Page 117 - Bulletin 20 2016

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archaeology of the immediate coast; large habitations to which fish may have been

transported, existed further inland, e.g. the Senhora de los Milagros (1686) survivor account
of meeting with Khoekoen at an inland village comprising some 40 huts and many people

(Strangman 1936). Avery (1976) noted the almost complete lack of cultural material other
than Haliotis midae shells in Pearly Beach and Danger Point middens dominated by this

species. It is therefore entirely possible that fish and shucked shellfish were transported
inland to large Khoekhoen encampments.

Nevertheless, in spite of the dating problem, the use of tidal fish traps was one of South

Africa’s earliest engineering works.

Damage, Destruction and Preservation

Natural processes quickly damage traps through wave energy if traps are not maintained (see

images in Goodwin (1946); traps and areas changed. Moreover, if traps were in use earlier

than the advent of herders the mid-Holocene high sea level around 6,000 to 5,000 years ago
would have destroyed any that were not maintained as the coastline changed. Ongoing use

and maintenance by farmers and local communities undoubtedly helped to preserve traps,
many of which are now being destroyed through lack of maintenance. Elsewhere, the practice

of displacing rocks harbouring worms prized by bait collectors damages the stone-walls and
has led to the complete obliteration of the Kruismansbaai trap on Danger Point reported on by

Mr W. J. Moolman.

Recreational Pools

Construction of tidal pools on the Cape Peninsula coast dates back to the 1890s when the first

one was built by a private company in a rock gulley at Sea Point in 1895. More were built

during ensuing years along the rocky parts of this coast as far as Camps Bay. During the first
th
decades of the 20 century pools were built along the False Bay coast at St. James – Kalk
Bay, and later on in the 1930s farther south at Glencairn, in the 1960s at Miller’s Point and

Buffels Bay in the Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve. In the 1970s pools were built on the