the bracelets over my wrists. And only because it was stretched a bit at one side. They were probably too small to be worn. One of the spirals were so big, I could fit it over my leg (no, I did not). There were also no signs of wear on the gold. These were probably made as gravegoods to be buried with the captain. It also makes the mourning period with the body decomposing in a hut, a more likely scenario.
Right at the bottom of the grave a final bonus: some more golden beads. Bigger than any we have found up till now. It looks as if the drops were bigger and was first flattened before a hole was puched through the middle.
(was it the sun or maybe perhaps brilliance?) (English translation of original Afrikaans at the bottom).
ML:
King Tut was a pauper
All Gold, All Gold, looks real good.
Dit is soos pick-up sticks.
Sy bene lyk soos ‘n Provita waarop iemand getrap het.
Die paparazzi het hom die eerste gewaar
in die snikhete laatmiddag toe die werk nog ver van klaar
was en hul in hul hordes met Nikon en Leica verbete geklik het
Alas poor Ingwe, I wish I knew him well.
Marko Hutten:
Is dit goud?
Dis 'n lekker plek hierdie.
Anita Allen:
The gentleman professor, he smells so nice. (said about Prof Meiring)
Coen Nienaber:
Ons is die enigste lewende argeoloë in die wêreld (let wel)
wat 'n goud graf in Suidelike Afrika opgegrawe het.
Jan Horn:
We came, we saw, we conquered
Edwin Hanisch:
Broadly speaking...........
ML: It is like pick-up sticks.
The bones looks like a biscuit on which somebody stepped.
The paparazzi saw him the first
in the bloody heat of the late afternoon when the work
was far from finished
en they swarmed with clacking Nikon and Leica
MH: Is that gold?
It is a nice place, this.
CN: We are the only living archaeologists in the world (NB)
which has excavated a golden grave in Southern Africa.
I want to end this piece and say that it was for me, and I think also for the rest of the team, an honour and a privilege to be part of this part of history. I hope I have been able to share at least a small bit of this puzzle with the rest of you.
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