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The skeleton is in the side of an erosion gully and busy eroding out of the one side of the donga. The lower part of the skeleton is already lost and some of its bones are lying below the skeleton in a secondary deposit.
A possible gravepit can be seen on the eastern side of the skeleton. The skeleton is lying on its left side with its back to the south-east. The upper part of the skull is visible. The sternal ends of the ribs, a part of the left humerus and the lower thoracic vertebrae is sticking out of the wall. A few bones of the lower limbs - a tibia, calcaneus, talus and distal end of the femur is lying in the donga. Nothing of the pelvis can be seen.
The bones are brittle but well preserved. Unfortunately not enough material are visible to make any definite conclusions at this stage. The skull looks small and the sutures has not fused yet. It is possibly a young person. Nothing is visible to make a sex determination possible. A complete excavation of the skeleton would make a lot more information available.
From the bones it is possible to determine the age at death and living length. A carbon-14 dating can be done to determine when the skeleton was buried. Other isotopes of carbon can be measured to give an indication of diet. Micro-wear analysis of the teeth using a scanning electron microscope will give additional information on diet.
If the examination is done systematically, samples can be taken for DNA extraction using the polymerase chain reaction technique. This can be used to determine the sex of the person and the genetic relationship with present day people.
A final point to consider is the question of reburial. The ideal would be to excavate the skeleton and do a complete skeleton. If requested, the skeleton can afterwards be reburied in such a way that it would be possible to do further studies if new techniques are discovered in future. Such further studies would have to be negotiated again with everyone involved.
A complete study would take approximately three months. This is the time it takes to do the carbon 14 dating. If the skeleton is reburied, it will have to be done in such a way as to preserve it as good as possible.
Information on the skeleton has to be made available for visitors. This can provide them with more information about the people that lived in the area in earlier times.
Then the work started. The skeleton was visible on the one side. It would thus not be a problem locating it. Our main concern was to try and distinguish the gravepit, if any was still visible. To so this, a first layer of approximately 5cm of topsoil was removed. This was then carefully brushed and scraped.
And revealed......
A line running aproximately where the edge of the gravepit should be, but not straight or round but wavy and much bigger than neccesary. A second layer of 5cm was removed and the same edge was found. This could be followed down and we decided to excavate this, as it was above the skeleton and also softer than the soil further away from the edge of the donga.
As in the German story, Dinner for One, everything was the same procedure as every time. Remove a layer, brush carefully, screen a bit, remove next layer. Until the bones were revealed. Then followed the carefull opening of the bones. Bit by bit with generous curses everytime a bit of bone is nicked. Until all the bones are revealed - a feeling of achievement generously mixed with....... something else? A sense of awe, respect, longing and empathy with a visitor from the past. Confronted with the past and your own future mortality. It is a difficult feeling to describe.
The sun was a bit lower on the horizon and shining fully on the side of the excavation. Dave saw it first and we all stopped to take a look. The gravepit was now clearly visible. It wasn't a real grave. The body was placed head-first into the burrow of large animal, probably an aardvark. This made it very interesting and the posibility that this was one of the earliest inhabitants of the area is now bigger than ever. We do the usual admin; sketches, photography and writing a bit in the little black book. It's necessary although not always easy.
Admin out of the way for now. Next step, a soilsample. We usually take a rather big sample in the vicinity of the abdomen and pelvis. This can then be screened for the presence of intestinal parasites. The ribs above this bit were all removed; the ribs on the left hand side were sticking out the bottom - so they were out of harms way; I know my Anatomy - no other bones grow inside the abdomen; never assume anything! Always expect the unexpected!
I lift a layer of soil and, habitually turn it around to look at the bottom. And look into the inside of a skull. A very small immature skull, but still nevertheless a skull. Everything dropped into place. A young pregnant female that died and was buried in an impromptu grave. The fetus doesn't look to be very low in the abdomen and the pelvis was completely eroded away. It could thus not have been during childbirth. Movement of the skeleton after decomposition can however not be discounted. We brush carefully and find a tiny terminal phalanx. Definitely a fetus.
This complicates matters. It is getting late in the afternoon. Without this, we would have had plenty of time to remove the rest of the bones. The skull is safely resting in a bed of sand, ready for transport. Only the vertebrae and ribs, humerus and scapula on the left hand side remained. It was already open on the top and side and we decide to dig around it and remove it as a block. If we remove it in one piece, it can be safely transported back to the lab where time is not a problem. The fetal remains can then safely and slowly be removed.
The block is presently lying in my lab. We have since started on the Krugersdorp burials. Every time I have a bit of time, a scrape away some more of the soil. Sometime soon all will be revealed.
© Okt 1998 mloots@medic.up.ac.za