Melville Koppies Nature Reserve | |
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Location | South Africa |
Nearest city | Johannesburg |
Coordinates | 26°10′03″S 28°00′07″E / 26.1674986°S 28.0020311°E / -26.1674986; 28.0020311 |
Area | 42.93 ha (106.1 acres) |
Established | 2 September 1959 |
Hiking trails | 3 |
Website | Melville Koppies Nature Reserve |
Melville Koppies is a nature reserve and a Johannesburg City Heritage Site in Johannesburg, South Africa.[1] The word 'koppie' means small hill.[2]
Iron Age artefacts can still be found at the site.[3][4] Visitors can walk or hike in the Koppies, and tours are offered.[5] Neighbouring it is the Johannesburg Botanical Garden.
In 1963 Revil Mason, excavating at the Koppies, found an Iron Age furnace for smelting iron ore, either in a bowl or sunken furnace with carbon dating of charcoal found at varies levels at the site shows it would have been in use at various times between 1060AD and 1580AD.[3]: 48 Another more modern Iron Age furnace was found on the northern slopes dating to the 18th/19th centuries.[3]: 48