Occupational intensity and environmental changes during the Howiesons Poort at Klipdrift Shelter, southern Cape, South Africa
Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 2016
The Howiesons Poort, characterised by sophisticated lithic technologies and evidence of innovativ... more The Howiesons Poort, characterised by sophisticated lithic technologies and evidence of innovative behaviours, was a significant cultural phase in southern Africa during Marine Isotope Stage 4. It also coincided with substantial palaeoenvironmental and possible demographic changes in the southern Cape of South Africa, especially with regard to the shifting palaeo-coastline off the Agulhas Bank. The newly-excavated Klipdrift Shelter in the southern Cape presents a rare opportunity to compare faunal, lithic and palaeoenvironmental evidence from a single Howiesons Poort site along the present-day southern coast of South Africa. Here, we use faunal data from Klipdrift Shelter to explore the relationship between occupational intensity, subsistence behaviour and environment in the southern Cape during the Howiesons Poort period. Our results suggest a shift from a mixed terrain/ browse-dominated environment during the earlier Howiesons Poort to open grasslands in the mid–later Howiesons Poort. This environmental shift corresponds to potential changes in occupational intensity or frequency throughout the sequence with evidence of increased occupations associated with grassier environments. Aspects of the cultural sequence, for example raw material procurement strategies, may be associated with shifting environmental conditions. The faunal evidence suggests links between occupation, environment and prey selection at Klipdrift. This raises interesting questions about the interplay between population density and the environment of the southern Cape, and its influence on subsistence behaviour during Marine Isotope Stage 4.
Uploads
Papers by sarah wurz
dominant species is likely due to environmental change caused by fluctuating sea levels rather than change in sea surface temperatures. The shellfish assemblage shows that local coastal habitats at Klipdrift Cave were somewhat different from those of contemporaneous sites in the southern Cape. Although the shellfish
specimens are smaller at Klipdrift Cave than those from Middle Stone Age localities such as Blombos Cave, there is no robust indication that larger human populations at Klipdrift Cave during the Oakhurst period might have caused this change in size. Environmental or ecological factors could have restricted shellfish growth
rates as some experimental works have suggested, but this possibility also remains to be further explored.
Significance:
• The dominance of D. gigas and T. sarmaticus at Klipdrift Cave is surprising, as it indicates a local habitat slightly different from other similar sites during the Oakhurst period.
• The shift in dominance from D. gigas to T. sarmaticus indicates changing climatic and environmental conditions during the Oakhurst period, 14–7 ka.
archaeological sample. The heated quartzite sample also displayed cracks and breaks that were similar to the archaeological sample, but the water-exposed sample did not. The results from the experiments points to intentional heating of the archaeological sample, but not to the use of hot-rock boiling in the MSA.
dominant species is likely due to environmental change caused by fluctuating sea levels rather than change in sea surface temperatures. The shellfish assemblage shows that local coastal habitats at Klipdrift Cave were somewhat different from those of contemporaneous sites in the southern Cape. Although the shellfish
specimens are smaller at Klipdrift Cave than those from Middle Stone Age localities such as Blombos Cave, there is no robust indication that larger human populations at Klipdrift Cave during the Oakhurst period might have caused this change in size. Environmental or ecological factors could have restricted shellfish growth
rates as some experimental works have suggested, but this possibility also remains to be further explored.
Significance:
• The dominance of D. gigas and T. sarmaticus at Klipdrift Cave is surprising, as it indicates a local habitat slightly different from other similar sites during the Oakhurst period.
• The shift in dominance from D. gigas to T. sarmaticus indicates changing climatic and environmental conditions during the Oakhurst period, 14–7 ka.
archaeological sample. The heated quartzite sample also displayed cracks and breaks that were similar to the archaeological sample, but the water-exposed sample did not. The results from the experiments points to intentional heating of the archaeological sample, but not to the use of hot-rock boiling in the MSA.