AE01401V

A report on a cultural heritage baseline assessment for the proposed Brightsource CSP Project (Solis 2) near Upington in the Northern Cape Province

Summary

Archaetnos cc was appointed by WSP Environment and Energy to conduct a cultural heritage baseline assessment study for the proposed Brightsource CSP Project (Solis 2). This is situated on the farm Van Roois Vley close to Upington in the Northern Cape Province.

The fieldwork undertaken revealed numerous features of archaeological nature. Some of these were already identified during a previous heritage study in the area. It is difficult to name all of these sites due to the lack of vast amounts of cultural material. Two of these date to the recent historical past or Historical Age and the rest to the Stone Age. One of the historical sites is a grave yard. The features are discussed in the report.

It seems some of these features will be directly impacted on by the development. On others there might be a secondary impact. Detail regarding to the specifics of the development (e.g. location of the components of the infrastructure) however is not available yet and therefore specific impacts cannot be determined. However, mitigation was done on this area previously and this is taken into consideration. Additional mitigation measures are proposed. The development may continue after implementation of these.

The developer also needs to take note that all archaeological and historical sites may not have been identified. It also is possible that subterranean archaeological sites may be found later on. On identification of these it needs to be dealt with by an archaeologist.

Report by

Dr. A.C. van Vollenhoven (L.AKAD.SA.)