Burchell's Shelter
| Location | Campbell, Northern Cape, South Africa |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 28°48′58″S 23°43′35″E / 28.816205°S 23.726421°E |
| Type | Stone Age shelter |
| History | |
| Periods | Holocene and 19th century |
| Site notes | |
| Archaeologists | Anthony Humphreys |
Burchell’s Shelter is a small rock overhang and archaeological site located in a kloof in the Ghaap Escarpment at Campbell in the Northern Cape, South Africa. As an archaeological site it has a shallow deposit containing late Holocene, mainly nineteenth century[clarification needed] remains. Further interest in the shelter derives from the existence of an eyewitness description by the traveller William Burchell of the last Stone Age hunter-gatherers who inhabited the shelter.[1] Hence it presented an opportunity, recognised by archaeologist Anthony Humphreys, to examine the occupation of the shelter from both an historical and an archaeological point of view.[2]
History
[edit]Strong springs near the head of the valley – at what would become the village of Campbell – had been noted by the Griqua polity based at Klaarwater (Griquatown) in 1805, but it was not before 1811 that they occupied the place, then known as ‘Knovel Valley'.[3] In that year the missionary the Revd Lambert Jansz, in the company of the traveller William Burchell, took possession of the springs in the name of the London Missionary Society.[citation needed]
During this visit Burchell met and described the inhabitants of the rock shelter in the kloof[clarification needed]. As they were soon afterwards absorbed into the community, settling at what became Campbell, Burchell's account is a description of people at the very end of the Stone Age hunter-gatherer phase in this area.[2]
References
[edit]- ^ Burchell, William. J. (1822). Travels in the Interior of Southern Africa. Vol. 1. Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown. p. 456.
- ^ a b Humphreys, A. J. B. (1975). "Burchell's Shelter: The History and Archaeology of a Northern Cape Rock Shelter". The South African Archaeological Bulletin. 30 (117/118): 3–18. doi:10.2307/3888044. ISSN 0038-1969. JSTOR 3888044.
- ^ Arnot, David; Orpen, Francis H. S. (1875). The Land Question of Griqualand West: An Inquiry Into the Various Claims to Land in that Territory; Together with a Brief History of the Griqua Nation. S. Solomon. p. 160.
28°48′58″S 23°43′35″E / 28.816205°S 23.726421°E
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