About CAS Team

Michelle Davids Office Administrator, Cape Archaeological Survey.

Michelle Davids has worked as the CAS office administrator after she obtained a certificate in Computer Proficiency (MS Excel, MS Word, Internet, e-mail) from Athlone Technical College in 2000. She provides both clerical and administrative support, to ensure the smooth-running of the business. Michelle is involved with the coordination and implementation of office procedures, which include word processing, copy typing, letter writing, dealing with telephone and email enquiries, keeping diaries, preparing and issuing invoices, arranging meetings/appointments and organising travel for staff.

Leigh Haselau, Social Worker (M.SocSc (SW)

Leigh has been a social worker in private practice since 1995 and has been an associate with CAS since 2007. Leigh graduated from UCT in 1989 and completed a master’s degree in social work in 2004, specializing in the narrative method. She has worked for a number of non-government organizations and has experience in the field of mental health, medical and forensic social work with a special interest in the field of trans-generational grief. She has assisted CAS in various public participation processes, welcoming and following up with community members, taking minutes at the meetings and providing support, as and if required.

Leigh is registered with the South African Council for Social Service Professions (SACSSP) and is the Minutes Secretary for the Western Cape Branch of the South African Association of Social Workers in Private Practice (SAASWIPP). Leigh also belongs to the Family Mediators’ Association (FAMAC).

Nonhlanhla Dlamini (MSc in Biological Anthropology and PhD Candidate, University of Cape Town)

Nonhlanhla has worked as an associate in the CAS office since 2005. She is currently finishing her doctorate in Biological Anthropology at the University of Cape Town. She has a background in Archaeology and has excavated and supervised numerous exhumations of prehistoric and historic burials around South Africa during this time. Nonhlanhla’s main interest is in reconstructing biohistories of past populations, with a special interest in diseases and lifestyle patterns.

In addition to this, she serves along with her colleagues at the Department of Human Biology at UCT, as a forensic anthropologist for the South African Police Services and for the Missing Persons Task Team of the National Prosecuting Authority.

Nonhlanhla is an affiliated member of the Southern African Association of Professional Archaeologists (ASAPA).

Michael Bester (Pr.Arch, Pr.CPM, BAS, BArch)

Michael is registered as both a Professional Architect (Pr.Arch) and a Professional Construction Project Manager (Pr.CPM) and obtained his post-graduate degree in Architecture (BAS, BArch) from the University of Cape Town in 1994. He also holds a Diploma in Theology (Dipl.Th) and several other qualifications in the built environment, including in the fields of sectional titles, health and safety, estate agency and alternative dispute resolution.

Since qualification, he has accumulated eighteen years-experience in private architectural practice. He has developed extensive experience in heritage-related work in the built environment, on a wide range of projects, and has an especially thorough knowledge of the processes and constraints of property and building development.

Michael is a member of the South African Institute of Architects (SAIA) and the Cape Institute for Architecture (CIA) and has served for many years on numerous committees and task-groups for both institutes, including as convener of the CIA Practice & Professional Development and Ethics Committees. He is an Associate of the Association of Arbitrators (Southern Africa) (AAArb) and is accredited as a Specialist Consultant with the Association of Professional Heritage Practitioners (AHAP).

Cedric Poggenpoel (MA in Archaeology, PhD Candidate, University of Cape Town)

Cedric has extensive archaeological experience gained at the University of Cape Town, Department of Archaeology, that dates back to 1963 working in cave deposits, deflation hollows and open sites that contain Early Stone (ESA), Middle Stone Age (MSA) or Late Stone Age (LSA) deposits. He is a specialist in faunal identification with an interest in fish taxonomy. He completed the World Mammalian Fauna Course for African and American paleontology at Berkley Campus, University of Los Angles, and has provided specialist faunal services to Archaeological Units at Stanford University, Natal University and the Grahamstown Museum.

He has worked as Field Director at Cape Archaeological Survey since 2008 managing complex historical sites at the Green Point Stadium, the Inner City Bus Depot, and several large-scale shell middens in Paternoster and St Helena Bay. He also has experience in Industrial Archaeology, his most recent project working on a WW2 Robben Island Power Station.

Cedric is a member of the Southern African Association of Professional Archaeologists (ASAPA), an elected Member to the Permanent Council of International Prehistoric and Protohistoric Sciences and a Member of the International Council for Archaezoology.

Tony Manhire (BSc Zoology, MSc Archaeology, University of Cape Town)

Tony completed a B.Sc in Zoology and Chemistry before undertaking an M.Sc in archaeology. He then joined the Department of Archaeology at the University of Cape Town. During his long tenure with the department, Tony was pivotally involved with the majority of projects undertaken at Elands Bay and in the surrounding coastal sandveld. For most of this period he worked at the Spatial Archaeology Research Unit which had a permanent field station establishment next to the Verloren Vlei which greatly facilitated the running of large excavation and survey programmes as well as student teaching curricula.

He undertook an extensive survey of rock paintings in the Sandveld for his B.Sc Honours thesis and a detailed study of LSA artifacts in deflation hollow contexts for his Masters dissertation.

He was pivotally involved with the establishment of the Living Landscape educational programme in Clanwilliam and instrumental in setting up a rock art trail outside Clanwilliam and training local to act as rock art tour guides.

Tony has extensive experience in mapping rock art sites and interpreting Khoisan cosmology. He also has experience in the identification of stone tools from the Early (ESA), Middle (MSA) and Late Stone Age (LSA) sites. He has used this fieldwork experience and applied it as a Field Director to undertake Impact Assessments for CAS for Wind Farms, Mining Areas and identifying shell middens.

In the field of rock art, which is his primary research interest, he has published articles in journals and books and delivered papers at conferences in southern Africa as well as Europe, America and Australia.

Tony is registered and accredited as a Principal Investigator and Field Director with the Southern African Association of Professional Archaeologist (ASAPA).

Mary Patrick (MA Archaeology, University of Cape Town)

Mary is the founding member of Cape Archaeological Survey (CAS) established in 1999 to provide archaeological services to the construction industry. Since opening the first private commercially owned archaeological office in Cape Town, she has gained extensive experience in managing large scale commercial sites and leading multidisciplinary teams at the Berg River Dam, the 2010
Green Point Stadium, Eskom’s Gamma-Omega 550 km Transmission Line and various large scale Wind Farms in the Western and Northern Cape. She has developed a special interest in managing contested burial sites which brings developers and communities together to negotiate the memorilization of sacred landscapes, and providing forensic audits of human burials.

The CAS office provides a mentorship programme to graduate students who seek to gain practical experience in fieldwork. This is linked to a mentorship programme she developed while the chair of the Association of Heritage Impact Practitioners.(AHAP). In recognition of her contribution to this programme Mary was made an Honoury member of the Department of Human Biology,
University of Cape Town.

She is the previous Chair, and Vice Chair of the Accreditation Committee of AHAP and is registered and accredited as a Principal and Specialist Consultant with the Southern African Association of Professional Archaeologist (ASAPA) and the Association of Professional Heritage Practitioners (APHP).