Historic find will shed light on Jozi’s heydays

On Wits University’s West Campus, budding archaeologists are unearthing hidden treasures buried during the heydays of the City of Gold when the streets were dusty and danger lurked in the alleys between the corrugated shacks of adventurous and greedy men.

A “rescue” excavation is currently underway to document a dumpsite, believed to be dating back to the early 1900s, in order to salvage some information from early Johannesburg life. The site was discovered when the University started constructing the new Science Stadium on the West Campus.

Just next to the Old Grand Stand where the failed assassination attempt by white farmer David Pratt on Hendrik Verwoerd, the architect of apartheid, occurred in 1960, mostly first year students in the School of Geography, Archaeology and Environmental Studies are getting their first hands-on digging experience.

Led by Dr Amanda Esterhuysen, Executive Head of Archaeology, a number of glass bottles dating between 1900 and 1910 have already been retrieved.

This site is a large historic dump associated with the main arena of the Witwatersrand Agricultural Society Show grounds – later known as the Rand Easter Show grounds. The larger property, on which the dump is located, was originally owned by Johannes Lindeque, but was purchased by the government in the late 1800s to create a public park. In 1903 it became known as Milner Park and by 1907 it became the venue for the Rand Show up until 1984.

The dump lies immediately south and east of the Tower of Light that was constructed for the Empire Exhibition in 1936. The Old Grand Stand, built in 1914, is also still in place today.

Esterhuysen said that when the dump was disturbed during the construction of the Science Stadium, the contractors removed many historic bottles, jars and casks. These have been claimed by the Archaeology Division at Wits and will be curated with their collections. The presence of 'burst top' bottles and other 'time-specific' artefacts suggest that at least part of the dump could date back to 1907.

“This is a fantastic collection and provides a small window into the commodities available in early Johannesburg, which were imported from England, Germany, France, Italy and America. Johannesburg
provided opportunity for more than gold diggers and prospectors.” It is hoped that the excavation will provide a more complete picture by revealing a greater range of artefacts, and providing a context for the bottles that have been removed.

“Many of these commodities that were sold in the bottles were then in the early stages of production and provide an interesting retrospective on the marketing and advertising of products and of their success and failure,” said Esterhuysen.

The excavations are being conducted as part of a student training exercise under the supervision by Esterhuysen. First years students in archaeology are given the rare opportunity to gain field experience early-on in their studies.

“The excavation provides a unique opportunity to train students both in excavation, survey techniques, curation and cataloguing. There is no other university in SA that offers this level of training and experience to first year students. I don't believe anyone has excavated on campus before, but we have been aware of old bottles being dug out and believe many have been removed from campus. The bottles also provide a fantastic teaching collection,” explained Esterhuysen.

All excavated material will be curated and stored in the Archaeology Division of the School of Geography, Archaeology and Environmental Studies.