Company Structure

Wouter is a Director and one of the founding members of PGS. He has been involved in heritage resources management for the past 22 years acting as specialist consultant on various high-profile projects involving heritage and archaeology. He specialises in providing tailormade heritage solutions to the mining, water and oil and gas industries. Such projects include the heritage management implementation for the Clanwilliam dam project in South Africa, the Polihali Dam Project in Lesotho and the Mozambique Liquid Natural Gas Project on the Afungi Peninsula in Northern Mozambique. Other countries of experience include Botswana, Malawi, Mauritius and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Wouter holds a BA (Hon) (Cum Laude) in Archaeology and is currently completing his MPhil in heritage studies .

His main expertise covers Project Management, archaeological input in surveys, mitigation and management, grave relocation action plans and management, Historical Research, GIS management and technical liaisons, heritage impact management and project analysis.

He is actively involved in the management of the business and focuses on marketing and new business for PGS specifically focussed on the Western Cape and the larger African continent.

Wouter is accredited with the Association of Professional Heritage Practitioners (APHP) as a Professional Heritage Practitioner, Amafa and ASAPA as a Professional Archaeologist and has CRM grading as a Principal Investigator in Grave Relocations, Iron Age and Stone and Field Director in Colonial Period Archaeology.

He is married to Ronelle and has a son Xander and daughter Cara.

Polke is a Director and one of the founding members of PGS. He has been involved in Heritage Resources management for the past 22 years acting as specialist consultant on various high profile projects involving heritage and archaeology. He has acted as project manager on more than 170 heritage impact assessments, grave relocation projects as well as historical and archival studies for various environmental consulting firms, engineering firms, mining companies and developers in areas such Gauteng, Mpumalanga, Limpopo, North West Province, Northern Cape and Free State. He has also worked on heritage and archaeological projects in Botswana, Mauritius and Swaziland.

Polke holds a BA (Hon) (Cum Laude) in Archaeology and is planning to continue with further postgraduate studies in the near future.

His main expertise covers Project Management, Archaeological and historical input in surveys, mitigation and management, Grave Relocation management and consultation, Heritage Impact Assessments, Historical Archaeology as well as Historical and Archival Research.

Polke is also actively involved in the management of the business and focuses his attention on the social consultation component of grave relocation, the undertaking of Phase 2 Mitigation projects in terms of Late Iron Age and Historical (Colonial) archaeological sites as well as the development of the Botswana side of the business in close association with Botswana archaeologist Wim Biemond.

He is accredited with ASAPA as a Professional Archaeologist.

Polke is married to Heidi and has son Jonah.

Maseteba joined PGS as Stakeholder Engagement Specialist in our Grave Relocation Unit. Maseteba brings almost two decades of experience in working with communities and households with a strong background in resettlement projects.

She has been involved in stakeholder mobilisation, resettlement projects and project coordination focused on social development as a process for administering local projects and implementing locally relevant decisions, plans and development strategies.

She gained extensive experience in managing the community aspects of development with a specific focus on initiatives that increase ownership, identify key issues, and mobilise communities and local-level commitment. In addition, she is a skilled implementation specialist and community facilitator, enjoying interaction with communities and people.

Lukas joined PGS in as our stakeholder engagement specialist and senior team member. Lukas has more than 30 years of experience in environmental monitoring, community liaison and stakeholder engagement.  He is managing our stakeholder engagement components as part of our grave location unit and draws on his experience in the mining and extractive industries to bring a unique skill set to our team.

Marko joined PGS in 2013 after being involved as a sub-contractor with PGS for a few years. He has been involved in Heritage Resources Management with his own company for the past 20 years. Marko has been involved in more than 300 Heritage Impact Assessment for a wide range of companies. His experience gained from involvement in several large scale Archaeological Mitigation/Rehabilitation projects, such as the Mapungubwe rehabilitation project and the Clanwilliam Dam Mitigation projects, enables him to bring years of experience on the fieldwork side of projects where the management of logistics and the workforce are crucial in the successful completion of these projects. He also focuses on the accurate documentation of work completed during these projects in order to produce thorough and comprehensive reports.

Marko is currently appointed as senior archaeologist and logistics manager on the Polihali Dam cultural heritage team in Lesotho.

Marko holds a BA (Hon) in Archaeology and plans to continue with post-graduate qualifications in the near future. He is accredited with ASAPA as a Professional Archaeologist and has CRM grading as a Field Director in Grave Relocations and Iron Age.

Jessica joined PGS in 2012 as an intern whilst she was completing her Master’s degree. In 2015 she was employed formally as a Junior Archaeologist. Jessica has been involved with numerous projects and HIAs and was also involved in the Clanwilliam Dam mitigation project as the Collections Manager on the project.

In 2018 Jessica was promoted to Senior Archaeologist at PGS and has been assigned to the Lesotho Highlands Polihali mitigation project as Collections and Laboratory Manager.

Jessica holds an MSc degree in Archaeology from the University of the Witwatersrand. She plans to continue with post-graduate qualifications in the near future.

She is accredited with ASAPA as a Professional Archaeologist.

Her areas of expertise include:
• Management of Heritage Impact Assessments
• GIS processing and sensitivity mapping
• Collections management of phase two archaeological mitigation projects
• Historical background research

Jessica is passionate about her work through PGS and has a great appreciation for the exposure her job provides. She loves the challenge each project presents and is always looking forward to the next adventure.

Shannon joined PGS in 2023 as Senior archaeologist and Heritage specialist. Shannon holds a Masters degree (MSc) in Archaeology from the University of the Witwatersrand and has six years’ experience as a heritage consultant. She is a registered member of the Association of Southern African Archaeologists (ASAPA), the International Association for Impact Assessment South Africa (IAIAsa) and the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS).

Michelle joined PGS as an archaeological intern in 2020 and has progressed to Archaeologist over the past three years. She is registered with the Association of Southern African Professional Archaeologists (ASAPA) as a Professional Archaeologist. She holds a master’s degree (MA) in Archaeology from the University of Pretoria.

She works as archaeologist and project assistant in our Grave Relocation Unit, where she assist with physical excavations as well as permitting and project documentation administration.

Mariana joined PGS in 2022 as QMS and business systems manager. She has worked as a Senior Business Analyst (BA) on a wide range of  big projects. She is an experienced BA team leader, Systems Analyst and Developer (Cobol). She brings strong eliciting, investigation, problem-solving and communication skills to PGS.  Her industry background is invaluable in effectively manage the PGS ISO9000 QMS.

Linereè started at PGS Heritage in 2015 after she was awarded an internship through the National Research Foundation (NRF). Before this she completed her BA (Hon) in Archaeology at the University of South Africa. As part of her thesis she did a typology on a historic graveyard in Mpumalanga, a poster for these studies were displayed at the ASAPA conference in Zimbabwe in 2015. She has been furthering her studies in the Health, Safety and Environmental legislation to ensure PGS Heritage complies to all standards when conducting work on various mining development sites.

Since then she has been appointed as archaeologist and HSE representative for the grave relocations done by PGS. She has experience in multiple areas of the grave relocation process; preparation of legal notices, correspondence with permitting authorities, documentation of graves and burial grounds, exhumation processes and the preparation of reports. The administration and mitigation of some of these grave relocations took place in Gauteng, Mpumalanga, Limpopo, North-west, Free State, Eastern Cape, Western Cape and in Mozambique. Linereè is accredited with ASAPA as a Professional Archaeologist and has CRM accreditation as Field Supervisor Iron Age, Stone Age and Field Director for Grave Relocations.

Thomas has been involved in archaeology and archaeological field work since 1998 and in this time has become an invaluable member of the field work management of PGS projects. He is arguably one of the most experience excavators of human remains in the Southern African Region, with field experience as general excavator and later specialist field technician for PGS. Thomas also acts as community liaison with rural communities during field work.