The Holocene Sequence from Uniondale Rock Shelter in the Eastern Cape

Brooker, Mary

doi:10.2307/3858129

Cited by 13 publications

(3 citation statements)

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“…Many leading researchers and students switched, over the next few years, from an almost purely ecological focus to one centred on social interpretation (S. Hall & Binneman 1987;Wadley 1987;Mazel 1987;Brooker 1989;Deacon 1990;Mitchell 1993;Parkington 1993). The speed at which this took place is clear from Aron Mazel's (1989a: 33) doctoral publication in which he describes how he began with purely ecological questions in mind but ended up writing a treatise on the merits of social theory.…”

Section: Society As 'Complexity'mentioning

confidence: 99%

The social world of hunter-gatherers in early Holocene Lesotho: integrating method and theory

Arthur

2019

Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa

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This thesis presents new early Holocene excavations at Ntloana Tšoana in western Lesotho and makes the case for reintegrating method and theory in southern African Later Stone Age archaeology. It is argued that the distancing of method and theory relates to discipline-wide economic and material culture biases. An alternative is proposed which focuses on the everyday residues and temporal relations of hunter-gatherer life in order to build an understanding of attachment to place. This approach, which is more accepting of the multitemporal qualities of complex stratigraphies, is ideally suited to the abundant and wellstratified rockshelters of southern Africa. Importantly, tracing sequence in the construction of stratigraphic diagrams, the modelling of radiocarbon dates, as well as in studies of artefact production use and discard, remain central to the work presented here. At the same time, however, equal weight is placed on the durational and imbricated qualities of the archaeological record, which, it is argued, deserve to be repositioned as positive attributes. In this way of thinking sedimentation and erosion are vital to the human story and provide much of the movement and depth to the history-writing process. These insights are brought to bear on the 600-1700 calendar years of early Holocene stratigraphy at Ntloana Tšoana, during which time a complex history of social fragmentation and coalescence is traceable, sandwiched between, and partly overlapping with, two major flooding events. The site also becomes associated with a specific set of practices over many centuries involving the construction of large hearth features and the working of animal hides. Discussion revolves around the manner in which rockshelter residues may have acted as a stabilising force within the fluid socio-material world of hunter-gatherer groups and how this may have operated over an inter-generational timeframe. Also, a big thank you to Jess Meyer who took most of the site and landscape photos in this thesis. In Lesotho there are far too many people to mention individually, but to all of you, Kea leboha haholo! At home I had the constant support and love of Sarah and my two sons, Joseph and Rory, both born during the course of this project and who are a never-ending source of joy. I would also like to say a special thank you to my mum, who always loved unconditionally and never tried to make me do something more 'sensible'. I would like to dedicate this thesis to two women who made it all possible. Firstly, Annie Booth, and secondly, my mother, Hilary Bathurst, both of whom showed incredible strength at the end of their lives and will not be forgotten.

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Section: Society As 'Complexity'mentioning

confidence: 99%

The social world of hunter-gatherers in early Holocene Lesotho: integrating method and theory

Arthur

2019

Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa

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“…2 ka LSA levels at Blombos Cave a carapace of the turtle Pelomedusa subrufa showed evidence of scrape marks on the interior and grinding on the edges suggest its use as a bowl, possibly to store or mix ochre, as both the edges and inner surface were ochre stained (Henshilwood, 2008). Worked tortoise carapaces are reported from LSA levels at Uniondale in the Eastern Cape (Brooker, 1989) and Nelson Bay Cave in the southern Cape (Inskeep,1987), but there is no evidence of the tortoise shells examined macro-or microscopically from the MSA levels at BBC being worked or used as containers. Similarly, no such evidence has been reported for other MSA sites.…”

Section: Tortoise Processing Strategiesmentioning

confidence: 95%

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

Thompson

Henshilwood

2014

Journal of Archaeological Science

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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.

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“…Opalines are widely available only in areas drained by rivers rising in the Lesotho highlands and differences in raw material availability may have been one factor at work, but additional factors are necessary for explanation since hornfels is also widely available in western Lesotho. The possibility should be explored that western Lesotho, with its diversity of raw materials, is an area in which people have been able to use (perhaps discontinuously) varying proportions of opalines and hornfels as a social signature over an extended period of time, similar to the situations recently described by Mazel (1989) for the Thukela Basin of Natal and by Leslie Brooker (1989) for the eastern Cape Province.…”

Section: Regional Settlement Historymentioning

confidence: 94%

Archaeological Investigations at two Lesotho Rock-shelters: Terminal Pleistocene/Early Holocene Assemblages from Ha Makotoko and Ntloana Tsoana

Mitchell

1993

Proc. Prehist. Soc.

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Results of the excavation of two rock-shelters in the Phuthiatsana-ea-Thaba Bosiu Basin of western Lesotho, southern Africa are reported. Later Stone Age occupation at both sites was principally a feature of the terminal Pleistocene and early Holocene. Analysis of the artefact assemblages shows that, while all in situ occurrences belong to the Oakhurst Industrial Complex, significant differences are apparent between those pre- and post-dating 7500 BC. A shift towards hunting smaller bovids and changes in site occupation at the regional scale are also evident at this time. Differences between the archaeological signatures at the two sites are discussed in the light of recent models of seasonal aggregation and dispersal. Comparisons are drawn with the archaeological record of neighbouring parts of South Africa and a strong contrast is suggested between terminal Pleistocene! early Holocene settlement strategies and those of the recent Holocene within the research area.

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The Holocene Sequence from Uniondale Rock Shelter in the Eastern Cape

Cited by 13 publications

References 0 publications

The social world of hunter-gatherers in early Holocene Lesotho: integrating method and theory

The social world of hunter-gatherers in early Holocene Lesotho: integrating method and theory

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

Archaeological Investigations at two Lesotho Rock-shelters: Terminal Pleistocene/Early Holocene Assemblages from Ha Makotoko and Ntloana Tsoana

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