3. Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETDs) - All submissions
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Item Spatial information technology and heritage management in the southern Gauteng province, South Africa(2020) Mudzamatira, WitnessDevelopment is one of the major factors that destroys heritage sites in Africa. The destruction of heritage, such as pre-colonial stone walled structures (SWS), has often gone unnoticed due to the lack of technologies to help researchers fully understand the nature of the damage. The use of spatial information technologies in recent years has made it possible for researchers to account for the effects of developmental damage on heritage structures such as SWS. These technologies also assist in planning the future conservation of heritage. SWS are part of the pre-colonial history of southern Africa. Effective conservation of SWS arises from a comprehensive understanding of the causes of destruction and devising strategies that eliminate and reduce the risk of developmental damage. Here, spatial information technologies present useful tools that improve the understanding of the impact of development on heritage sites. Understanding this impact will improve heritage legislation, policy and conservation in South African. Firstly, the study used Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to test the effectiveness of Cultural Resources Management (CRM). The study revealed evidence for lack of proper CRM. Secondly, the study used interviews to assess awareness about SWS and their destruction. The general public expressed their lack of awareness, while the custodial communities revealed their knowledge of SWS and their disgruntlements over their exclusion from the management of this heritage. Thirdly, the study looked for strategies to improve heritage awareness in the area. Educational strategies, social media, Google Maps, 3D technologies among others were suggested to improve awareness.Item A taphonomic analysis of the ungulate fauna from the early Howiesons Poort at Klasies River site(2019) Achieng, Pamela AkukuThe Howiesons Poort (HP), a key Middle Stone Age techno-complex investigated by several recent studies in South Africa, is characterized by innovative lithic reduction techniques and projectile weapons hinting at human behavioural complexity in the Late Pleistocene. This complexity is also evident in the 1.8 metre HP sequence from Klasies River main site (KRM). The subsistence behaviours and occupational activity at KRM has received much less attention than the lithic technology, leading to an underdeveloped understanding of behavioural complexity of the HP at KRM. In this study taphonomic analyses, a crucial step in establishing subsistence strategies and site formation processes, have been undertaken for two layers from the lowermost HP deposits in Cave 1A, from square J51 layers YSx5 and CPx4. The relatively high incidence of acid etching, weathering, tooth marks and low degree of burning and cut marks suggest both human and carnivore accumulators in layer YSx5. Layer CPx4 on the other hand records relatively higher levels of burning, percussion marks and cut marks indicating human accumulators. The higher levels of trampling and abrasion in CPx4 indicates a period of higher occupational intensity while the lower levels of acid etching, tooth marks and weathering indicate lower carnivore activity as well post depositional exposure of bone. The abundance of the bovid size classes varies in the two layers with YSx5 exhibiting a prevalence of size 1(0-23kg) and CPx4 exhibiting size 2 (23 86kg). This most likely signifies variation in subsistence strategies with larger size classes showing higher degrees of human modification.Item The Southward spread of Johannesburg and its impact on precolonial stone walled structures(2018) Naidu, Saireeni LatishaThere are thousands of Stone Walled Structures (SWS) located in the southern half of the Gauteng Province. In the absence of relevant historical documents, these SWS are all the information we have about how pre-colonial societies were organized in this area. Unfortunately, they are threatened by rapid urbanization and development. This research attempts to estimate how many Iron Age SWS have been lost to urban development in Johannesburg South during the last 80 years. I mapped and quantified the SWS and urbanization in four chronological snapshots using remote sensing techniques. Aerial photographs from 1937 and 1961 were used as well as Google Earth satellite images from 2005 and 2015. The data was analyzed on the ESRI software ArcGIS 10.3. The four snapshots show the trend in urban sprawl and destruction of SWS and this information is valuable for mitigation strategies. Fortunately, there are legislations and procedures in place to ensure that not all these sites are lost forever.Item The sedimentology of the Jacovec, Sterkfontein(2018) Mavuso, Silindokuhle SiyabongaSince the first fossil discovery in the late 1800s Sterkfontein has become one of the most productive palaeoanthropological sites in the world. This cave network has produced abundant fossil material that has provided insight to Plio-Pleistocene ecology, environments and hominid behaviour. Although the site is rich in fossil material, various post-depositional processes that occurred over time have made the deposits very complex and difficult to decipher. At the centre of understanding this complex site, extensive geological work has been done to place the fossil material in the best possible context. This has led to the establishment of a cave stratigraphic framework, namely the Sterkfontein Formation, which has arranged fossiliferous deposits from some of the chambers in the Sterkfontein Cave System. However, some of the lowerlying chambers were not included within this stratigraphic framework and thus required investigation. After the discovery of a partial cranium of Australopithecus sp. in this cavern, the primary research focus was on taphonomy, palaeoecology, biostratigraphy as well as chronostratigraphy; minimal sedimentological work was undertaken. This research involved a sedimentological facies analysis in a lesser known chamber of the cave network, the Jacovec Cavern, which is one of the deepest caverns in the Sterkfontein Cave System. The examinations of the sediment yielded a detailed depositional history as well as provided the opportunity to test previously proposed karstification models. This provides a better comprehension for the formation and development of the Jacovec Cavern and its relation to the entire Sterkfontein Cave System. The observation of sediment halt (blockage from a palaeo-karst wall) suggested the presence of two depositionally independent chambers, namely the north western Main Jacovec Chamber and the newly-differentiated eastern (sediment-rich) Thulasizwe Chamber. Work in the Thulasizwe Chamber helped revise the proposed stratigraphy by identifying four distinct units and reconciling the previously-proposed reverse stratigraphy of the upper brecciated (Brown and Orange breccia) units. These four units begin with a basal slackwater (laminated) unit overlain by a debris flow unit followed by a fossiliferous Brown Breccia and, finally, a channel-derived Orange Breccia. The Main Jacovec Chamber contains two small sedimentary units whose depositional histories are harder to decipher. These sediments have been subject to a large degree of alteration (from both biotic and abiotic factors), which has led to the identification of cave access and phreatic stages. The lithology of the sediments (especially the presence of a distinct tuff seam) in both chambers has assisted in restricting the provenance of the sediments to localized deposits most likely coming from the south-southeast of the cave system. Furthermore, the presence of ghost rock remnants proved useful in providing a detailed karstification model (which suggests a long-lived stage of chemical dissolution before mechanical erosion and removal of cave earth) for the chamber and supports early works by Wilkinson (1985) of a deep phreatic network. This has implications for the stratigraphic interpretations on the cave system and sequence of filling.