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Beads and bead residues as windows to past behaviours and taphonomy: a case study from Grassridge Rockshelter, Eastern Cape, South Africa

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Abstract

Ostrich eggshell and gastropod shell beads provide important evidence for understanding how past peoples decorated and cultured their bodies and may also be used as proxy evidence for interpreting the nature and extent of past social networks. This study focuses on the ostrich eggshell and gastropod shell bead assemblages from the terminal Pleistocene (~ 13.5 to 11.6 ka) and mid-Holocene (~ 7.3 to 6.7 ka) occupations from Grassridge Rockshelter, South Africa. We present results from a multi-method approach to understanding bead manufacture and use that combines a technological analysis of the bead assemblages with Raman spectroscopy. Raman spectroscopy analyses were conducted on surface residues identified on the beads, ochre pieces, a grooved stone, and sediment samples, and provide further insight into past behaviours and taphonomy, as well as modern contaminants. Results indicate that ostrich eggshell beads were manufactured at Grassridge during both occupations, and that bead size changed through time. Use-wear and residue analyses demonstrate the complex taphonomy associated with bead studies from archaeological contexts, and the need for further taphonomic research. These analyses also suggest that some ostrich eggshell and Nassarius beads were potentially worn against ochred surfaces, such as skin or hide, as evidenced by the amount and location of the ochreous residues identified on the beads.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Alex Blackwood for images of the beads, the Division of Forensic Sciences, University of Cape Town, for use of their Zeiss microscope, the Microscopy and Microanalysis Unit, University of the Witwatersrand, for use of their Olympus microscope and the Raman spectrometer, the Department of Archaeology, University of Cape Town, for space to conduct the technological analysis, as well as Andreas Lerous, Cherene DeBruyne, Lisa Rogers, Constance Neyabo, and Sylvia Mazixana who assisted with the excavation, and Roy and Jill Callaghan for their support with this research. Permits were provided by the Eastern Cape Provincial Heritage Resource Authority and the Albany Museum. We would also like to thank three anonymous reviewers for their constructive feedback on the manuscript.

Funding

Funding for this research was provided by the Leakey Foundation, Wenner-Gren Foundation (Post-Ph.D Grant #9144), and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (Insight Development Grant #430-2017-00965).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anthropology, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada

    Benjamin Collins

  2. Human Evolution Research Institute and Department of Archaeology, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa

    Benjamin Collins

  3. Evolutionary Studies Institute, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa

    Marine Wojcieszak

  4. Royal Institute for Cultural Heritage, Brussels, Belgium

    Marine Wojcieszak

  5. Department of Anthropology, University of Victoria, Victoria, Canada

    April Nowell & Christopher J. H. Ames

  6. School of Geography, Archaeology and Environmental Studies, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa

    Tammy Hodgskiss

  7. Centre for Archaeological Sciences, School of Earth, Atmospheric and Life Sciences, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, Australia

    Christopher J. H. Ames

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Electronic supplementary material

ESM 1

Ochre pieces analysed for this study. (PNG 17683 kb)

High Resolution Image (TIF 4073 kb)

ESM 2

Data collected for OES beads from the MH and TP, as well for as all gastropod beads. Eleven artifacts do not have ‘stage’ indicated as this information was not captured during data entry. For the variables “color” and “staining,” “--“indicates cases where OES was too burned or otherwise degraded to permit recording of data. The variable “staining” includes all stains but when the staining is the result of ochre, ochre is specified. (XLSX 26 kb)

ESM 3

Data collected for the ochre pieces analysed for this study. (XLSX 177 kb)

ESM 4

ATR-FTIR spectra of the sediment samples; top = TP sediments and bottom = MH sediments; C = Calcite, dO-H = bending vibrations of O-H bonds, H = Haematite, K = Kaolinite, Q = Quartz and vO-H = stretching vibrations of O-H bonds. (PNG 4889 kb)

High Resolution Image (TIF 707 kb)

ESM 5

Raman spectra recorded on the TP sediment sample; a = anatase (TiO2), b = ilmenite (FeTiO3), c = lithiophorite (LiAl2(Mn24+Mn3+)O6(OH)6), d = haematite (α-Fe2O3), e = feldspar, f = amorphous carbon, g = quartz, h = other haematite spectrum. (PNG 4889 kb)

High Resolution Image (TIF 770 kb)

ESM 6

Raman spectra recorded on the MH sediment sample; a = feldspar, b = pyroxene (augite or diopside), c = quartz, d = haematite, e = possible attribution to manganese oxide and f = amorphous carbon. (PNG 4889 kb)

High Resolution Image (TIF 702 kb)

ESM 7

(PNG 6596 kb)

High Resolution Image (TIF 4432 kb)

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Collins, B., Wojcieszak, M., Nowell, A. et al. Beads and bead residues as windows to past behaviours and taphonomy: a case study from Grassridge Rockshelter, Eastern Cape, South Africa. Archaeol Anthropol Sci 12, 192 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-020-01164-5

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