Mr Bones — ancient human remains discovered in Mpekweni dunes

Ancient human remains have been exposed by a sustained easterly wind at Mpekweni, near Port Alfred.

Gqeberha regional head of forensic pathology services Dr Kevin Vourie suspects they are the bones of a man who died more than 100 years ago.

A cracked and sun-bleached human skull, teeth, jaw and multiple large bones, including part of a pelvis, were discovered in a dune by archaeological enthusiast Josh Hensburg on Tuesday last week.

Vourie said the bones were “incredibly old and possibly of archaeological interest”.

They were potentially the remains of a black adult male, a finding determined by the size, shape and characteristics of the bones. 

“From analysing the skull and pelvis we can be 98% accurate as to the sex of the person.

“The mandible or lower jaw was larger and classically male, the mastoid processing at the base of the skull — the small bone protrusion below the ear — was more prominent.

“The pronominal brow bone and the muscle sockets that lift the eye are bigger in a male.

“The pelvic bones, though fragmented, were classically narrow and heart-shaped, a female pelvis would be wider.” 

He said race could be determined by the eye sockets, nasal aperture — the heart-shaped bony inlet of the nose — the eye sockets, and by measuring the slope from the tip of the nose to the jaw.

The skull and jawbone contained most of the teeth, which were worn down, a common side effect of bread made from stone-ground flour because gravel dust was baked into the bread. 

“I don’t think the bones were Khoisan, which are normally smaller and more delicate.

“There was nothing else found with the bones, such as pieces of a clay pot and the layout of the bones, which suggest it was not a burial site.”

Hensburg, a nanoparticle chemist whose holiday home is in Mpekweni, said he was familiar with the site and had become an archaeological enthusiast after uncovering 300-year-old pieces of clay pot and other bones in the area. 

Hensburg said: “During lockdown, I came across a hippo jawbone on the face of the sand dune but only half of it.

“I went back to find the other half last week and saw this white round thing — you think it’s a piece of plastic — and discovered it was human remains.

“The sand dune had migrated to some extent and exposed the bones.”

What was so strange was all the teeth seemed to be there, in the skull and the jawbone

He discovered the remains 60m above sea level, on the face of a tall sand dune 50m from a midden — a refuse site used by ancient communities to dispose of bones, seashells or old artefacts. 

The jaw bone, ribs and vertebra were scattered in the sand while the skull was lying parallel to the ground and sunken into the dune. 

“What was so strange was all the teeth seemed to be there, in the skull and the jawbone.”

There was also an elongated hole at the back of the head.

“If I had to guess it could be a knife wound, but apparently it could’ve been a spade postmortem cause there was no evidence of healing.”

The remains were removed by the police and would undergo further investigation at the Albany Museum in Makhanda.

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