RACE TO PRESERVE SWAZILAND RELICS

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31091, 21 June 1966, Page 18

RACE TO PRESERVE SWAZILAND RELICS

(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter) JOHANNESBURG. Mr P. Beaumont, a Johannesburg archaeologist, assistant to Professor R. Dart, the anthropologist, is working against time in Swaziland to excavate some of the richest archaeological sites in the world before they are obliterated by iron ore mining. So rich is the area in relics that in one 10-hour spell of digging, during which he went through 90 cubic feet of soil, Mr Beaumont unearthed 120,000 stone tools and other prehistoric remains. He estimates that the one site contains at least 12 million objects of archaeological interest Already he has collected a total of 165,000 stone tools; 9000 bone fragments, including human remains; and several thousand items made of iron, brass and beadwork. His work is concentrated on the present mining area of the Swaziland Iron Ore Development Company, at Ngwenya, near the South African border. This company, with the Anglo-Ameriean Corporation, has provided a large grant to further the study. Mining activity has already, on two occasions, caught up with Mr Beaumont and blasts have destroyed an excavation site. He and his five trained Swazi assistants are working seven days a week and long hours every day to prevent similar loses of valuable material. “From our point of view the iron ore mine has turned out to be a goldmine,” he says.

“We have found sites aged from five million years repre-

senting a Peking man type of culture, to one which contained a button bearing the inscription ‘S.A. Constabulary’.” Some of the finds are said to be of considerable importance, although the scientists do not want to release details until their theories have been confirmed. Professor Dart, who is directing the work in Swaziland, says: "Except for several enthusiastic amateurs, no systematic archaeological work has so far been undertaken in Swaziland.”