Jayson Orton

HERDERS AND FORAGERS ON KASTEELBERG: INTERIM REPORT OF EXCAVATIONS 1999-2002

Smith 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

An Early Date for Cattle from Namaqualand, South Africa: Implications for the Origins of Herding in Southern Africa

When did cattle come to South Africa? Radiocarbon dates on a newly found cow horn indicates a time in the early first millennium AD. In a study of the likely context for the advent of cattle herding, the authors favour immigrants moving along a western route through Namibia.

PATTERNS IN STONE: THE LITHIC ASSEMBLAGE FROM DUNEFIELD MIDDEN, WESTERN CAPE, SOUTH AFRICA

Dunefield Midden is a Later Stone Age hunter-gatherer campsite displaying a series of short occupations between c. 900 BP and c. 600 BP that post-dates afar earlier one. The lithic assemblage can be split into two chronologically distinct components: (I) an almost exclusively quartz scatter that is highly expedient in manufacture and completely dominated by backed pieces and bipolar cores; (2) an older, much smaller, wind-abraded scatter comprising a wider variety of both raw materials and tool classes that indicates a more formalized industry. The former displays discrete stoneworking areas while the latter has no clear spatial structure. In keeping with the expedience of the flaked assemblage, a high degree of re-use is evident on the hammerstones, anvils and grindstones. All results have been examined via a density-based spatial analysis. The possibility of not recovering cultural remains or spatial patterning in small excavations of large shell middens is considered.

Late Holocene Archaeology in Namaqualand, South Africa: Hunter-Gatherers and Herders in a Semi-Arid Environment

This study examines mid- to late Holocene Later Stone Age archaeological residues – specifically flaked stone artefacts, ostrich eggshell beads and pottery – from Namaqualand, north-western South Africa. Through its implication in all models so far proposed, Namaqualand is crucial to understanding the introduction of herding to the southern African subcontinent. Despite numerous publications on early herding, many key debates remain unresolved. The study focuses on the northern and central Namaqualand coastline, but sites from other parts of Namaqualand are also described. The stone assemblages are grouped according to variation in materials and retouch and then, along with data from ostrich eggshell beads and pottery, analysed graphically for temporal and other patterning. A cultural sequence is then presented. Using this sequence, key debates on early herding are explored and a hypothesis on its origins is constructed. Indigenous hunter-gatherers occupied the region throughout the Holocene and made Group 1 lithic assemblages from quartz and cryptocrystalline silica with frequent retouched tools primarily in cryptocrystalline silica. A new population – likely Proto-Khoekhoe-speaking hunter-gatherers with limited numbers of livestock – entered the landscape approximately 2000 years ago. They made Group 3 assemblages from clear quartz focusing on backed bladelets. Diffusion of stock and pottery among the local population occurred during this period. Later, c. AD 500, a new wave of migrants appeared. These last were the ancestors of the historically observed Khoekhoe pastoralists; they made Group 2 lithic assemblages on milky quartz without retouched tools. Bead diameter generally increases with time and contributes nothing to the debate. The pottery sequence is still too patchy for meaningful interpretation but differs from that elsewhere. Overall, the differing cultural signatures in western South Africa suggest that, although many questions will likely remain unanswered, a better understanding of southern African early herding will only be possible with a study addressing all regions simultaneously.

Fishing in the rain: control of rain-making and aquatic resources at a previously undescribed rock art site in Highland Lesotho

This paper describes a previously unrecorded rock art site in the highlands of Lesotho, southern Africa. It then explores the significance of the paintings at this site, which adds to the still small number of locations in the wider Maloti-Drakensberg region at which fishing scenes are depicted. Unusually, paintings of fish at this site are closely associated with that of a rain-animal and with other images, including dying eland and clapping and dancing human figures, that have clear shamanistic references. Drawing also on the local excavated archaeological record, we argue that these images may collectively refer to the power of Bushman shamans to harness and make rain, using that power to produce socially desirable benefits, including perhaps opportunities for group aggregation around seasonally restricted spawning runs of fish.

The introduction of pastoralism to southernmost Africa: thoughts on new contributions to an ongoing debate

One of the longest-standing debates in African archaeology concerns the introduction of herding to southern Africa and the resulting associated cultural changes. Two short books relating to the topic have recently appeared and I review here their very different contributions in the context of the debate. The debate has primarily revolved around the origins of the Khoekhoen, the timing of their arrival and that of domestic animals and pottery, the route(s) via which they arrived and the mechanism by which the livestock were moved. The origin of the Khoekhoen is perhaps only partly understood. They were not native to South Africa and entered the country from the north. On linguistic grounds, Westphal (1963) and Güldemann (2008) saw northern Botswana as being a point of origin for the Khoekhoen, while Elphick (1985) suggested that they obtained domestic stock from Bantu-speakers to the north of that area and then expanded southwards as their population grew. Barnard (1992: 30) considered it ‘likely that pastoral Khoekhoe society began with the acquisition of ... livestock and material culture, by southern African Bushmen, from a people of northern origin’ — the implication here, whether intended or not, seems to be that it was the fact that they owned livestock and related material culture that made them Khoekhoen rather than their genetic origins. However, genetic research suggests that there was, in fact, some population movement from East Africa into southern Africa and that East African genes are represented among the Khoekhoen (Henn et al. 2008; Breton et al. 2014; Macholt et al. 2014; Ranciaro et al. 2014). The timing of arrivals is also partly understood, at least in South Africa where most research has been conducted. Depending on whom one asks, pottery may have arrived first, likely followed fairly closely by the Khoekhoen and their sheep, but due to the

Rescue excavations at Diaz Street Midden, Saldanha Bay, South Africa

This paper documents Diaz Street Midden, a Later Stone Age site discovered during recent development of a property in Saldanha Bay, South Africa. It began accumulating some 6000 years ago but the upper deposits were destroyed prior to excavation. The small excavation yielded a spectacular silcrete-dominated lithic assemblage with an unusually high frequency and variety of retouched artefacts. Ostrich eggshell beads were made on the site and seals and shellfish comprised the primary food sources. Several burials date to a later occupation than that represented by the deposits. The loss of this highly significant site is tragic given its richness and the rarity of similar aged sites on the Western Cape coast.

Tortoise burials in Namaqualand: uncovering ritual behaviour on South Africa's west coast

Numerous instances of deliberately buried tortoises have been uncovered at late Holocene sites along the Namaqualand coast of South Africa. They occur in small pits immediately beneath intact shell middens at the coast or below other archaeological layers at sites further inland. At the coast, the pits were never dug through the overlying midden material and, besides the tortoises, generally contain nothing except incidental inclusions. Other examples have been found further inland and to the south. Animal burials elsewhere appear invariably to be linked to ritual behaviour and it is concluded that the Namaqualand tortoise burials likely represent a consecration ritual developed within the last 800 years and marking the establishment of a new campsite.

The late pre-colonial site of Komkans 2 (KK002) and an evaluation of the evidence for indigenous copper smelting in Namaqualand, southern Africa

Excavations at the late Holocene archaeological site KK002 are described. This small rock shelter, 17 km from the coast in southern Namaqualand, South Africa, contained a shallow deposit with a rich assemblage. Limited evidence of mid-Holocene occupation occurs, but the majority of occupation took place within the last 2000 years and can be split into two primary layers. The finds included stone artefacts with many clear quartz backed tools, whole, broken and partly made ostrich eggshell beads, pottery, worked wood and reeds, wood shavings, metal artefacts of indigenous and European origin, glass trade beads and a variety of subsistence remains, including those of marine animals. All three copper-containing artefacts are of European origin. With so much having been said about the possibility of an indigenous source of copper in Namaqualand, further investigation of this suggests that copper was not mined locally, but that lumps of native copper were collected at times. There is also no evidence of copper-smelting south of the Orange River, although this was practised in central Namibia.

Supercritical Fluids for Higher Extraction Yields of Lipids from Archeological Ceramics

The extraction and study of organic residues from ceramics has been a subject of interest for the last 50 years in archeology and archeological science. Lipids are among the best-preserved organic substances in archeological contexts and can provide information about the diets of ancient populations as well as past environments. Here, we present a method which demonstrates significantly improved extraction of lipids from archeological pots by replacing liquid organic solvents with supercritical fluids. Optimization of the procedure using response surface methodology (RSM) approach showed that, on our system, optimal conditions for supercritical extraction of lipids from synthetic fired clay ceramics could be achieved using carbon dioxide with 16 vol % of cosolvent EtOH-H2O (95:5 v/v) in 90 min at a flow rate of 2.3 mL/min, for a pressure of 30 MPa and a temperature of 50 °C. For all reference and archeological samples included in this study, lipid yields obtained by supercritical fluid extraction under these optimal conditions were systematically higher than by conventional solvent extraction. This study also highlighted a variability of the ratio of unsaturated versus saturated fatty acids depending on the extraction method. This can have important implications in the identification of the residue(s). The increased extraction efficiency provided by supercritical fluids, as well as their minimally destructive nature, enable new and refined approaches to residue analysis and dating of archeological ceramics.