Browsing by Subject "Later Stone Age"
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- 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.
- ItemRestrictedExcavations at Melkbosstrand: Variability among herder sites on Table Bay, South Africa(2004) Sealy, Judith; Maggs, Tim; Jerardino, Antonieta; Kaplan, JonathaDuring an archaeological impact assessment in 1997, three shell middens were identified along a dune ridge 1.5 km from the shore at Melkbosstrand, about 22 km north of central Cape Town. They were subsequently excavated and yielded evidence of occupation beginning c. AD 700. Remains consisted mostly of shell and bone, with a very informal stone artefact assemblage. All three sites yielded ceramics and sheep bone; at one site sheep was the animal most frequently identified to species level. On the edge of one midden, a stone hearth 1.8 m in diameter was uncovered This site cluster was almost certainly occupied by herders and, as such, constitutes the closest herder sites to Cape Town investigated to date
- ItemOpen AccessHerders and foragers on Kasteelberg: Interim report of excavations 1999-2002(2003) Sadr, Farim; Smith, Andrew; Plug, Ina; Orton, Jayson; Mutti, BelindaSmith et al. (1991) proposed a model to distinguish the archaeological sites of Khoekhoe pastoralists from those of San. This model was based on information gathered from sites scattered over hundreds of square kilometres and several millennia. Between 1999 and 2002 we re-examined Smith et al. s (1991) model by excavating six neighbouring contemporary sites on the hill Kasteelberg. In a previous survey, three of these sites had been provisionally identified as pastoralist sites and three as forager sites. Here we present a brief comparison of the materials from these six sites. Although there are clear differences between the two sets of sites, the hypothesis that one set represents Khoekhoe herders and the other Bushman hunter-gatherers is not supported. Rather, one set of sites seems to represent a more mobile, herder-forager adaptation with a preference for inland resources while the other set appears to represent a more sedentary herder-forager adaptation with emphasis on shoreline resources. It remains to be determined how the occupants of the two sets of sites related to each other.
- ItemOpen AccessJuvenile mortality in Southern African archaeological contexts(2008) Harrington, Lesley; Pfeiffer, SusanEstimates of age at death that are both accurate and precise and provide information about the patterns and causes of premature mortality in both Later Stone Age and Iron Age archaeology. Assuming a link between subsistence and health differences in patterns of childhood growth are hypothesized. The best source of this information comes from the formation of tooth crowns and roots. Through the study of femurs hafts from Later Stone Age juvenile skeletons, it can be demonstrated that linear growth was normal in tempo. The study of femora from a smaller number of Iron Age juvenile skeletons suggests that growth in this group did not follow a normal pattern, perhaps because prolonged ill health preceded death. Growth of Iron Age children who failed to reach adulthood appears to be variable but slow and this may provide insights into the Iron Age biosocial environment. Because of the demonstrated correlation between dental development and femur shaft length, the Later Stone Age juvenile long bone lengths provided here can be used in Later Stone Age contexts to estimate chronological age at death if dental information is unavailable. This approach should not be used in Iron Age contexts, since such an approach is likely to yield biased (under-aged) estimates of age at death.
- ItemRestrictedNew radiocarbon dates for Matjes River Rock Shelter(South African Archaeological Society, 2006) Sealy, Judith; Ludwig, Ben; Henderson, ZoeMatjes River Rock Shelter is a key site for the Later Stone Age in South Africa. Early excavations were, however, crude, and we have only a very broad picture of the sequence uncovered by Dreyer (1933) and Hoffman and Meiring (Hoffman 1958, 1962; Louw 1960). More detailed work by Hilary Deacon and Willemien Dockel in the early 1990s provided better resolution on the lower part of the sequence, but in the areas in which they worked, the upper layers were unfortunately no longer preserved (Dockel 1998). Nearly all the previously published radiocarbon dates for Matjes River are for the lower levels.We present here a series of recent radiocarbon determinations, most of them for materials derived from the upper levels. Some of these results have been published (Sealy and Pfeiffer 2000), but many are new. Here, we explore the implications of the suite of dates for the sequence at the site.
- ItemRestrictedShell middens in Namaqualand: Two Later Stone Age sites at Rooiwalbaai, Northern Cape Province, South Africa(South African Archaeological Society, 2005) Orton, J; Hart, T J; Halkett, D JThis paper contributes to the very limited body of archaeological knowledge from the Northern Cape Namaqualand coastline. Excavations at two Later Stone Age open shell middens from this area are described and discussed. Both sites have finely crafted lithic assemblages and, although one contains possible cow bones, their faunal remains indicate a subsistence strategy consistent with a foraging economy. Although the bead and pottery samples are small, provisionally they may indicate a different interpretation to that offered for similar materials from the Western Cape. The spatial patterning among the shellfish at one of the sites supports our suggestion that the archaeological content of deflation hollows generally represents palimpsests of occupation. It is clear that further research will be required before significant patterns can be described for the Later Stone Age of Namaqualand