Canteen Kopje Diamond Diggings, Barkly West, Northern Cape
Canteen Kopje, south of Barkly West, on the Vaal River, is a site of some of the first alluvial diamond diggings in South Africa, beginning around 1869. Proclaimed a national monument in 1948, Canteen Kopje is also a site of some archaeological significance, as many Acheulian Stone Age artefacts have been discovered in the vicinity.
A skull, named the Canteen Kopje Skull and thought to be of Upper Pleistocene age, was also discovered in the area in 1929, and is on display in the Barkly West Museum at the Toll House building, on the old bridge, as well as in the McGregor Museum in nearby Kimberley. There is an open-air trail, including interpretive information boards.
Interestingly, the open-air information panels were sponsored by Rockwell Mining, one of the alluvial diamond mining companies still operating along the banks of the Vaal river.
| More on the quaint town of Barkly West | More on the Diamond Fields area |
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