Willem C. Nienaber

LATE IRON AGE GOLD BURIALS FROM THULAMELA (PAFURI REGION, KRUGER NATIONAL PARK)

Thulamela, a thirteenth to seventeenth century site in the northern Kruger National Park, is one of the stone walled, hilltop sites of the Soutpansberg range that lie at the southeastern limits of the Zimbabwe culture. The project, including selective excavations and the reconstruction of some stone walls, took place between 1993 and 1997. In 1996, two burials dating to the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries were discovered within the stone walled enclosures. These are important because the associated gold objects indicate that both individuals were of high social status and because UP44 is the first archaeologically documented instance of a secondary burial in southern Africa. The paper focuses on the skeletal remains recovered from the site. The manner in which scientists, community leaders, and other stakeholders collaborated to reach a compromise on the study and reburial of the skeletons has been remarkable. *Received March 1998, revised October 1998

TWO BURIALS AT MALLE, A LATE IRON AGE SETTLEMENT IN THE BANKEVELD IN THE NORTH-WEST PROVINCE

The graves of a middle-aged male individual and a juvenile (possibly female) were excavated at Malle, a Late Iron Age stone-walled site near Marikana in the North- West Province. The features of the graves at Malle correspond with burial practices recordedfor a stone-walled site near Brits (Site ZKOOI) and those recorded for a site close to Malle, namely Makgope (Site NTGOO1). At these three sites, all associated with Sotho-Tswana farming communities, men were buried in flexed, upright sitting positions in cattle kraal enclosures. Some of these burials featured funerary goods including (deliberately) broken pots and the remains of domestic stock such as cattle andpossibly sheep or goats. The possibly female juvenile from Malle was buried in a similarfashion, but this grave was located outside the cattle kraal. Individuals buried in a horizontal, flexed position were also excavated at Olifantspoort, a Sotho-Tswana settlement close to the Bankeveld sites. Both horizontal and vertical burial postures amongst the Sotho-Tswana have been described and illustrated in ethnographic accounts.

Decomposition patterns of buried remains at different intervals in the Central Highveld region of South Africa

Burial of remains is an important factor when one attempts to establish the post-mortem interval as it reduces, and in extreme cases, excludes oviposition by Diptera species. This in turn leads to modification of the decomposition process. The aim of this study was to record decomposition patterns of buried remains using a pig model. The pattern of decomposition was evaluated at different intervals and recorded according to existing guidelines. In order to contribute to our knowledge on decomposition in different settings, a quantifiable approach was followed. Results indicated that early stages of decomposition occurred rapidly for buried remains within 7–33 days. Between 14 and 33 days, buried pigs displayed common features associated with the early to middle stages of decomposition, such as discoloration and bloating. From 33 to 90 days advanced decomposition manifested on the remains, and pigs then reached a stage of advanced decomposition where little change was observed in the next ±90–183 days after interment. Throughout this study, total body scores remained higher for surface remains. Overall, buried pigs followed a similar pattern of decomposition to those of surface remains, although at a much slower rate when compared with similar post-mortem intervals in surface remains. In this study, the decomposition patterns and rates of buried remains were mostly influenced by limited insect activity and adipocere formation which reduces the rate of decay in a conducive environment (i.e. burial in soil).

A controlled monitoring study of simulated clandestine graves using 3D ground penetrating radar

A controlled three-dimensional ground penetrating radar monitoring study over simulated clandestine graves was conducted near Pretoria, South Africa, in which the detectability of graves as a function of post-burial interval was assessed, as this is of particular interest to local forensic investigators. It was demonstrated that the site-specific environmental parameter (a clay-rich loamy soil with poor drainage) and heavy seasonal rainfall (as confirmed by ground-penetrating-radar-derived soil moisture estimates) drastically compromised the long-term grave detectability, especially when adopting a three-dimensional depth slice analysis approach. It is also seen that the disturbed burial zone is the major contributor to the total grave anomaly rather than the buried body due to the combination of environmental parameters and the absence of buried artefacts. This paper also advocates the combined use of different data representations (two-dimensional and three-dimensional) to increase the likelihood of detecting subtle grave anomalies.