Harriet Clift is an archaeologist specialising in the historic period. Working in the historic period means that we have access to written documents, diaries, survey diagrams and maps. Some of our more traditional colleagues have gone as far as to refer to us as ‘historians’.

Archaeologists look at the physical remains left by people who lived in the past: buildings, ruins of buildings, rubbish dumps, old wagon routes, hunting trails. The written record and the evidence left behind can be complementary as often as contradictory. The challenge of the archaeologist is to make sense of both the written and physical information.

A military survey undertaken in 1809, housed at the Cape Town National Archives. The map series extends from Simonsvlei (Southern Paarl) to the Tulbagh kloof in the north. This is one of the sheets (M1/2200) and it shows the farms in the Daljosaphat area. The names of farms have been added in red.

Historic panorama of Cape Town c1762 drawn by Johannes Rach (see Cape Town Making of a City 1998). The city of Cape Town originated as a small refreshment station ‘owned’ by the Dutch East India Company (VOC). Shipping losses caused by illness and death related to scurvy was very high in the 16th and 17th century. The voyage to the Cape (the halfway point in the journey to the East) could, in bad weather, take up to 6 months. It was vital that a safe haven be found where ships and sailors could recover and restock.