Middle and Later Stone Age large mammal and tortoise remains from Die Kelders Cave 1, Western Cape Province, South Africa

doi:10.1006/jhev.1999.0355

Journal of Human Evolution

Volume 38, Issue 1, January 2000, Pages 169-195

https://doi.org/10.1006/jhev.1999.0355 Get rights and content

Abstract

Die Kelders Cave 1, South Africa, has provided more than 150,000 taxonomically identifiable mammal and tortoise bones from Middle Stone Age (MSA) and Later Stone Age (LSA) deposits. Cape dune molerats dominate the mammal sample, and they appear to have been accumulated mainly by people during the LSA occupation and mainly by eagle owls in the MSA. In sharp contrast to the LSA fauna, the MSA sample contains extralimital ungulates that imply relatively moist, grassy conditions. The large mean size of the MSA molerats also points to greater humidity, while the large size of the gray mongooses implies cooler temperatures. The sum supports luminescence and ESR dates that place the MSA occupation within the early part of the Last Glaciation (global isotope stage 4). The Die Kelders ungulate bones support those from Klasies River Mouth in suggesting that MSA people obtained dangerous terrestrial prey much less frequently than their LSA successors, probably because MSA people lacked the bow and arrow and other projectile weapons. The Die Kelders tortoise bones constrain the extent of climatic change, since their abundance indicates that warm, dry days remained common, at least seasonally. The tortoises tend to be much larger in the MSA layers than in the LSA ones, suggesting that MSA people collected tortoises less intensively, probably because MSA populations were relatively sparse.

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Regular ArticleMiddle and Later Stone Age large mammal and tortoise remains from Die Kelders Cave 1, Western Cape Province, South Africa

Abstract

J. Archaeol. Sci.

J. Archaeol. Sci.

J. hum. Evol.

J. hum. Evol.

J. hum. Evol.

Quatern. Res.

Quatern. Res.

J. hum. Evol.

Quatern. Res.

J. hum. Evol.

J. hum. Evol.

J. hum. Evol.

J. hum. Evol.

J. hum. Evol.

J. hum. Evol.

Quat. Sci. Rev.

Owls, Caves, and Fossils

Art: evolution or revolution?

Science

Micromammals as palaeoenvironmental indicators and an interpretation of the late Quarternary in the southern Cape Province, South Africa

Ann. S. Afr. Mus.

The 1992–1993 excavations at the Die Kelders Middle and Later Stone Age Cave Site, South Africa

J. Field Archaeol.

Explaining the “Klasies Pattern”: Kua ethnoarchaeology, the Die Kelders Middle Stone Age archaeofauna, long bone fragmentations and carnivore ravaging

J. Archaeol. Sci.

On the nature of transitions: the Middle to Upper Palaeolithic and the Neolithic Revolution

Cambridge Archaeol. J.

Faunal Remains from Klasies River Mouth

The Hunters or the Hunted? An Introduction to African Cave Taphonomy

The origins of modern people: the evidence from Klasies River

Late Pleistocene environmental changes and implications for the archaeological record in southern Africa

Later Stone Age people and their descendants in Southern Africa

Kraal and Castle

A revised chronology for the arrival of pastoralism in southernmost Africa: new evidence of sheep at ca. 2000 b.p. from Blombos Cave, South Africa

Antiquity

Blombos Cave

Regular Article
Middle and Later Stone Age large mammal and tortoise remains from Die Kelders Cave 1, Western Cape Province, South Africa