INDUSTRY NEWS
DEM
BONES
You’ve probably heard all the hype
about Maropeng and the Cradle of
Humankind, but there is a lot more to it
than the tourism marketers make out.
considered to be assets that need to be nurtured, both for their intrinsic
value and also for their marketing appeal. And heritage resources are
just as valuable as natural ones.
S
outh Africa has quite possibly the richest fossil and
archaeological record in the world – from the earliest
known living organisms to dinosaurs, ancient mammals,
human ancestors and the earliest anatomically modern
humans. There is rock art in the mountains, and all over
the Karoo, and coastal caves shelter the evidence of human occupation
going back hundreds of thousands of years – including what may well
be the very first artworks and tools in the world. Even what appear to be
natural accumulations of shells on the open beaches may turn out to be
priceless records of human occupation. There is so much. Take Pinnacle Point Estate, for example, a successful golf and residential
development. The developers teamed up with archaeologists from top
local and international universities to excavate, study and document the
extensive deposits in Pinnacle Point Cave, and subsequently developed
the Point of Human Origins site and tour. The cave is only open to the
public on organised tours, and is considered as much of a feature of
the estate as its fabulous scenery and the Peter Matkovich-designed
championship golf course. Along with other sites on the southern Cape
Coast, Pinnacle Point Cave is on the UNESCO World Heritage Site
tentative list.
But with this incredible wealth of resources comes a huge responsibility
– and enormous opportunities. Even just a few decades ago, landowners
were resentful of environmentalists finding endangered frogs or endemic
plants on their land, as they saw them as constraints on development.
But, with the increasing emphasis investors and residents of estates
place on sustainability and environmental responsibility, these are now The legislation
The relevant regulations include:
• the National Environmental Management Act (NEMA), Act 107 of
1998
• the National Heritage Resources Act (NHRA), Act 25 of 1999
• some sections of the Environmental Conservation Act, Act 73 of 1989.
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