24/04/2026
Congratulations to Mr Benjamin Marais, who has successfully completed his MA in Archaeology with a dissertation entitled:
"Space and material culture: an archaeological investigation of a Mid‑19th‑Century Fort on the Eastern Frontier: the archeology of Fort Fordyce"
"The Eastern Cape Province of South Africa is a territory where conflict has occurred for much of its recent history. During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, between 1779 and 1878, nine Frontier Wars took place. Research on forts and other frontier sites in the area has been limited and little is known archaeologically about the Waterkloof triangle and Fort Fordyce, which was constructed in 1852 during the Eighth Frontier War (1850 – 1853). This research investigates the spatial arrangements of Fort Fordyce and assesses the material culture recovered during excavations. Survey and mapping are key components of the research and have led to a better understanding of this little-known site around which some of the fiercest frontier fighting took place."
Benjamin’s dissertation is now available on Unisa’s institutional repository at: https://ir.unisa.ac.za/handle/10500/32273
