Under the vast sky of the Tankwa Karoo, 300km from Cape Town, the rescued remains of a Khoisan woman from hundreds of years ago found a final resting place yesterday.
The woman was reburied near the SA National Parks (SANParks) Perdekloof campsite, not far from the gorge where she was found in 2007 after lying undiscovered for around 500 years.
SANParks spokesperson Lauren Howard-Clayton said the reburial marked the beginning of an era in which visitors can pay their respects and learn more about the ancestors of the region by visiting the fenced-off grave.
“Understanding this female’s story will provide a gateway to the history of the Tankwa and will enrich the park and the visitors’ experience of the area,” said a SANParks statement. In 2007, park ranger Letsie Coetzee stumbled across human remains in the Perdekloof Gorge, near the Western Cape’s border with the Northern Cape.
She called the police but detectives soon realised it was an ancient skeleton. University of Cape Town archaeologist Ryan Gibbon and biological anthropologist Victoria Gibbon were called in by SANParks to help fulfil its legal obligation to “conserve and care for old burials”.
Heritage Western Cape granted a permit allowing for “rescue excavation, a non-invasive biological analysis of the remains, radiocarbon dating, and stable isotope analyses”.
Between then and yesterday’s ceremony, the skeleton became a positive model for respectful reburial plans and a scientific key to doors from the past. The woman’s life, as conveyed by the bones, “confirms a long history of people living in the Tankwa area and that these early people lived well, were healthy and adapted well to their environment”, Victoria said.
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