Taphonomic analysis of the Middle Stone Age faunal assemblage from Pinnacle Point Cave 13B, Western Cape, South Africa

Thompson, Jessica C.

doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2010.07.004

Cited by 72 publications

(40 citation statements)

References 87 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The narrowness of this plain and the concentrated nature of the migration could very well have made possible territorial defence during the seasons of migration, and certainly the rich intertidal zones in close juxtaposition would be predicted to have been defended. The archaeological records at PP5 -6 and PP13B document the continued importance of shellfish throughout MIS5, and during periods of very high sea level in MIS5 when the plain was just several kilometres wide, very intense use of the intertidal zone [66,137] combined with large ungulate hunting at PP13B [138].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 91%

The transition to foraging for dense and predictable resources and its impact on the evolution of modern humans

Marean

2016

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

113

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

One contribution of 17 to a discussion meeting issue 'Major transitions in human evolution'. Scientists have identified a series of milestones in the evolution of the human food quest that are anticipated to have had far-reaching impacts on biological, behavioural and cultural evolution: the inclusion of substantial portions of meat, the broad spectrum revolution and the transition to food production. The foraging shift to dense and predictable resources is another key milestone that had consequential impacts on the later part of human evolution. The theory of economic defendability predicts that this shift had an important consequence-elevated levels of intergroup territoriality and conflict. In this paper, this theory is integrated with a well-established general theory of hunter-gatherer adaptations and is used to make predictions for the sequence of appearance of several evolved traits of modern humans. The distribution of dense and predictable resources in Africa is reviewed and found to occur only in aquatic contexts (coasts, rivers and lakes). The palaeoanthropological empirical record contains recurrent evidence for a shift to the exploitation of dense and predictable resources by 110 000 years ago, and the first known occurrence is in a marine coastal context in South Africa. Some theory predicts that this elevated conflict would have provided the conditions for selection for the hyperprosocial behaviours unique to modern humans.This article is part of the themed issue 'Major transitions in human evolution'.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 91%

The transition to foraging for dense and predictable resources and its impact on the evolution of modern humans

Marean

2016

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

113

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…This is surprising because by ~162 ka whales were 174 scavenged, seals were exploited (Marean et al, 2007;Thompson, 2010), and certainly whales 175 and dolphins were regularly seen from shore (they are today). The lack of a maritime adaptation 176 I think likely explains why the South African Stone Age coastal adaptation never seems to reach 177 the level of social and technological complexity present in analogous coastal contexts such as 178 Peru, California, the US North-west coast, and the US South-east coast.…”

Section: How Do We Define a Coastal Adaptation? 154mentioning

confidence: 99%

The origins and significance of coastal resource use in Africa and Western Eurasia

Marean

2014

Journal of Human Evolution

174

155

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

“…The smaller tortoise assemblage from Pinnacle Point Cave 13B (PP13B) is the only MSA assemblage that has been studied using microscopic taphonomic methods, and for which full NISP and MNI counts are available for both limb and shell elements (Thompson, 2010). This study found that hominin modification such as cut marks for defleshing, percussion marks for opening the shell, and preferential burning patterns from cooking were all rare but present on the assemblage, and in different proportions than similar damage on large mammal bones.…”

Section: Tortoises In the South African Recordmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tortoise taphonomy and tortoise butchery patterns at Blombos Cave, South Africa

Thompson

Henshilwood

2014

Journal of Archaeological Science

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

a b s t r a c tTortoises are one of the most common faunal components at many Palaeolithic archaeological sites across the Old World. They provide protein, fat, and other 'animal' resources in a 'collectable' package. However, for most sites their interpretation as human food debris is based only on association, rather than demonstrated through taphonomic analysis. Because of their very different anatomical configuration compared to mammals, it is difficult to conduct such analyses by directly applying the taphonomic methods used to interpret large mammal assemblages. Tortoise-specific taphonomic analysis is presented here for the Still Bay layers at the important Middle Stone Age (MSA) site of Blombos Cave (BBC), Western Cape, South Africa. Research on MSA subsistence systems at sites such as BBC has almost exclusively relied on analysis of large ungulate remains, in spite of the fact that many of these key sites contain equal or greater numbers of tortoise fragments. In this analysis we show that human modification is common on the BBC tortoises, and that there are consistent patterns of fragmentation and burning that indicate set processing sequences including cooking while in the shell, hammerstone percussion, and human chewing of limbs. The almost exclusive dominance of the angulate tortoise, Chersina angulata, is confirmed by full skeletal element analyses rather than only counts of single elements such as humeri. The sex distribution can be reconstructed for this species, and is female-biased. For all tortoise assemblages, taxonomic and skeletal element abundance data should be calculated from a sample of complete elements, or at minimum the entoplastron and humerus. A sample of shell and limb/girdle elements should also be subjected to microscopic bone surface modification analysis, as modifications are often rare or subtle but highly informative. Using this approach, analysis of breakage patterns, bone surface modification, and burning patterns can be understood together to specifically reconstruct tortoise collection, processing, and human dietary significance across a range of archaeological sites.

show abstract

Taphonomic analysis of the Middle Stone Age faunal assemblage from Pinnacle Point Cave 13B, Western Cape, South Africa

Cited by 72 publications

References 87 publications

The transition to foraging for dense and predictable resources and its impact on the evolution of modern humans

The transition to foraging for dense and predictable resources and its impact on the evolution of modern humans

The origins and significance of coastal resource use in Africa and Western Eurasia

Tortoise taphonomy and tortoise butchery patterns at Blombos Cave, South Africa

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About