MORE graves may well be uncovered as hundreds of artisanal miners continue their operations in and around Kimberley.
This is according to the head of archaeology for the McGregor Museum, David Morris, after two more skeletal remains were unearthed by small-scale miners last week.
The remains were uncovered at around 11am on Thursday morning near Kenilworth, bringing the number of shallow graves uncovered by the artisanal miners in less than a fortnight to four.
The first was found by workers near the Samaria Road operations on Thursday, September 20, before another was unearthed in West End on Heritage Day.
Morris said that while it was generally not possible to predict where human remains might be found, beyond formal cemeteries, there was no shortage of burial sites in the area, several of which remain undocumented.
“We know of the large African burial ground of the 1870s situated under roads and houses and commercial sites in Kimberley North, where burials were disturbed in development projects over the past two decades,” Morris said.
He added that residents in the area had been unearthing evidence of this in their gardens for more than 20 years.
“Other recorded burial grounds include the area east of Diamond Park (Greenpoint), the open space/soccer grounds west of Jack Street (formerly Dutch Reformed Street, Greenpoint) and the historic burial ground at St Alban’s Church.
“We are also aware of certain other burial places, including those associated with African refugees during the Anglo-Boer War and the victims of the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic but their precise location remains unknown.
“There are also undoubtedly isolated or small groups of graves elsewhere, such as the one unearthed by artisanal miners in Fuller Street on September 24 and the two graves that were found on the old Kenilworth Estate floors last week.
“Others may come to light as artisanal miners expand their operations.”