Seasonality and seal exploitation in the southwestern Cape,South Africa

An ecological model is proposed for human responses to climatic seasonality in the later Holocene of the southwestern Cape in South Africa. This is an area where pronounced seasonality produces cyclical effects on plant, animal and human communities. The predictions of this model are that: 1. human foragers would switch from plant carbohydrates to seal fat as a winter energy source; 2. capture and butchery of seals would vary with season and seal age; 3. capture and butchery of ungulates would vary seasonally; and 4. seals would be exploited differently from ungulates throughout the year. The model is tested against faunal data from Smitswinkelbaai Cave.

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Résumé On propose un modèle écologique des réactions humaines à la saisonalité climatique pour l'Holocène récent dans le cap sud-ouest, Afrique du Sud. C'est une région où la saisonalité produit des effets cycliques sur les communautés végétale, animale et humaine. Les prédictions de ce modèle sont les suivantes: 1. les cueilleurs humains changeaient des féculents végétaux à la graisse de phoque comme source d'énergie en hiver; 2. la prise et la boucherie de phoques variaient avec les saisons et selon l'âge des phoques; 3. la prise et la boucherie des ongulés variaient de façon saisonnière; et 4. les phoques étaient exploités différemment des ongulés pendant toute l'année. On présente un essai préliminaire du modèle sur les données de la caverne Smitswinkelbaai.

     

Genetic characterization of an archaeological sheep assemblage from South Africa’s Western Cape

The Neolithic Revolution, constituting a shift from food acquisition to food production, came to Africa as it did to most of the rest of the world: through processes of transmission rather than through de novo innovation. In contrast with other regions the pastoral management of cattle, sheep and goats was widespread in Africa thousands of years before settled agricultural communities or the use of domesticated plants were in evidence ( 46, 35 and 10). We report here the discovery of haplogroup B in the first genetic analysis of an African archaeological sheep assemblage.     

An investigation of climatic change in the holocene epoch using archaeological charcoal from Swaziland, Southern Africa

A methodology is described for the analysis of Holocene charcoals excavated from a rock shelter in the Lubombo Mountains of northeast Swaziland. Scanning electron microscopy was used to compare these with modern reference woods. Of the ancient material 96·6% could be identified, in some cases at specific level. It is in such a subtropical area, where the woody flora is so rich, that assemblages of local taxa can be used in palaeoclimatic reconstructions. The changing taxa indicated by the charcoal fragments from the rock shelter clearly reflect minor shifts in Holocene climate, from moist to dry and back to moist in recent times. This is of relevance to the fluctuations in Stone Age populations in southern Africa. The wider use of such evidence to complement other palaeoenvironmental and archaeological data is advocated.     

Ochre resources from the Middle Stone Age sequence of Diepkloof Rock Shelter,Western Cape,South Africa

Although no paintings are associated with archaeological contexts before the end of the Middle Stone Age, hundreds of ochre pieces were discovered on numerous southern African sites suggesting a lasting tradition of ochre use. The variability and the significance of ochre exploitation remain however poorly documented. The MSA site of Diepkloof Rock Shelter (Western Cape Province, South Africa) offers an ideal opportunity to discuss questions of ochre procurement, processing, and use over a long sequence. This study develops an original methodology based on observations on one hand, and SEM-EDS, XRD and Raman spectrometry analyses on the other hand. By comparing raw materials with our geological database, we show that some iron-rich raw materials were collected more than 20 km from the site. Such long-distance procurement combined with other elements of the overall context suggests a planning of procurement. One main chaîne opératoire based on grinding was identified at Diepkloof. In comparison with other South African sites, we observed no evidence for use as loading agent in adhesives. We conclude that ochre use may follow regional cultural patterns.     

Late Pleistocene coastal environment of the Southern Cape Province of South Africa: Micromammals from klasies river mouth

A sequence of samples of micromammalian remains from Klasies River Mouth on the south coast of South Africa provides evidence of vegetational and climatic change during the Late Pleistocene. The evidence suggests the presence of a vegetational mosaic similar to that of the present but with relatively more open vegetation at the time the central part of the sequence was being deposited than was the case at the beginning or the end. Fluctuations occurred in general climatic conditions, as indicated by the Shannon—Wiener index of diversity, but conditions appear to have remained relatively moderate throughout with no evidence of glacial or interglacial maxima. Changes in sea level are probably also reflected in changed proportions of various species of small mammal. The site has yet to be dated conclusively but the micro-mammalian data tend to support other lines of evidence which suggest that this sequence of deposits was laid down during isotope stage 5, probably substages 5d—a. Human response to the challenge of changing conditions can be shown to lag behind those changes as recorded by micromammals.     

The Middle and Later Stone Age faunal remains from Diepkloof Rock Shelter,Western Cape,South Africa

The faunal sample from the Middle Stone Age (MSA) and overlying Later Stone Age (LSA) deposits of Diepkloof Rock Shelter (Western Cape Province, South Africa) includes at least 40 taxa, mostly mammals, but also tortoises, snakes, birds (especially ostrich represented by eggshell), and intertidal mollusks. The LSA sample contains only species that occurred nearby historically, including domestic sheep, which LSA people introduced to the region by 1800 years ago. In contrast, like other Western Cape MSA faunas, the Diepkloof MSA sample has more species and it is especially notable for five large extralimital grazing species. These imply a greater-than-historic role for grasses in the local vegetation, particularly in the post-Howiesons Poort (latest MSA) interval where the grazers appear most abundant. Extreme fragmentation and dark-staining impedes analysis of the MSA bones, but cut-marks, abundant burning, and numerous associated artifacts suggest that people were the main accumulators. Rare coprolites imply that carnivores could have contributed some bones, and concentrations of small mammal bones, particularly near the bottom of the MSA sequence, suggest a role for raptors. Tortoise bones are common throughout the sequence, and the MSA specimens tend to be especially large, as in other MSA assemblages. The LSA specimens are smaller, probably because LSA human populations were denser and preyed on tortoises more intensively. The most surprising aspect of the Diepkloof assemblage is its marine component. The coast is currently 14 km away and it would have been even more distant during much of the MSA when sea levels were often lower. Intertidal mollusks, particularly black mussels and granite limpets, are concentrated in the LSA and in the Late and Post-Howiesons Poort layers. Only LSA shells are complete enough for measurement, and the limpets are small as at other LSA sites. The implication is again for more intense LSA collection by relatively dense human populations. Both the LSA and MSA deposits also contain bones of shorebirds and Cape fur seals. Whale barnacles and occasional dolphin bones indicate that MSA people scavenged beached cetaceans.     

The Middle Stone Age human remains from Diepkloof Rock Shelter (Western Cape,South Africa)

In the course of recent excavations at Diepkloof Rock Shelter (South Africa), three human remains were found in the Middle Stone Age layers. These human remains are two pedal phalanges (intermediate and distal) from a fifth ray, which belong to the same individual, and a deciduous first lower molar. The layers in which they were found represent the end of the Howiesons Poort and the beginning of post-Howiesons Poort occupation, and are radiometrically dated to MIS 3, between 45 and 65 kyr ago. They are thus very close in time to the assumed period of anatomically modern humans (AMH) dispersal out of Africa into Eurasia, a period for which very few remains are available in the African fossil record. Here, we describe these new remains and compare their morphology and dimensions to samples of African and Eurasian Pleistocene and Holocene humans. Our results show that the human remains from Diepkloof Rock Shelter fall well within the range of variation of AMH. The phalanges are of very small size and indistinguishable from those of recent humans. In addition, our analysis of the dm₁ underlines a large size variation at the end of the MIS 4/beginning of the MIS 3 in the Western Cape. The discovery of human remains at Diepkloof Rock Shelter, albeit limited to three small bones, enriches a poorly represented chronological period of the African hominin fossil record.     

When open data and data activism meet: An analysis of civic participation in Cape Town,South Africa

Municipal open data projects are motivated by a desire to democratize data access and knowledge production, strengthen transparency, and advance cities socially and economically. However, their effects and implications are insufficiently analyzed. This paper examines civic engagement in open data in Cape Town, South Africa, the continent's first municipal-level open data initiative. Findings reveal how local civil society organizations have been driving engagement with municipal open data as part of their recent turn towards technology and data-driven forms of public engagement and activism. This analysis highlights the important role of the “smart civil society organization”—occupying a position between the smart city and smart citizen—that is developing significant capacity to produce and share data about the city's informal settlements with stakeholders in government, the private sector, and wider society. Minimal engagement with or recognition of civil society efforts illustrates the limits to the city's philosophy of data openness, which is largely restricted to releasing selected government datasets to the public. The notion of “bi-directional open data” is developed here to characterize emerging possibilities for data openness between governments and the public. This may be particularly relevant for cities like Cape Town with a highly active, capable, and data-literate civil society.     

Removal of Rock Art Affected by the Raising of the Clanwilliam Dam Wall,Western Cape Province,South Africa: Techniques and Procedures

The commissioning by South Africa’s Department of Water and Sanitation of a new and higher wall for the Clanwilliam Dam will increase dam storage and provide additional water for emerging and existing commercial farmers. But there is a cost to South African heritage. The raising of the wall will flood 27 rock art sites as well as other archaeological and historical resources. In partial mitigation of this impact on heritage the removal of particular pieces of rock art was approved by Heritage Western Cape, the provincial heritage agency. This report focuses on the removal process and techniques used to cut out three pieces of rock art under the management of PGS Heritage between 18 April 2016 and 7 May 2016 from the sites designated CDE02 and CDW10. Publication of the techniques used and the procedures followed will add to the sparse literature on rock art removal and increase the accessibility and availability of information about the removed stones.     

Promotion of a neglected heritage at Stone Age sites in the Western Cape,South Africa

Abstract

All archaeological sites in South Africa are protected in terms of the National Monuments Act, yet some have been badly damaged by vandals, unauthorized collectors and the effects of natural and anthropogenic erosion. In an effort to minimize such damage, the policy in the past has been either to restrict access or to keep a low profile, in relation both to rock art and excavated sites. Coupled with the fact that, in the past, the precolonial period has not been included in school history curricula, this policy has had a negative effect. South Africans generally have a limited knowledge of the results of research on rock art and archaeology and are not aware of the legislation. Furthermore, there is no infrastructure and no market for promoting such sites for tourism. The National Monuments Council has identified the need for public education in this field within a broader goal of promoting a common heritage for all South Africans in this time of political change. Three examples of recent active intervention are given in this paper. Stone Age living sites at Nelson Bay Cave and Matjes River rock shelter have been developed as local attractions, and protective conservation measures have been put into practice at rock art sites that are open to the public in the Western Cape.     

The context,form and significance of the MSA engraved ostrich eggshell collection from Diepkloof Rock Shelter,Western Cape,South Africa

Broken ostrich eggshells are commonly found in Middle Stone Age sites of southern Africa, presumably collected for food consumption, and later used as artefacts. At Diepkloof Rock Shelter, Middle Stone Age inhabitants used ostrich eggshells as a medium to convey abstract depictions. Since 1998, excavations at Diepkloof have recovered 408 engraved pieces of ostrich eggshells. The study of these shows that Diepkloof inhabitants applied a restricted set of geometric engraving patterns, with the dominance of 2 main motifs, one using a hatched band and the other sub-parallel to converging lines. These motifs coexisted, but shifted in frequency toward the latter through time. Together with evidence that ostrich eggshells were used as containers, these patterns support the hypothesis that engravings were made with respect to clear but flexible social conventions and were part of a complex system of visual and symbolic communication. Since our last report (Texier et al., 2010), a few engraved pieces have been found in lower stratigraphic units, expanding substantially the time-range of the engraving practice on ostrich eggshells at Diepkloof. The earliest engravings appear at the end of the Early Howiesons Poort phase, but become numerous only during the Intermediate and Late phases of the Howiesons Poort. The collection from Diepkloof is presently unique and likely underlines the existence of regional traditions within the Howiesons Poort. Interestingly, and significantly in our view, the engraving disappears at the same time as the Howiesons Poort technology. We argue that this disappearance may reflect a modification in the way late Middle Stone Age inhabitants interacted with one another.     

The Seasonal Mobility Model for Prehistoric Herders in the South-western Cape of South Africa Assessed by Isotopic Analysis of Sheep Tooth Enamel

A pattern of seasonal mobility between the coast and the hinterland by Khoekhoe pastoralists in the south-western Cape of South Africa was documented at the time of European contact. Because the region is characterized by a mosaic of geological substrates of various ages and vegetation types with different proportions of C₃ and C₄ plants, this mobility model for prehistoric herders can be tested by analysis of carbon, oxygen and strontium isotope ratios in domestic bovid tooth enamel. Isotopic analysis was performed on archaeological sheep, cattle, eland and steenbok teeth from the Late Stone Age site of Kasteelberg on the Vredenburg Peninsula. Sequential sampling of enamel provided a chronological record of the isotopic composition of diet during tooth formation. Results from carbon and oxygen isotope analysis of archaeological and modern steenbok teeth show seasonal variation in the δ¹³C of local pastures in the vicinity of the site (up to 2·9‰ in a single individual), which could be due to seasonal change in proportions of C₃ and C₄ plants and/or seasonal variation in the δ¹³C of C₃ plants. A pattern of seasonal change of 0·9–3·5‰ in the δ¹³C of tooth enamel is also observed in the sheep teeth. This amplitude of variation could be due to local seasonal changes, thus it is not possible, from the δ¹³C values, to infer whether the sheep were moving seasonally. Results from ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr analysis of two sheep suggest that one individual stayed all year round on the coast, whereas the other had grazed in the interior for part of its life. Both δ¹³C and ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr values measured in a cow tooth suggest that this animal spent part of its life in the interior, even though it died at Kasteelberg. Results on this cow also suggest longer residence within habitats rather than seasonal mobility. A clear pattern of seasonal mobility between the coast and the interior has not been shown for prehistoric pastoralists. However, the pattern of mobility attested in historical times might have developed only later in prehistory, when cattle pastoralism developed in the region.     

Technological successions in the Middle Stone Age sequence of Diepkloof Rock Shelter,Western Cape,South Africa

The southern African MSA comprises a series of phases of unique technological innovations that fuel current models on the evolutionary processes of Anatomically Modern Humans. However, the nature and variability of these technological phases remain poorly documented. This study reports on the previously unpublished sequence of Diepkloof Rock Shelter (South Africa) and investigates the main technological changes therein, particularly emphasizing the emergence, succession and disappearance of the Still Bay (SB) and the Howiesons Poort (HP). We argue for technological change that occurred at different rates and under the influence of variable driving factors. Our model implies that the SB and the HP are not related to the influx of new populations but have regionally specific origins. Unlike the other techno-complexes, the HP at Diepkloof is subdivided into different phases (Early, Intermediate and Late) but only the upper phases resemble the so-called “classic” HP. Finally, the technological sequence of Diepkloof questions the homogeneous picture which has been so far assumed for the southern African MSA and places emphasis on the importance of exploring long regional sequences.     

Engraved ochre from a Middle Stone Age context at Klein Kliphuis in the Western Cape of South Africa

This paper reports on a piece of engraved ochre recovered from a Middle Stone Age context at the rock shelter site of Klein Kliphuis (Western Cape, South Africa). The ochre was associated with a mixed assemblage of Howiesons Poort and post-Howiesons Poort MSA artefacts, suggesting that it is substantially younger than similar finds at Blombos Cave. The implications of the find for arguments concerning the nature of Late Pleistocene behavioural evolution are discussed.     

Production sequences of ostrich eggshell beads and settlement dynamics in the Geelbek Dunes of the Western Cape, South Africa

The archaeological record attests to the significance of ostrich eggs as a valuable resource for the people of the Later Stone Age. People over a broad geographic range used ostrich eggs to provide nourishment, storage and ornamentation. This paper focuses on the production, use and discard of ostrich eggshell beads recovered from open-air sites in the Geelbek Dunes of the Western Cape, South Africa. We present a comprehensive production chain for analyzing the manufacture of beads and introduce the concept of a heuristic production value for evaluating the degree of completion reflected by an assemblage. The pattern of fabrication and the distribution in size allow for a detailed analysis of the beads that points to specific behavioral patterns involved in their production. This analysis yields information about the duration and intensity of site use, as well as the individual members and cultural affinities of the groups who made the beads. We document the intentional use of fire to blacken the majority of the beads as an aesthetic choice. Combined with the results from AMS radiocarbon dating, the majority of the beads from Geelbek provide insight into the socio-economic identity of their manufacturers: small groups of hunter–gatherers who inhabited and used specific locations on the strandveld near Langebaan Lagoon.     

An investigation of the frequency of squatting facets in Later Stone Age foragers from South Africa

Distinctive morphological changes attributed to a habitual squatting posture were observed on the distal femur, distal tibia and on the talar neck of Later Stone Age (LSA) foragers. The frequency of squatting in LSA foragers (n = 56) was determined by the presence of anatomical features of joint hyperflexion. Three South African comparative skeletal groups from different time periods were also analysed: skeletal remains of early farming populations (n = 17), 18th century ‘Free Blacks’ and/or slaves from Cobern Street, Cape Town (n = 21), and a modern cadaver sample (n = 29). The results show that 28 out of 56 LSA foragers (50%) were habitual squatters; 13 out of 17 farmers (76.5%) and one of 21 individuals from the Cobern Street collection (4.8%) demonstrated squatting facets. No anatomical squatters were found in the modern cadaver sample. There was no significant sex difference between squatters and non‐squatters. Hence at least half of the LSA foragers and farmers were habitual squatters, according to the signs of joint hyperflexion. Squatting is a comfortable position for those used to it because the body weight is supported with minimal muscular activity. Two probable reasons are suggested for the difference in postures adopted by the different groups: (1) availability or lack of availability of furniture and (2) cultural and individual differences in resting posture. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Mussels and mongongo nuts: logistical visits to the Cape west coast,South Africa

Very large late Holocene shell middens (‘megamiddens’, some over 10 000 m³ in extent) along a 20 km section of the west coast of South Africa provide a particular interpretative challenge in determining whether they result from residential visits or from logistical processing of shellfish for transport and consumption elsewhere. The latter interpretation is preferred here and is consistent with stable carbon isotopic readings on coastal human burials and site contents that illustrate that groups visited specific localities, collected and dried black mussels and then transported and consumed the dried product inland. The sizes and contents of these large middens contrasts sharply with those of unquestionably residential residues from earlier and later time periods. This approach is supported with reference to the ethnographically described processing and consumption of mongongo nuts by 20th century San of the Kalahari.     

The Technology of the Early Oakhurst Lithic Techno-Complex from Klipdrift Cave,Southern Cape,South Africa

The analysis of the lithics recovered from the layers dating between cal bp 10,700 and cal bp 13,700 at Klipdrift Cave, southern Cape, South Africa, provides new information on the Oakhurst techno-complex. A comparison with contemporary sites such as Matjes River Rock Shelter indicates not only technological similarities, but also unexpected differences. The Klipdrift Cave Oakhurst shares many characteristics typical of this techno-complex from the southern Cape, for example, in the dominance of quartzite, irregular and unstandardised flakes; the occurrence of irregular cores; and typical large side and end scrapers. It differs from most coastal Oakhurst sites however, in the more intensive exploitation of quartz, and the presence of a blade component, especially in the lowermost layers. Palaeoenvironmental data, derived from stable isotope analysis of ostrich eggshell, suggest that it was dry in this region during this time period. This was partially a result of the colder conditions that prevailed during the Younger Dryas. The lithic technological production techniques are stable at Klipdrift Cave during the period that the site was occupied from cal bp 13,700 to cal bp 10,700. Our data suggest that the lithic technology did not change in response to possible climatic variability.