Hiking Suikerboschfontein - Part 10 - ancient builders

If we don't know what we are looking at we might miss it...

Hidden in the tall grass are strange structures, at certain distances they are easily mistaken for just a pile of rocks...

When one steps back a bit... some order emerges and circular rings can be seen...

...and then up close low walls are evident.

In this area at least three different styles are evident representing 3 different peoples that built walled structures here at three different periods in the past.

Type 1:

This is likely the most ancient and consists of larger outer stones with smaller infill rocks in the center.

Type 2:

These are circular enclosures that consist of the same sized rocks piled together to make a low wall.... there is no smaller infill.

These represent livestock pens of late Iron Age Herders and are usually of the order of 3 -1 century old.

Type 3:

These are square, sometimes with window and door openings preserved and represent colonial homesteads of the Boer settlers and are usually around a century or less old.

Up close, crumbling plaster can be seen on the walls.
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To be continued...