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HERITAGE STATEMENT FOR FARM 944/2, NOORDHOEK, SIMONSTOWN MAGISTERIAL DISTRICT, WESTERN CAPE (Assessment conducted under Section 38 (8) of the National Heritage Resources Act (No. 25 of 1999) as part of an EIA) Prepared for Sillito Environmental Consulting P.O. Box 30134, Tokai, 7966 Tel: (021) 712 5060 Fax: (021) 712 5061 Email: [email protected] 25 June 2009 Prepared by Jayson Orton Archaeology Contracts Office Department of Archaeology University of Cape Town Private Bag Rondebosch 7701 Phone (021) 650 2357 Fax (021) 650 2352 Email Jayson [email protected] EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The Archaeology Contracts Office was requested by SHlito Environmental Consulting to assess Portion 2 of Farm 944, Noordhoek. The site is the subject of a land claim and the claimants are seeking single residential development. The site is currently zoned single residential and is 2.5969 ha in extent. It would need to be subdivided and possibly rezoned to allow the desired development but, due to various constraints on the site, final plans have yet to be made. Part of the site has a sandy substrate covered by a mix of grass, indigenous shrubs and exotic trees . The remainder of the site is under marsh land. The sandy area is gently undulating and may have had sand dredged from the salt pan dumped on it. No archaeological or palaeontological material was noted and none of significance is expected to occur. The only cultural landscape elements present are several gum trees but these do not appear to be very old. They are assigned low significance. Visual impacts of moderate significance will occur, particularly as seen from Ou Kaapse Weg (M64), but these are over a small area and should be seen in light of the recent neighbouring developments which have imparted very high visual impacts. Visual impacts on Farm 944/2 can easily be mitigated. Subject to the approval of Heritage Western Cape, the proposed development should be allowed to proceed but subject to the following conditions: • The tall gum trees on site should be retained if possible but this is not mandatory; • New indigenous trees should be planted among the houses to recreate the sense of place typical of the Noordhoek Valley and to reduce visual impacts from Ou Kaapse Weg; • A high density of housing should not be immediately visible from the Noordhoek Main Road; • It is strongly recommended that buildings be kept to a single storey only; • Sensib le colours and fabrics should be used to avoid excessive contrasts with the natural surroundings; and • Should any human remains be uncovered at any stage in the development, work in the immediate vicinity should cease and they should be reported to the archaeologist at Heritage Western Cape on (021) 483 9685. 2 Contents 1. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................. 4 2. HERITAGE LEGISLATION ................................................................................................. 4 3. DESCRIPTION OF THE AFFECTED ENVIRONMENT ...................................................... 5 4. HERITAGE CONTEXT ........................................................................................................ 6 5. METHODS .......................................................................................................................... 7 5.1. Limitations ........................................................................................................ ....... ..... 7 6. FINDINGS ........................................................................................................................... 8 6.1. Archaeology and palaeontology .................................... .. ........ .. ....................... .... ......... 8 6.2. Cultural landscape elements .............. .. .. .. ................ ..................................... ... .. ... ........ 8 6.3. Visual impacts and scenic routes ......................... .. ..... ..... .. ... ... .. .. ... .. ....... ... .. ... ... .......... 8 7. CONCLUSiONS .................................................................................................................. 8 8. RECOMMENDATIONS ....................................................................................................... 8 9. REFERENCES .................................................................................... ................................ 9 3 1. INTRODUCTION The Archaeology Contracts Office was requested by Sillito Environmental Consulting to assess Portion 2 of Farm 944, Noordhoek, in the Simonstown Magisterial District (Figure 1). The site Is the subject of a land claim and the claimants are seeking single residential development if possible. The site is currently zoned single residential and is 2.5969 ha in extent. It would need to be subdivided and possibly rezoned to allow the desired development but, due to various constraints on the site, final plans have yet to be made. These will be gUided by the specialist studies. CHAPMAN'S SA Y ,""" .•-.d ; 34 1 ~~B ~ q 'pa pe Peninsula (Mappi ng i nfo rm~tit>n,s~ pplied by - Chief''.".." ,'" :, Oirec~q~t~: Surveys ~ n d Mapping. We bsite:'W3~.~ ;~ p e .gov .za ) " 3 oo-.1..,"l ,- ~ -... ~ - 1 ~ ~ "O Figure 1: Map of the Noordhoek Valley showing the location of the site (red polygon). 2. HERITAGE LEGISLATION The National Heritage Resources Act (NHRA) No. 25 of 1999 protects a variety of heritage resources including palaeontological, prehistoric and historical material (including ruins) more than 100 years old (Section 35), human remains (Section 36) and non-ruined structures older than 60 years (Section 34). Landscapes with cultural significance are also protected under the definition of the National Estate (Section 3 (3.2d)). Under Section 38 (1) of the act the 2 affected property requires heritage assessment based on its size of greater than 5000 m . 4 Since the project is subject to an Environmental Impact Assessment, Heritage Western Cape (HWC) is required to provide comment on the proposed project in order to facilitate final decision making by the Department of Environmental Affairs and Development Planning (DEA&DP) . 3. DESCRIPTION OF THE AFFECTED ENVIRONMENT The site is a long, narrow property covered in dense Kikuyu grass, indigenous bushes and exotic trees and with a gravel road running along the length of the northwest side (Figures 2 to 5). Sopme of the surface is gently undulating. Part of the site is a wetland and has dense, waterlogged reed beds, while the rest has a sandy substrate. A cluster of large gum trees occurs on the central part of the property (Figure 6). A view over the site indicating its physical context is shown in Figure 7. Figure 2: The gravel access road along the north­ Figure 3: Grass and bush on the site. western edge of the property. Figure 4: Indigenous vegetation on site. Figure 5: Grass and bush on the site. 5 Figure 6: The group of large blue gum trees in the middle area of the property. The wetland area is visible through the trees to the right. Figure 7: View of the site from Ou Kaapse Weg. The approximate boundaries are shown by the red dotted polygon. Note that the wetland (the large brown areas) extends onto the site behind the tall trees (see Figure 8) . 4. HERITAGE CONTEXT Stone Age artefacts and sites of varying age have been recorded in the Noordhoek valley in the past (Goodwin & Van Riet Lowe 1929; Olivier n.d.; Orton 2004; Orton & Hart 2005; Rudner 1968) and tend to be in the low lying areas behind the beach or near the old salt pan (now dredged to create Lake Michelle). Aside from Peers Cave in the hill some 2.3 kilometres east of the property, no academic research has taken place in the valley. Little is thus known of the archaeology in the immediate area. However, with the historical farming that occurred in the valley and the dredging of the salt pan, it seems unlikely that any intact archaeology would be present near the study site. 6 Historical use of the valley goes back more than two centuries but no old structures are present in the nearby vicinity. Older buildings and ruins are known in the heart of Noordhoek between one and three kilometres to the northwest (Finnegan & Orton 2008; Orton 2007, 2009) but all structures in the vicinity of the site appear to be relatively modern. A number of large blue gum trees do occur in the area immediately to the east of the site and a few extend onto the site. These trees are mature but are probably not very old. Modern residential development occurs to the east, north and southwest of the site, while marsh land is present to the southeast and west (Figure 8). Figure 8: Aerial view of the site and its surroundings taken from Google Earth. Site indicated by the red polygon. The uniform green surface on and extending from the southern end of the site is all marshland. 5. METHODS The site was surveyed on 22 June 2009. Relevant features were photographed. 5.1. Limitations Due to dense vegetation and waterlogged marshland much of the surface of the site could not be examined. Several sandy areas were noted in the grass and these were checked for artefacts. The fact that these areas were frequently slightly mounded suggests that they might even relate to the dredging of the salt pan. 7 6. FINDINGS 6.1. Archaeology and palaeontology No evidence of any archaeological material is present and the context suggests that significant palaeontological material is unlikely to be present. Should any archaeological remains be present they are highly unlikely to be

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