Development rattles old bones
Major archaeological find as work starts on Simon’s Town flats
● A property developer marketing secure living is in the spotlight for disturbing the dead — by accidentally unearthing one of SA’s most significant archaeological sites in decades.
Construction of a three-storey block of flats near the historic heart of Simon’s Town has been halted to allow archaeologists to remove the skeletons of about 70 people from a burial site believed to be close to 300 years old.
The burials date back to the time of the Dutch colony at the Cape, when the Dutch East India Company had a hospital adjoining the site — long since replaced by naval barracks.
The site was cordoned off in April to allow archaeologists, including a team from the Netherlands, to excavate and exhume the fragile bones, which are due to be reburied at a cemetery in nearby Seaforth.
The man driving the development is architect and Anglican priest Michael Bester, the son of prominent businessman Peter Bester, who is one of three directors of landowner Regent Blue Sayers Lane. The company and watchdog body Heritage Western Cape said all the necessary approvals are in place to clear the site.
Sayers Lane, which no longer exists, was a narrow walkway in the coloured community that lived on the site before demolition followed forced removals under the apartheid Group Areas Act. The now-vacant site is surrounded by heritage sites including an old brewery, an old wine house dubbed Studland and the chief of the navy’s official Simon’s Town residence, Admiralty House.
“This site is exceedingly important for all kinds of researchers looking at [human] populations,” said Cape Town archaeologist Ute Seemann. “Here is material for post-grad students for the next 10 years.”
Bone analysis and DNA samples from teeth could shed light on who worked for the Dutch East India Company, their diet, and even their age at death, she said.
Conditions aboard Dutch East India Company ships were notoriously unhealthy, with high mortality rates relative to other merchant navies.
John Gribble, a member of the site excavation team, said the developers had been stunned by the discovery, largely because it is undocumented. “It is a fascinating site — these burials are very exciting,” Gribble said, adding that the developer had spared no expense to ensure the remains were documented and preserved.
Archaeological work is due to conclude next week but several prominent Simon’s Town residents say the site is too precious to disappear under a block of flats.
“Simon’s Town would love it [the development] to be stopped,” said David Erickson, former chair of the town’s historical society, who said the planned flats are “appallingly close” to national monuments.
“This issue first came before the Simon’s Town architectural advisory committee around 2008 and the development plans have always been considered to be unsuitable, given the history of the area,” he said.
Plans were approved by the City of Cape Town in 2017 despite objections. “It was a complete surprise to us when the city council approved the development plans.”
Saber and Razia Hoosen, whose heritageprotected home adjoins the site — their family was one of the few to avoid forced removal — said they had not been consulted about the excavation. They also said they believe the site should be preserved or developed in a more sensitive manner.
Razia said the exhumation of graves continues a legacy of injustice in the area. “This is inhumane — the bodies have been resting here for years.”
Nicki Holderness, a former Simon’s Town ward councillor and longtime Simon’s Town resident, said the Royal Navy built labourers’ cottages on the Sayers Lane site, and they were later occupied by Muslim families before the apartheid removals.
“I have found this whole matter fascinating since there was never any indication of graves in the site before,” Holderness said. “I understand that a full report will be available quite soon. What the next step will be I have no idea — perhaps the erection of an ossuary in a suitable spot.”
Simon’s Town councillor Simon LiellCock said: “As much as I don’t like the proposal, nor the fact that it is right next door to the historic Studland building, it followed all the correct processes.”
Heritage Western Cape CEO Mxolisi Dlamuka said the site’s significance had been assessed by the archaeological, palaeontological and meteorites committee, which “found that the exhumation could proceed as having minimal impacts to heritage significance. The human remains themselves are in a fragile form due to the burials having been subjected to various natural elements.”