Public meetings in September 2005: Lida van der Merwe outlines preliminary results

At two recent meetings the public heard preliminary results of an investigation of the human remains that were rescued from a trench outside Gladstone Cemetery in 2003. Ms Lida van der Merwe, a post-graduate student from Pretoria University, examined 104 skeletons that had been rescued from 15 of the 145 damaged graves.

Archaeologists from the McGregor Museum had previously suggested that the individuals were very likely migrant workers who had died in Kimberley in 1897-1900.

Ms van der Merwe’s objective was to describe the demographic composition of the population represented by the remains, and to assess their health status, which would reflect conditions of life in Kimberley at that period.

The population profile is strongly skewed towards males (more than 80%), with children represented by only two infants and a premature baby. 80% of adults were less than 45 years old. These results correspond with a situation where men from rural African contexts travelled to the mines in search of work. The remains are probably not exclusively from a mining context, however. There are many indications that the pauper graves were linked with hospital deaths.

Archival data suggest high mortality rates in Kimberley in the late nineteenth century, resulting largely from pneumonia, fever, convulsions and bronchitis. The skeletons show evidence of a wide spectrum of disease and trauma. Medical science was not as developed then as it is today and certain diseases, such as treponemal disease,  routinely reached more advanced stages that can be detected in bone lesions. There was a significant proportion of the sample that suffered from scurvy, reflecting poor diet. Continued research will enhance diagnosis of disease.

Fresh and healed trauma in some of the skeletons included skull fractures, stab wounds, and broken limbs, relating to a combination of interpersonal violence and, very likely, accidents such as are known to have occurred in a mining context. There were several cases of amputation. 

There is a high incidence of stress markers in the bones that indicates that these individuals were generally engaged in a high level of strenuous physical activity.

“The skeletal remains rescued from Gladstone attest to the harsh conditions the people lived in, and the limited medical care that was available,” van der Merwe said. She thanked the museum and the community for their support, adding that “it is hoped that this study will give some degree of recognition to those who were so unceremoniously dumped in these pauper graves.”