From quartz curvature to late Holocene mobility at Spring Cave, Western Cape, South Africa

Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences - Tập 14 - Trang 1-12 - 2022
Benjamin Davies1, Matthew J. Douglass2,3, David R. Braun4,5,6, John Parkington5, Mitchell J. Power7,8, J. Tyler Faith1,7,9
1Department of Anthropology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, USA
2College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, USA
3Agricultural Research Division, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, USA
4Center for the Advanced Study of Human Paleobiology, Department of Anthropology, The George Washington University, Washington, USA
5Department of Archaeology, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa
6Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
7Natural History Museum of Utah, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, USA
8Department of Geography, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, USA
9Origins Centre, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa

Tóm tắt

The late Holocene was a period of cultural change along the west coast of South Africa, with widespread archaeological evidence for shifts in settlement patterns and economic activity. With these changes, we expect variability in the movement patterns of resident populations. In this proof-of-concept paper, we use lithic assemblages from Spring Cave near Verlorenvlei to evaluate changes in mobility during the late Holocene. These assemblages are dominated by bipolar-reduced quartz, which is notoriously difficult to assess using geometric approaches given high levels of fragmentation and variability in product dimensions. We use measures of curvature on cortical pieces to estimate original nodule size, and then use this to calculate the cortex ratio, a measure of mobility. Ratios indicate differences in mobility and place use through time that mirror earlier observations about shifts in land use. These observations warrant more extended analysis of other late Holocene contexts throughout the west coast.

Tài liệu tham khảo

Barton CM, Riel-Salvatore J (2014) The formation of lithic assemblages. J Archaeol Sci 46:334–352. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2014.03.031 Bordy EM, Head H, Runds MJ (2016) Palaeoenvironment and provenance in the early Cape Basin of southwest Gondwana: sedimentology of the Lower Ordovician Piekenierskloof Formation, Cape Supergroup, South Africa. S Afr J Geol 119:399–414. https://doi.org/10.2113/gssajg.119.2.399 Braun DR (2006) The ecology of Oldowan technology: perspectives from Koobi Fora and Kanjera South. Ph.D. Dissertation, Rutgers The State University of New Jersey Braun DR, Faith JT, Douglass MJ et al (2021) Ecosystem engineering in the Quaternary of the West Coast of South Africa. Evol Anthropol 30:50–62. https://doi.org/10.1002/evan.21886 Carr AS, Boom A, Chase BM et al (2015) Holocene sea level and environmental change on the west coast of South Africa: evidence from plant biomarkers, stable isotopes and pollen. J Paleolimnol 53:415–432. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10933-015-9833-7 Clarkson CJ (2008) Lithics in the landscape. In: David B, Thomas J (eds) Handbook of landscape archaeology. Left Coast Press, Walnut Creek, pp 490–501 Close AE (2000) Reconstructing movement in prehistory. J Archaeol Method Theory 7:40–74 Coutu AN, Taurozzi AJ, Mackie M et al (2021) Palaeoproteomics confirm earliest domesticated sheep in southern Africa ca. 2000 BP. Scientific Reports 11:6631. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-85756-8 Cowling RM, Cartwright CR, Parkington JE, Allsopp JC (1999) Fossil wood charcoal assemblages from Elands Bay Cave, South Africa: implications for Late Quaternary vegetation and climates in the winter-rainfall fynbos biome. J Biogeogr 26:367–378. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-2699.1999.00275.x Crema ER, Bevan A (2021) Inference from large sets of radiocarbon dates: software and methods. Radiocarbon 63:23–39. https://doi.org/10.1017/RDC.2020.95 Davies B, Douglass M, Fanning PC, Holdaway SJ (2021) Resilience and reversibility: engaging with archaeological record formation to inform on past resilience. Archaeol Rev Camb 36:51–74 Davies B, Holdaway SJ, Fanning PC (2018) Modeling relationships between space, movement, and lithic geometric attributes. Am Antiq 83:444–461. https://doi.org/10.1017/aaq.2018.23 Davies B (2016) Logic and landscapes: Simulating surface archaeological record formation in Western New South Wales, Australia. Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Auckland, Auckland de la Peña P (2015) A qualitative guide to recognize bipolar knapping for flint and quartz. Lithic Technol 40:316–331. https://doi.org/10.1080/01977261.2015.1123947 Dewar G, Orton J (2013) Subsistence, settlement and material culture on the central Namaqualand coastline. In: Jerardino A, Malan A, Braun DR (eds) The Archaeology of the West Coast of South Africa. British Archaeological Reports, Oxford, pp 109–123 Dewar G, Reimer PJ, Sealy J, Woodborne S (2012) Late-Holocene marine radiocarbon reservoir correction (ΔR) for the west coast of South Africa. The Holocene 22:1481–1489. https://doi.org/10.1177/0959683612449755 Dibble HL, Shurmans UA, Iovita RP, McLaughlin MV (2005) The measurement and interpretation of cortex in lithic assemlages. Am Antiq 70:545–560 Diez-Martín F, Yustos PS, Domínguez-Rodrigo M, Prendergast ME (2011) An experimental study of bipolar and freehand knapping of Naibor Soit quartz from Olduvai Gorge (Tanzania). Am Antiq 76:690–708. https://doi.org/10.7183/0002-7316.76.4.690 Ditchfield K, Holdaway SJ, Allen MS, McAlister A (2014) Measuring stone artefact transport: the experimental demonstration and pilot application of a new method to a prehistoric adze workshop, southern Cook Islands. J Archaeol Sci 50:512–523. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2014.08.009 Douglass MJ, Holdaway SJ, Fanning PC, Shiner JI (2008) An assessment and archaeological application of cortex measurement in lithic assemblages. Am Antiq 73:513–526 Douglass M, Davies B, Braun DR et al (2021) Deriving original nodule size of lithic reduction sets from cortical curvature: an application to monitor stone artifact transport from bipolar reduction. J Archaeol Sci Rep 35:102671. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2020.102671 Douglass MJ (2010) The archaeological potential of informal lithic technologies: a case study of assemblage variability in western New South Wales, Australia. Ph.D. Dissertation, The University of Auckland Douglass MJ, Lin SC, Braun DR, Plummer TW (2018) Core use-life distributions in lithic assemblages as a means for reconstructing behavioral patterns. J Archaeol Method Theory 25:254–288. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10816-017-9334-2 Gould R (1991) Arid-land foraging as seen from Australia: adaptive models and behavioural realities. Oceania 62:12–33 Heaton TJ, Köhler P, Butzin M et al (2020) Marine20—The Marine Radiocarbon Age Calibration Curve (0–55,000 cal BP). Radiocarbon 62:779–820. https://doi.org/10.1017/RDC.2020.68 Henshilwood C (1996) A revised chronology for pastoralism in southernmost Africa: new evidence of sheep at c. 2000 b.p. from Blombos Cave, South Africa. Antiquity 70:945–949. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003598X00084210 Hogg AG, Heaton TJ, Hua Q et al (2020) SHCal20 Southern Hemisphere Calibration, 0–55,000 Years cal BP. Radiocarbon 62:759–778. https://doi.org/10.1017/RDC.2020.59 Holdaway SJ, Davies B (2019) Surface stone artifact scatters, settlement patterns, and new methods for stone artifact analysis. J Paleo Arch. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41982-019-00030-8 Holdaway SJ, Douglass M, Fanning PC (2012) Landscape scale and human mobility : geoarchaeological evidence from Rutherfords Creek, New South Wales, Australia. In: Kluivig SJ, Guttman-Bond E (eds) Landscape Archaeology Between Art and Science: From a Multi- to an Interdisciplinary Approach. Amsterdam University Press, Amsterdam, pp 279–294 Horsburgh KA, Rhines A (2010) Genetic characterization of an archaeological sheep assemblage from South Africa’s Western Cape. J Archaeol Sci 37:2906–2910. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2010.06.035 Jerardino A (1996) Changing social landscapes of the western Cape coast of southern Africa over the last 4500 years. Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Cape Town, Cape Town Jerardino A (1998) Excavations at Pancho’s Kitchen Midden, Western Cape Coast, South Africa: Further Observations into the Megamidden Period. The South African Archaeological Bulletin 53:16–25. https://doi.org/10.2307/3889258 Jerardino A (2021) Coastal foraging on the West Coast of South Africa in the midst of mid-Holocene climate change. J Isl Coast Archaeol 0:1–22. https://doi.org/10.1080/15564894.2021.1893869 Jerardino A, Dewar G, Navarro R (2009) Opportunistic subsistence strategies among Late Holocene coastal hunter-gatherers, Elands Bay, South Africa. J Isl Coast Archaeol 4:37–60. https://doi.org/10.1080/15564890802390997 Jerardino A, Halkett D, Klein R, Girten K (2021) Visits to a cliff cave amidst climate change: the archaeology of Spring Cave, west coast of South Africa. S Afr Archaeol Bul 76:109–124 Jerardino A, Klein RG, Navarro R et al (2013) Settlement and subsistence patterns since the terminal Pleistocene in the Elands Bay and Lamberts Bay areas. In: Jerardino A, Malan A, Braun DR (eds) The Archaeology of the West Coast of South Africa. British Archaeological Reports, Oxford, pp 85–108 Kelly DRL (2013) The lifeways of hunter-gatherers: the foraging spectrum, 2nd edn. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge Klein RG, Cruz-Uribe K (2016) Large mammal and tortoise bones from Elands Bay Cave (South Africa): implications for later Stone Age environment and ecology. South Afr Humanit 29:259–282 Lander F, Russell T (2018) The archaeological evidence for the appearance of pastoralism and farming in southern Africa. PLoS ONE 13:e0198941. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0198941 Lin SCH, Douglass MJ, Mackay A (2016) Interpreting MIS3 artefact transport patterns in Southern Africa using cortex ratios: an example from the Putslaagte Valley, Western Cape. S Afr Archaeol Bul 71:173 Lin SCH, McPherron SP, Dibble HL (2015) Establishing statistical confidence in cortex ratios within and among lithic assemblages: a case study of the Middle Paleolithic of southwestern France. J Archaeol Sci 59:89–109. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2015.04.004 Manhire AH (1987) Sandveld deflation hollows: a study of open site assemblages in the south-western Cape. In: Parkington JE, Hall M (eds) Papers in the Prehistory of the Western Cape, South Africa. British Archaeological Reports, Oxford, pp 326–349 Meekan MG, Duarte CM, Fernández-Gracia J et al (2017) The ecology of human mobility. Trends Ecol Evol 32:198–210. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2016.12.006 Miller DE, Yates RJ, Jerardino A, Parkington JE (1995) Late Holocene coastal change in the southwestern Cape, South Africa. Quat Int 29–30:3–10. https://doi.org/10.1016/1040-6182(95)00002-Z Nelson MC (1991) The study of technological organization. Archaeol Method Theory 3:57–100 Orton J (2002) Patterns in stone: the lithic assemblage from Dunefield Midden, Western Cape, South Africa. S Afr Archaeol Bull 57:31–37. https://doi.org/10.2307/3889104 Orton J (2004) The Quartz conundrum : understanding the role of quartz in the composition of late Pleistocene and Holocene lithic assemblages from the Verlorenvlei area, Western Cape. M.A. Thesis, University of Cape Town Orton J (2006) The later Stone Age lithic sequence at Elands Bay, Western Cape, South Africa : raw materials, artefacts and sporadic change. South Afr Humanit 18:1–28 Orton J (2012) Late Holocene archaeology in Namaqualand, South Africa: hunter-gatherers and herders in a semi-arid environment. Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Oxford, Oxford Parkington J, Brand R, Niekerk T (2020) Forum communication- “reply to Antonieta Jerardino’s comment on ‘field processing and transport costs in shellfish gathering along the Cape west coast’ by John Parkington, Ruan Brand and Taylor Niekerk.” Quatern Int 544:116–119. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2020.05.001 Parkington J, Brand R, Niekerk T (2021) Field processing and transport costs in shellfish gathering along the Cape west coast. Quatern Int 584:72–81. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2020.03.022 Parkington JE (1980) The Elands Bay cave sequence: cultural stratigraphy and subsistence strategies. In: Leakey RE, Ogot BA (eds) Proceedings of the 8th Pan-African Congress of Prehistory and Quaternary Studies, Nairobi. Tillmiap, Nairobi, pp 315–320 Parkington JE (1993) The neglected alternative: historical narrative rather than cultural labelling. S Afr Archaeol Bull 48:94–97. https://doi.org/10.2307/3888948 Parkington JE (2016) Elands Bay Cave : keeping an eye on the past. South Afr Humanit 29:17–32. https://doi.org/10.10520/EJC-55bbe2aab Parkington JE, Poggenpoel C, Buchanan W et al (1988) Holocene coastal settlement patterns in the Western Cape. In: Bailey G, Parkington JE (eds) The Archaeology of Prehistoric Coastlines. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 22–41 Parkington J (2012) Mussels and mongongo nuts: logistical visits to the Cape west coast, South Africa. J Archaeol Sci 39:1521–1530. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2011.10.034 Phillipps RS, Holdaway SJ (2016) Estimating Core Number in Assemblages: Core Movement and Mobility During the Holocene of the Fayum. Egypt. J Archaeol Method Theory 23:520–540. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10816-015-9250-2 Phillipps RS (2012) Documenting socio-economic variability in the Egyptian neolithic through store artefact analysis. Ph.D. Dissertation, The University of Auckland, Auckland R Core Team (2021) R: A Language and Environment for Statistical Computing. Version 4.0.5. R Foundation for Stastical Computing, Vienna. URL http://www.Rproject.org Reeves JS (2019) Digital stone age visiting cards: Quantitative approaches to early Pleistocene Hominin land-use. Ph.D. Dissertation, George Washington University, Washington, D.C. Rezek Z, Holdaway SJ, Olszewski DI et al (2020) Aggregates, formational emergence, and the focus on practice in stone artifact archaeology. J Archaeol Method Theory. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10816-020-09445-y Robey TS (1987) The stratigraphic and cultural sequence at Tortoise Cave, Verlorenvlei. In: Parkington JE, Hall M (eds) Papers in the Prehistory of the Western Cape, South Africa. British Archaeological Reports, Oxford, pp 294–325 Ruff CB, Holt B, Niskanen M et al (2015) Gradual decline in mobility with the adoption of food production in Europe. PNAS 112:7147–7152. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1502932112 Rust IC (1967) On the sedimentation of the Table Mountain Group in the Western Cape Province. Thesis, Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University Sadr K (2003) The neolithic of Southern Africa. J Afr Hist 44:195–209 Sadr K (2015) Livestock first reached Southern Africa in two separate events. PLoS ONE 10:e0134215. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0134215 Sadr K, Bousman CB, Brown TA et al (2017) New radiocarbon dates and the herder occupation at Kasteelberg B, South Africa. Antiquity 91:1299–1313. https://doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2017.102 Sealy J (2016) Intensification, diet, and group boundaries among later Stone Age coastal hunter-gatherers along the western and southern coasts of South Africa. In: Lee-Thorp JA, Katzenberg MA (eds) The Oxford Handbook of the Archaeology of Diet. Oxford University Press, Published online Sealy J, Yates R (1994) The chronology of the introduction of pastoralism to the Cape, South Africa. Antiquity 68:58–67. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003598X00046196 Sealy JC, van der Merwe NJ (1988) Social, spatial and chronological patterning in marine food use as determined by ä 13 C measurements of Holocene human skeletons from the south-western Cape, South Africa. World Archaeol 20:87–102. https://doi.org/10.1080/00438243.1988.9980058 Shaw M, Ames CJH, Phillips N et al (2019) The Doring River archaeology project: approaching the evolution of human land use patterns in the Western Cape, South Africa. PaleoAnthropology 400:422 Smith AB (1998) Keeping people on the periphery: the ideology of social hierarchies between hunters and herders. J Anthropol Archaeol 17:201–215. https://doi.org/10.1006/jaar.1998.0323 Smith AB (2009) Pastoralism in the Western Cape Province, South Africa: a retrospective review. J Afri Archaeol 7:239–252. https://doi.org/10.3213/1612-1651-10141 Spry C, Kurpiel R, Foley E et al (2021) Disentangling activity traces on Australian goldfields: An experimental study of quartz assemblages derived from knapping and gold prospecting. Aust Archaeol 87:49–62. https://doi.org/10.1080/03122417.2021.1885109 Spry C (2014) Refitting a past: A comparison of late Pleistocene and Terminal Pleistocene/early Holocene stone tool technology at Lake Mungo, southwestern New South Wales. Latrobe University, Melbourne, Australia Surovell TA (2009) Toward a behavioral ecology of lithic technology: cases from Paleoindian archaeology. University of Arizona Press Wahl EJ (1994) The archaeology of scorpion shelter. B.A. (Hons) Thesis, University of Cape Town, Cape Town