The published coordinates will take you to a site with two points of interest. Masorini is a well-known Iron Age archaeological site and the other is the Geological site.
An Earth cache is a special type of Virtual Cache that is meant to be educational. Therefore to log a find you must demonstrate that you have learnt something from the site and experience.
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Logging Tasks:
At the listed coordinates is a massive boulder. (NOT the hill in front of you!)
1. Estimate the height, width and length of this boulder
2. Describe in your own words the texture and colour you observe on this boulder.
3. Describe (if any) what intrusions you see in this boulder. Look all around the boulder!
At the small museum (S23 55.287 E31 15.995) as you enter on the left-hand side is a cabinet:-
4. How many iron-age tools are displayed in exhibit 2?
The archaeological site:
Masorini (and related sites Shikumbu and Vudogwa) is dated to the late 19th century and hence is classified as part of the Late Iron Age. Masorini (like the others) is located on the northern slopes of a prominent hill, with some stone walled terraces on which hut remains and some smelting furnaces are preserved. There is also a site museum. Heritage tours are conducted every half an hour, Tuesdays to Sundays 8.00 – 12.00 and 13.00 – 15.00. There is also a picnic site.
General geology of the area:
The underlying geology here is a mixture of granite and gneiss. In the Phalaborwa area the granite juts out of the landscape in a series of distinctive koppies that have been used as navigational landmarks for centuries.
The geological site:
At the Masorini archaeological site you will find a koppie with massive, resistant exfoliation granite syenite boulders. Syenite is a plutonic igneous rock, which intrudes at deep levels in the crust, cools slowly and may be very coarse-grained. Syenite is rich in sodium and potassium and is said to be alkaline. It is intermediate in co lour, contains feldspar and dark minerals, but has very little or no quartz.
Sources and recognition:
Geological Journeys – Nick Norman Gavin Whitfield
The General Geology of the Kruger National Park by I.C. Schutte (1986)
Wikipedia
www.sanparks.org