Browsing by Department "Department of Archaeology"
Now showing 1 - 20 of 231
Results Per Page
Sort Options
- ItemOpen Access19th century glass trade beads : from two Zulu royal residences(1990) Saitowitz, Sharma Jeanette
- ItemOpen Access30 Days in the life: daily nutrient balancing in a wild chacma baboon(Public Library of Science, 2013) Johnson, Caley A; Raubenheimer, David; Rothman, Jessica M; Clarke, David; Swedell, LarissaFor most animals, the ability to regulate intake of specific nutrients is vital to fitness. Recent studies have demonstrated nutrient regulation in nonhuman primates over periods of one observation day, though studies of humans indicate that such regulation extends to longer time frames. Little is known about longer-term regulation in nonhuman primates, however, due to the challenges of multiple-day focal follows. Here we present the first detailed study of nutrient intake across multiple days in a wild nonhuman primate. We conducted 30 consecutive all day follows on one female chacma baboon ( Papio hamadryas ursinus ) in the Cape Peninsula of South Africa. We documented dietary composition, compared the nutritional contribution of natural and human-derived foods to the diet, and quantified nutrient intake using the geometric framework of nutrition. Our focus on a single subject over consecutive days allowed us to examine daily dietary regulation within an individual over time. While the amounts varied daily, our subject maintained a strikingly consistent balance of protein to non-protein (fat and carbohydrate) energy across the month. Human-derived foods, while contributing a minority of the diet, were higher in fat and lower in fiber than naturally-derived foods. Our results demonstrate nutrient regulation on a daily basis in our subject, and demonstrate that she was able to maintain a diet with a constant proportional protein content despite wide variation in the composition of component foods. From a methodological perspective, the results of this study suggest that nutrient intake is best estimated over at least an entire day, with longer-term regulatory patterns (e.g., during development and reproduction) possibly requiring even longer sampling. From a management and conservation perspective, it is notable that nearly half the subject's daily energy intake derived from exotic foods, including those currently being eradicated from the study area for replacement by indigenous vegetation.
- ItemOpen Access45000 years of hunter-gatherer history as seen from Umhlatuzana Rock Shelter(1989) Kaplan, Jonathan Michael; Parkington, JohnUmhlatuzana Rock Shelter in Natal was excavated in 1985. A long and detailed sequence of stone artefacts was recovered. These artefacts covered the time range from the Middle Stone Age (MSA) to the Later Stone Age (LSA). The excavations generated important information on the MSA, MSA/LSA transition, the Late Pleistocene early microlithic bladelet assemblages, and the relationship between hunter-gatherers and farmers between AD 400-AD 800. The primary aim of this thesis is to describe the excavation and the results, showing how Umhlatuzana Rock Shelter contributes to a broader understanding of the southern African MSA and LSA technological evolution. The stone artefact sequence, animal and plant remains, worked bone tools, beads, pottery and ochre finds are described. Evidence is presented which shows that the change from the MSA to the beginning of the LSA .took place between 35 000 BP and 20 000 BP, while a true LSA industry occurred closer to 20 000 BP. No technological boundary exists between the MSA and the LSA: rather change was a gradual process beginning· in the MSA. The bladelet-rich assemblages recovered from Umhlatuzana Rock Shelter are the first of their kind to be positively identified in Natal. Pre-dating 18 000 BP and post-dating 12 000 BP, they show that assemblages of this nature were systematically produced earlier and later in Natal, than elsewhere in southern Africa. The metrical results for bladelet cores and bladelets show that there is a progressive decrease in the mean length sizes of. these artefacts from the MSA to the LSA, as well as within the LSA sequence. statistics show that the model for gradual change is corroborated. These results have significant implications for our understanding of the culture-history sequence in southern Africa. The results also raise questions regarding the nature of MSA and MSA/LSA assemblages, and the origins of the early microlithic assemblages of the southern African LSA.
- ItemOpen AccessAn Assessment of an early 19th century AD Ceramic Assemblage from Mozambique Island(2021) Simbine, Celso Zefanias; Hall, Simon LeeIn this dissertation, I present the results of my recent investigation of ceramics from Mozambique Island. This contributes to, and builds upon previous archaeological work that has made a start on describing and dating the ceramic sequence and linking it to the history of the south East African coast over the last 2000 years. The ceramics described and interpreted here come from two excavations. One sample is from within the precincts of a Muslim house, the Abdurrazaque Juma compound located within Macuti-town, south of the urban ‗stone town‘ to the north, where the second sample was excavated from the tribunal courtyard of the Convent of São Domingos. I used a multidimensional analysis to classify the ceramics. The ceramics from the muslim house are dominated by coarse earthenware vessels, and in particular by carinated open bowls. The bulk of this assemblage dates to the early 19th century AD and can be linked to a kitchen. The dominance of carinated bowls functionally indicates rice preparation and consumption and discussion of these ceramics focuses on the domestic context of the household and the work of servants, and possibly slaves. Ceramics from the second excavation provide comparative material that elaborates the ceramic sequence for the Island. This is particularly so for the carinated open bowls that through comparison with other sites along the east African coast, are frequently found in historical contexts dating between the ends of 16th to 20th centuries AD. As a proxy for rice agriculture, the ceramics reported on here contribute to this agricultural sequence and an association with enslaved African populations and elite foodways along East African Coast.
- ItemOpen AccessAn investigation of temporal change in lithic technology at Grassridge Rockshelter, Eastern Cape South Africa(2023) Mdludlu, Ayanda; Parkington, John; Wilkins JayneThis thesis discusses the lithic technological change in Grassridge Rockshelter, a multi-component site located in the interior region of the Eastern Cape of South Africa that presents a rich high-resolution stratigraphy that interchanges with periods of hiatuses between the Late Pleistocene (LP) dated to about ~43ka, Terminal Pleistocene (TP) dated to ~13ka and Mid-Holocene (MH) occupations dated to ~7ka. The similarities and differences between the LP and TP as well as the TP and MH lithic assemblages are analysed to better understand the behaviours of toolmakers. The analyses use raw material type choices and numerous lithic tool typologies as proxies to track lithic variability. Also considered in this study are tool traits that include platform treatment, external platform angle, platform thickness, early/late debitage exploitation, length over width ratio, profile, and width over thickness ratio. The frequencies of each tool trait are arranged into Tostevin's (2012) methodology system of knapping behaviours to consider various explanations – environmental, economic, and sociocultural- for these variations.
- ItemOpen AccessAnalysis of ceramic assemblages from four Cape historical sites dating from the late seventeenth century to the mid-nineteenth century(1997) Klose, Jane Elizabeth; Hall, MartinThis dissertation sets up a standardised system for analysing mid-seventeenth to mid- nineteenth century Cape colonial ceramic assemblages and then applies it to a number of Dutch and British historical sites in the south-western Cape region of South Africa in order to trace patterns of change in the availability and use of domestic ceramics in the colony. The system accommodates the wide range of African, Asian and European ceramics used during the period of Dutch East India rule from 1652 to 1795, the following Transitional years when the Cape was governed for short periods by both the British and Dutch governments and the period from 1815 onwards when the Cape became a British Crown Colony. A systematic ceramic classificatory system was required to form a framework for the first stage of a proposed study of the role of Asian porcelain in the Cape during the 17th and 18th centuries. The resulting Cape Classificatory System has five sections. (i) Ware Table, a ware based classification, records ceramics by sherd count and minimum number of vessels, and acts as a check list for Cape colonial sites. (ii) Date Table provides the accepted dates of production and references for all ceramics excavated in the Cape. (iii) Form and Function Table lists excavated ceramics by vessel form within functional categories. (iv) The Site Catalogue accessions and references (where possible) all the ceramics in an assemblage. (v) A catalogue of previously unreferenced Asian market ware (coarse porcelain) excavated from 17th to 19th century colonial sites in the south-western Cape. Thirty ceramic assemblages from Cape colonial sites and four assemblages from shipwrecks in Cape waters were analysed or examined. The Cape Classificatory System was applied in full to the ceramics from four sites: the Granary, a late seventeenth century Dutch East India site; Elsenburg, an elite mid-eighteenth century farmstead; Sea Street, Cape Town, a town midden in use from the last quarter of the eighteenth century to ca. 1830; and a well in Barrack Street, Cape Town, that was open from ca. 1775 till the late nineteenth century. The results clearly demonstrated changes in ceramic availability, usage and discard in the Cape over a two hundred year period, differences in refuse disposal practices and the dependence of the colony on Asian porcelain, including Asian market coarse porcelain, during the late seventeenth century and eighteenth century.
- ItemOpen AccessAnalysis of dental pathologies in the Pliocene herbivores of Langebaanweg and their palaeoenvironmental implications(2002) Franz-Odendaal, Tamara; Chinsamy-Turan, Anusuya; Lee-Thorp, JuliaThis study evaluates the extent of dental pathologies in several ungulate species from the Pelletal Phosphate Member (PPM) at Langebaanweg, and uses this analysis, along with stable isotope analyses, to obtain fresh insight into the local palaeoenvironment during the Early Pliocene.
- ItemOpen AccessThe analysis of late Stone Age hafting cements from the Cape Province, South Africa(1974) Walker, Nicolas JohnIn recent years it has become increasingly apparent that an important aspect of southern African late Stone Age technology was the use of glues or adhesives to heft implements, and this correlates largely with the viability of microlithic industries. The number of sites yielding evidence of hafting have increased considerably since excavators have become aware of its presence. For the most part, the remains consist of odd lumps or traces on implements, but there are about a dozen fairly complete moulded pieces that allow some comment to be made as to the hafting strategy, and this technique is considered. To date, no success has been registered in identifying the actual ingredients used, and the main objective of this paper is to indicate that thin layer chromatography can be used to this end.
- ItemOpen AccessThe analysis of late Stone Age hafting cements from the Cape Province, South Africa(1974) Walker, Nicolas JohnIn recent years it has become increasingly apparent that an important aspect of southern African late Stone Age technology was the use of glues or adhesives to heft implements, and this correlates largely with the viability of microlithic industries. The number of sites yielding evidence of hafting have increased considerably since excavators have become aware of its presence. For the most part, the remains consist of odd lumps or traces on implements, but there are about a dozen fairly complete moulded pieces that allow some comment to be made as to the hafting strategy, and this technique is considered. To date, no success has been registered in identifying the actual ingredients used, and the main objective of this paper is to indicate that thin layer chromatography can be used to this end.
- ItemOpen AccessAndriesgrond revisited : material culture, ideologies and social change(1991) Anderson, GavinThe original aims of this thesis were to analyze all the material remains from the previous excavations and collate all written reports on Andriesgrond Cave. Only one article has been written on Andriesgrond Cave (Parkington 1978), while several articles have referred to single unpublished reports or additional projects. Artefacts are analyzed and grouped according to their relevant chapters, and in the conclusion an interpretation of these finds is given in conjunction with social psychological theory of stress coping strategies and inter- and intragroup processes.
- ItemOpen AccessAnimal diets in the Waterberg based on stable isotopic composition of faeces(2005) Codron, D; Codron, J; Lee-Thorp, J A; Sponheimer, M; DeRuiter, DFaecal analysis of diet in free-ranging mammals can provide insight into local habitat conditions by reflecting the resources actually utilized. Here we used stable light isotope analysis of faeces to qualify, as well as quantify, certain aspects of mammal food selection in a recovering, nutrient-poor, savanna habitat in the Waterberg. Stable carbon isotope ratios in faeces reflect proportions of C3-foods (browse) to C4-foods (grass) consumed, whereas stable nitrogen isotope ratios reflect a combination of trophic behaviour, protein intake, and water and nutritional stress. Percentage nitrogen indicates the nutritional quality of the diet, at least in terms of crude protein intake. We used these data to reconstruct and compare the diets of various mammal species from two reserves in the Waterberg: the Welgevonden Private Game Reserve and Zoetfontein Private Game Farm.
- ItemOpen AccessAnnals of ivory : perspectives on African elephant Loxodonta africana (Blumenbach 1797) feeding ecology from a multi-decadal record.(2008) Codron, Jacqueline; Lee-Thorp, Julia A; Sealy, JudithThis thesis explores the dietary responses of African elephants (Loxodonta africana) to environmental change by testing the hypothesis that diet switching (from predominantly browse-based to more grass-rich diets) is driven by cyclical patterns of climate and habitat change in a southern African savanna. Elephants are thought to have substantial impacts on their environments, primarily because they consume large amounts of vegetation over sustained periods. However, the woody plant composition of their diet varies considerably across space and through time, so that in some instances they have been found to be almost pure grazers. Tracking these changes by traditional approaches (e.g. field observations) is difficult because of the geographical and temporal constraints inherent to these methods. Stable light isotope tracking of diet allows diet switching to be studied over multiple space/time scales. Here, I use stable isotope data from elephant faeces, tail hair, and ivory to record short- (monthly), medium- (seasonal to annual), and long-term (decadal) ecological variability, respectively, of elephant diets in the Kruger National Park, South Africa. Results from faeces collected at monthly resolution for one year confirm findings of a previous study (based on biannually-collected samples over two years) that elephants generally consume more grass in the more wooded habitats of the northern Kruger Park, but that there is a greater degree of seasonal diet switching in southern Kruger Park habitats. Moreover, diet changes also relate to changes in underlying bedrock across Kruger Park. Isotopic time-series produced by serial profiling of tail hairs confirm patterns observed in faeces. Long-term diet histories of individuals are derived from serial isotope sampling of ivory, yielding records that represent several decades of an animal’s life, at sub-annual (seasonal) resolution. Overlaying individual ivory series in time produces the first, to my knowledge, multidecadal record of African elephant diet, dating from 1903 to 1993. Contrary to expectations, stable carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen isotope records from ivory do not correlate well with cyclical climate trends for the study region. Rather, pronounced diet shifts are observed during extreme climatic events (floods and droughts), and the greatest levels of intra- and inter-annual variability coincide with significant changes in park management policy during the 20th century, i.e. the introduction of water provision programs after the mid 1930s, and the onset of elephant population control in 1967. It is proposed that such direct intervention has played the biggest role in disturbance of elephant-plant equilibria during the 20th century, and further studies to improve our understanding of this phenomenon will be instrumental to development of appropriate management strategies for the 21st century.
- ItemOpen AccessAntiquity of stone-walled tidal fish traps on the Cape coast South African(2010) Hine, Phillip James; Sealy, Judith; Halkett, David; Hart, TimThis paper attempts to answer a long-standing question in South African archaeology: the age of stone-walled tidal fish traps generally believed to date back to pre-colonial times. Since the stone walls cannot be directly dated, we sought datable fish bone in nearby archaeological sites. Four open shell middens at Paapkuil Fontein, near Cape Agulhas, were excavated and analysed and the contents of two previously excavated middens at Still Bay were studied. Both areas are renowned for their numerous fish traps, but lack detailed archaeological studies. The middens yielded very little, if any fish bone, so are probably unrelated to the traps. There is, by contrast, a great deal of archival evidence for the building and use of stone fish traps by historical communities, with traps repeatedly built and dismantled in the late 19th and 20th centuries. Given the lack of any direct evidence in Later Stone Age sites, a pre-colonial age for the practice of fishing with stone-walled tidal fish traps can no longer be entertained.
- ItemOpen AccessArchaeological collections as a prime research asset: objects and Great Zimbabwe's past(2018) Chiripanhura, Pauline; Chirikure, ShadreckThis thesis sought to explore the lifeways of second-millennium AD inhabitants of Great Zimbabwe through the analyses of material objects housed in museums. Great Zimbabwe comprises walled stone enclosures and non-walled settlements covering approximately 720ha. A number of data acquisition techniques, such as desktop survey, analyses of museum collections, supplementary field survey and excavations, were employed to collect relevant datasets to address the research questions. The sampling strategy adapted for this research enabled the study of material objects from different components making up Great Zimbabwe. The main conclusions drawn from this study are as follows: (i) Within varying temporal scales, the nature and distribution of local and imported objects are largely similar across the site; (ii) chronologically and typologically speaking, there is evidence that different parts of the site were occupied and abandoned at different times; and (iii) based on the similarities in material objects and associated production debris and infrastructure, it is likely that different components were self-sufficient units. This study has underscored the significance of existing collections in developing new interpretations of Great Zimbabwe's past lifeways, thereby motivating for the need for similar work to understand the hundreds of similar settlements scattered across southern Africa.
- ItemOpen AccessAn archaeological investigation of the Koichab River region of the south-western Namib Desert centred on the activities of Holocene hunter-gatherers(1989) Noli, Hans Dieter; Parkington, JohnThe 1986-1988 archaeological investigations of the previously largely unresearched Koichab River region the south-western Namib Desert are described. The sites studied are those of Holocene hunter-gatherers. Included are the analyses of archaeological remains from two excavations and three surface collections. The investigations resulted in the recovery of the oldest dated archaeological material from the entire Namib coast, and the halving of the duration of the previously established Holocene hiatus for the southern Namib. It is suggested that the resources of the Koichab River reion were subjected to opportunistic utilization, a subsistence strategy which may have been more extensively resorted to in all of southern Africa than has so far suspected.
- ItemOpen AccessAn archaeological perspective on the nineteenth century development of land, landscape and sheep farming in the Karoo(2012) Smuts, Troy Nathaniel; Hall, SimonThe nineteenth century was one of considerable change within the Cape Colony. There was the change from Dutch VOC control to a British government early in the nineteenth century which exposed small scale Trekboer sheep farmers of the Karoo to a wider mercantile capitalism, especially with the adoption of Merino sheep for the global export market. This thesis charts the early nineteenth century history of colonial Trekboer society into the Karoo with a specific focus on the region to the north of the Roggeveld Mountains and west of the Nieuweveld Mountains. Of particular importance in this history is the change in land rights whereby title deeds and ownership were introduced by the British early in the nineteenth century. The distribution and chronology of title deeds are explored in this area of the Karoo using GIS to map and determine the chronological spread of deeded farms and possible links with environmental and ecological variability. While some correlations can be made under the assumption that better areas were claimed earlier in the nineteenth century other factors were also important. In particular the spread of Merino sheep, for wool production, from the Eastern Cape accounts for some of the geographic emphasis in title deed chronology, while technological innovations may underpin others. Furthermore, the thesis also examines the relationship between the title deeds and the distribution of corbelled buildings, a unique nineteenth century vernacular architecture associated with the Trekboer farmer.
- ItemOpen AccessArchaeological sensitivity model : a cultural resource management exercise(1999) Jakavula, Zukisani Vincent; Parkington, JohnThe coastline of South Africa is used by diverse groups of people for a wide variety of reasons ranging from economic, scientific, social, and recreational. For the users to obtain optimum utility it is imperative that ways and means of developing the coast and its potential are put in place, in the face of rapid urban, industrial, and rural development. In the past the coast was an important place for human settlement, as it still is today. Past human settlement left traces that are now threatened by development. The fragile nature of these past settlements means that there is an urgent need to preserve these archaeological sites. Archaeologists and other conservationists recognise that development is a fact of life. Therefore in order to realise fully the potential of the coast a proper management plan for archaeological resources is needed. The management plan should be drafted with input from natural and social scientists, economists, technical experts, and communities that depend on the coastline for their livelihood. This will ensure that development is well planned, user conflicts resolved, and ecological damage minimised. The management plan for coastal archaeological resources will take into consideration the sensitiveness of the area and the potential for development. This project will be undertaken in consultation with professional archaeologists, the Department of Environmental Affairs, the National Monuments Council, biologists, geologists, local communities, town planners, architects, and other stakeholders. The objective here is to formulate a "red flagging" system that will alert the appropriate regulatory institution and therefore enable the institution to encourage development where it will do least harm to archaeological resources. The broad aim above is addressed by first documenting existing information on archaeological resources and current patterns of distribution which are then entered as overlays in a Geographical Information System model. The distribution maps of archaeological resources together with geological, geomorphological and vegetational GIS overlays are used to predict site distribution in unsearched areas in order to produce an Archaeological Sensitivity Model.
- ItemOpen AccessAn archaeological study of the Zimbabwe culture capital of Khami, south-western Zimbabwe(2016) Mukwende, Tawanda; Chirikure, Shadreck; Hall, SimonThis study sought to understand the archaeology of the Zimbabwe Culture capital of Khami through synchronic and diachronic analyses of its material culture. The research employed a number of methodological approaches that included a review of historic documents, surveying and mapping, excavations, museum collection analysis, and artefact studies, in order to collect datasets from various sections of the site, including the walled and the nonwalled areas. The main indication is that there is a great deal of similarity in material culture distribution across the whole site. An analysis of objects by stratigraphic sequence exposes continuity and change in local and imported objects. Dry stone-wall architectural data suggests that the site was constructed over a long period, with construction motivated by a number of expansionary factors. The study confirms that Khami began as a fully developed cultural unit, with no developmental trajectory recorded at Mapungubwe or Great Zimbabwe, where earlier ceramic units influenced later ones. Consequently, this study cautiously suggests that Khami represents a continuity with the Woolandale chiefdoms that settled in the south-western parts of the country and in the adjacent areas of Botswana. On the basis of the chronological and material culture evidence, Khami is unlikely to have emerged out of Great Zimbabwe. However, more research is needed to confirm these emergent conclusions, and to better understand the chronological and spatial relationships between not just Woolandale and Khami sites but also Khami and the multiple Khami-type sites scattered across southern Zambezia.
- ItemOpen AccessAn archaeological, anthropological study of the human skeletal remains from the Oakhurst Rockshelter, George, Cape Province, Southern Africa(1989) Patrick, Mary Kennedy; Morris, AlanOsteological and dental analyses have been widely used to outline a graded response to nutritional and physiological stress in human bone. It is argued that agriculturalists and transitional agro/pastoralists are more stressed than the hunter gatherers who preceded t hem. This is evinced by mortality profiles, mean age at death and the number and extent of stressors observed in the skeleton such as enamel hypoplasiae, porotic hyperostosis and Harris lines. Agriculturalists and agro/pastoralists are thought to be more prone to these stressors as they relied heavily on root crops and cereals for their nutrients. This exposed them to periods of episodic starvation and physical stress. Hunter gatherers in comparison are thought to have subsisted on a relatively healthy diet, offering more and better quality protein and so reducing the incidence of episodic and general stress. An alternative to this diet-dependent hypothesis is suggested by the analysis of forty-six skeletal remains from the nonagricultural, marine-dependent population of Oakhurst from the South coast of southern Africa. Porotic hyperostosis and enamel hypoplasiae are just as common among these marine-dependent people as among transitional agro/pastoralists. These findings imply that both individual development and population growth rates at Oakhurst were interrupted episodically and generally, and that these interruptions were substantially more common than in living and recently extinct hunter gatherers and pastoralists in southern Africa.
- ItemOpen AccessArchaeology and archaeometallurgy in Limpopo province of South Africa: case studies of early iron age sites of Mutoti and Thomo(2021) Mathoho, Ndivhuho Eric; Chirikure, ShadreckDecades of archaeological research have established the chronology of the history of culture by farmers in northern South Africa from the beginning of the first millennium AD to the recent past (1900). This thesis sought to explore the archaeology and archaeometallurgy of the early inhabitants of the Lowveld region. Rigorous methodological and theoretical approaches, which include Ethno-Historical, archaeological and archaeometallurgical studies, were employed to acquire the relevant information required to address research problems. Ceramic typology and settlement pattern studies were used to establish the culture-history to contextualise Iron Age sites, while Optical Microscopy, X-Ray Fluorescence analysis (XRF) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) were used to investigate the metallurgical remains to understand metal production technology. Both Mutoti and Thomo sites share several similarities, namely, they are situated near the perennial streams, the presence of metal-production sites and the predominant pottery types, consisting of short and long neck vessels dominated by comb stamping, incision and punctate decorations on the rim, neck and shoulder of the vessels. Ceramic tradition analysis revealed that both Mut 2 and Thomo combine ceramic designs and attributes that appeared in the region near the beginning of the first Millennium AD, that is the Urewe and the Kalundu traditions. Garonga Phase tradition developed from the Urewe tradition which represent the first facie, represented by the Silver Leaves sites of the Kwale branch ceramic tradition which dates to AD 280- 420 and the Kalundu tradition (which starts from Happy Rest and progresses to Diamant - Phase 2) which dates from the sixth century AD, both traditions share distinctive ceramics styles and decoration attributes (Burrett, 2007; Huffman, 2007). The radiocarbon-based chronology suggests that Mut 2 and Thomo sites were occupied contemporaneously and dated to AD 650-850. Analysis of the distribution of materials objects across Mut 2 site revealed active participation in both local and international trade network (Soapstone and Islamic ceramics) operated at a village status. Some of the craft production related evidence include metal production, eggshell beads and cloth manufacturing. Metal production was regarded as signature of power and authority in Iron Age period (Herbert, 1996). More research may strengthen this observation.