A rescue excavation.

The Lancaster Ridge graves on the planned K13 road.

Excavations from Tuesday, 26 November 1996 until Friday, 13 December 1996.

A further 10 graves were removed during this period. A total of 14 graves was removed during the rescue phase. Surveying of the site and visible graves was also done. A final and complete study of the skeletal material and cultural remains is now underway.

Tuesday, 26 November 1996.

Excavation of UP56.
The contents of the grave was disturbed from the trench. A corrugated iron covered the upper part of the body down to the pelvic region. The femurs were not covered. The grave was dug into the soft underlying sandstone. The grave is wider at the head and narrows down to the east at the feet.

The skull and right humerus are missing, probably because of plundering from the side. The thorax area of the skeleton was badly preserved. Fragments of the sternum and some ribs were found. The lumbar vertebrae was found. From the lumbar vertebrae and further down was relatively well preserved. The pelvis is also well preserved.

The person is lying on his back with arms and legs stretched out. The left arm is turned to the inside and the left hand placed on the pelvis. The left heel was placed above the right. A misshapen left metacarpal bone was found. Unfortunately it was badly preserved and crumbled.

Buttons covered with a white and green material was found. A metal object, probably a buckle, was also found. A lot of cloth was present in the area of the pelvis, abdomen, femurs and shoulders.

Wednesday, 27 November 1996.

Remove UP57 and UP58.
UP57 is a grave on the eastern side of the trench. The biggest part of the body is lost. Only the right fibula and patella and the left and right feet were left. The feet was lying in an eastern direction. They were pressing against the bottom of the grave and was higher than the rest of the body. A lot of cloth, buttons and copper bracelets was also found in the grave. A coarse material covered the body.

UP58 is on the western side of the trench. Pieces of the upper arms and pelvis is visible from the side. No definite gravepit could be seen but the head was resting in a hollow.

The bone are brittle. A skull, left and right arms, vertebral column and pelvis are present. The person is lying east-west with the head to the west. The person is lying on his left side with the right arm above the vertebrae and the left arm stretched out to the north. The skull is facing north.

A small ring of copper at the right ear was probably an earring.

Monday, 2 December 1996.

Excavation of UP59.
The grave is on the western side of the trench with the feet to the east and the head west. The bones has been relatively well preserved.

The skull is positioned upright with cloth to the left behind the skull. The material could have been placed to keep the head in position. Both the distal ends of the humeri has been lost. The clavicles and upper vertebrae are still left. The person was lying on his back with both arms parallel.

Wednesday, 4 December 1996.

The site is visited by representatives of the Citizens Commission on Human Rights. They are looking for illegal burials. The day is used to survey the trench and extent of the graves.

Thursday, 5 December 1996.

Although we started excavation on UP60, rainy weather stop any further work. The day is used to remove the upper layers with pick and shovel in preparation for the detail work with brushes and trowels.

Friday, 6 December 1996.

Further work on UP60 and removal of UP61.
UP60 is a grave on the western side of the trench. Die grave is only partially opened. The person was buried in a coffin and this complicates work. UP61 is on the eastern side of the trench and only a patella is visible from the side.

UP61.
Only a patella is visible in the wall of the trench. No colour, texture or other differentiation of a grave can be made.

The skeleton is complete and the bone has been preserved quite well. The person is lying on his back with his arms and legs thrown over to the west (left). The arms are bend and the legs flexed at the pelvis and knees and the feet together. The right hand is under the head. The left hand lies underneath the right, just north of the chin. The left and right metacarpals is directly above each other. The right leg is above the left with the left foot just north of the right.

This person was relatively young. The ante-mortem age is estimated as definitely younger than 20 but possibly about 16 years. No gravegoods were found.

Tuesday, 10 December 1996.

UP60.
The line of the gravepit can be seen in the fine sandy layer underneath the topsoil. The topsoil consists of irregular soil with pieces of soft sandstone. The infill consists of a lightgrey soil. Around the grave is a greybrown to darkbrown soil. Large quantities of roots are growing against the bone but does not penetrate the cortex. The bone has been relatively well preserved. The biggest part of the skeleton from the shoulders down is present.

The coffin is almost parallel to the trench. The head is lying south and the feet north. Unfortunately the head was lost. The left proximal humerus, some vertebrae and ribs are visible. Wood and nails are also present. The wood is in large enough and could be identified.

The coffin taper to the feet from about 40cm on the level of the pelvis to 26cm at the feet. The coffin was about 1.9m long and lined with a black material. The bottom of the coffin was strengthened with cross beams.

The person is lying on his back inside the coffin. The right arm is straight with the right hand next to the right femur. The left hand lies above the head of the femur and the feet are next to each other. Three buttons with material were found in a row in the pelvic area. Underneath the skeleton a brown material was present. A metal object, probably a buckle, was found behind the vertebral column. A thumbscrew was lying next to the thorax between the ribcage and humerus.

Wednesday, 11 December 1996.

Excavation of UP62 and UP63 and start of work on UP64.

UP62.
The grave is on the eastern side of the trench. Ribs are visible from the side. The bone has been relatively well preserved. The thorax and skull from just under the shoulders has been removed in the trench.

The person is lying on his back. The left hand is on top of the left proximal femur. The right arm is lying across the body above the pelvis with the right hand on the left elbow. The knees and feet are above each other with the right leg on top.

About 8 copper spiral were found around the feet on the left and right side. Cloth covers the spirals.

UP63.
The grave is on the western side of the trench. The pelvis is visible in the side. The person is lying on his back with his shoulders against the back of the grave. The skull is high up against the edge of the grave and has fallen over to the north (left). The right upper arm lies parallel to the body, elbow flexed and the right hand on the left shoulder. The left arm is also parallel with the body. The left elbow is flexed almost 90° with the left hand just below the right elbow and on top of the pelvis.

A piece of copper spiral with cloth was found around the right wrist and two buttons in the pelvis.

Thursday, 12 December 1996.

Removal of UP64.
The grave is on the western side of the trench. The distal ends of the femurs has been lost. The bone is medium to badly preserved.

The person is lying on his back with his feet to the east and head east. His upper arms is lying next to his sides and the femurs are parallel. The right hand is bended over to the left on to the left arm. The left hand is lying below the right elbow. The skull has fallen over to the south (right).

Against the right edge of the grave an iron container was found. It is badly rusted and encrusted with rock. It is lying about a third from the top of the femur. A blue bottle, a book with rows of figures and a small mirror is found on the right hand side of the body in the region of a possible shirt pocket. A piece of cork with a pink layer on the one side could possibly belong to the bottle.

Faint writing is still left from the label on the bottle:

Row 1: MEL
Row 2: ROS
Row 3: OBA
Row 4: ---
Row 5: et street

(If you know what this means, please contact me!!)

Friday, 13 December 1996.

Remove UP65 and UP66. UP65 is a relatively deep grave on the western side of the trench. UP66 has a large opening in the wall and material was removed.

UP65.
This grave is on the western side of the trench. The person is lying on his back with the head to the west and the feet east.

The bone was badly preserved. It is soft and crumble with handling. Even the teeth are badly preserved. Masses of roots surround the bone. The legs from the lower parts of the femurs are lost in the trench. The upper arms are parallel with the body. The left arm lies next to the femur. The right lower arm lies across the body with the right hand on the left elbow. The legs are next to each other. The skull has fallen over to the left.

A belt with copper buckle was found around the pelvis. Cloth found between the legs was probably a pair of trousers.

UP66.
This grave is right across from UP64 in the eastern wall. The tibia, pieces of skull and teeth and some ribs were found. The original position of the skeleton could not be determined.

Short overview on the site.

A complete anthropological study of the skeletal remains and cultural material are underway. The overall view is that the graveyard contains a relatively young population. The oldest person was not older than 30 years and going as young as 16 years of age. Definite morphological differences can also be seen between left and right in the same person. This indicate differences in muscle use between left and right. With extreme stress during the growth phase of the person, this differences is even more accentuated.

Of the fourteen graves only one contained a coffin. Gravegoods were scarce and consisted mainly of personal adornment (an earring and bracelets) and clothing. A few were not dressed at all. these contained only a cloth around the body or some material as a support. The group was thus probably from a lower socio-economic status.

This is in accord with the archival information which indicate that the graveyard served the local mines. Mostly strong young workers were recruited to work on the mines. The health status of these workers were probably low. It will also explain the young ages. It is important that more information be obtained from the mines on recruitment and the death of mineworkers from that era.

No map showing the exact location of the graveyard could yet be found. The oldest map of the area that we could found dates from 1968 and shows the sportfield next to the mine dump. This is long after the conversion of the graveyard into a sportfield. It is however the only sportfield to the south of the town and on mine property. A more precise indication of the location of the graveyard is however still very important. Thanks goes to Goldfields Foundation for supplying the maps.

According to the archives the remains of all Chinese labourers who died during their stay in South Africa were repatriated. Characteristics which can be strongly associated with people from Chinese descent were seen in some of the skeletal material. These are however not exclusive to Chinese groups but are also seen in varying rates in other groups. Until other information is found, it can be assumed that these graves were probably those of black mineworkers who worked in the mines. Any Chinese are probably accidental.

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