It has been hypothesised that an adaptive shift to a starch-rich diet was an important driver in human evolution and supported the energetic requirements to sustain brain development throughout hominin evolution. Plants that possess underground storage organs (geophytes) have been put forward as the likely source of starch. Geophytes comprise a large portion of the plant diversity in the Greater Cape Floristic Region (GCFR), where significant archaeological evidence of the evolution of human modernity has been identified in the Middle Stone Age (MSA). It is thought that the resources available in this region during this time period fuelled the progression and development of complex language, art and tool production in early modern humans. The overall objective of this thesis is to determine the importance of geophytes in early modern human diets and the impact they might have had on human behaviour and cognition. The role of geophyte resources in Stone Age hunter-gatherer subsistence was evaluated by firstly creating an ecological and environmental framework of data to evaluate the geophyte resource base. Secondly, the archaeological evidence available on actual hunter-gatherer foraging behaviour was evaluated using this framework, together with novel methods of macrobotanical analysis and experimental archaeological methods. It was found that the nutritional quality of geophytes is high, even in comparison to domesticated crops such as potatoes. The desirability of geophytes to a forager would rely on many factors, apart from nutritional quality, however. Geophyte resources on the coastal plain of the GCFR are dense and diverse. This diversity encompasses variation in the quality of the nutrients contained in the USOs and the optimum time throughout the year they would be most profitable to harvest. Geophytes could have been available during a large portion of the year throughout the GCFR. The archaeological evidence shows just how widespread and complex geophyte foraging and processing were during the Holocene, although there is a relative lack of evidence in the MSA. The novel method presented to determine the energy cache offered by geophytes and the seasonality of geophyte foraging shows great promise to improve our understanding of foraging choices and hunter-gatherer mobility across the region. All Stone Age processing methods tested experimentally improved the nutritional quality of USOs, but veldfire produced the most profound nutritional quality improvements of all methods tested. Geophytes could have supplied the dense and predictable resource cache that made the GCFR a reliable environment for human evolution, despite climatic and vegetational shifts. The efficient exploitation of geophyte resources throughout the Stone Age could have altered early human behaviour and cognitive development.

The problem of treasure hunting on underwater archaeological wrecks has been discussed since the formal development of maritime archaeology as a field and countries have been fighting against the illegal destruction of important shipwrecks and removal of scientific evidence. The underwater cultural heritage of Mozambique is no exception and is emerging from almost two decades of destructive treasure hunting that has heavily impacted this heritage, particularly around Mozambique Island and adjacent areas. In 2014, the Mozambican Government cancelled treasure hunter permits, opening up opportunities to develop proper methodologies for research on this heritage that will contribute to its management and protection. Importantly, the focus is on building capacity and developing policies and institutions concerned with underwater heritage management. This dissertation contributes to this development. First, it explores the factors impacting the deterioration of underwater cultural heritage at Mozambique Island, with a particular emphasis on the wreck Nossa Senhora da Consolação (IDM-003), lost in 1608 during a Dutch siege of the island. The operations carried out by treasure hunters on this wreck are discussed and these underpin my research on the deterioration of the site and its current preservation status. Having done this, I analyse and discuss the origin of the ship and the associated material culture in order to reinterpret and contextualize its history. The consideration of the material culture additionally contributes to identifying the gaps in the collection left by the treasure hunters. Second, the dissertation assesses environmental factors affecting the site and formulates interventions and a range of in situ preservation, mitigation and monitoring methodologies. The results and conclusion highlight both the environmental and human factors that have, and continue to influence the rate of degradation of the site and the long term actions required to mitigate this degradation

Bibliography: leaves 96-101. / This thesis offers a revised palaeoenvironmental reconstruction of South African PlioPleistocene sites based on δ¹³C and δ¹⁸O isotopes extracted from enamel of fossil fauna. New isotopic results from Sterkfontein Members 4 and 5 are reported to supplement existing data from Makapansgat and Swartkrans in order to examine the changing environment from approximately 3 to 1.4 million years ago (Ma).

Bibliography: leaves 158-171. / The handprints of the western Cape of South Africa are a common phenomenon, yet remain one of the most unexplored and intriguing features within the rock art of this country. Known to occur mainly in the western Cape of South Africa. they represent a different style, class, and hence meaning of rock art. This dissertation is an approach to answer questions concerning the emergence and meaning of handprint-making in the western Cape. Through experiments, statistical analysis and hypotheses testing in the field on the original handprints. a different approach towards recording rock art, and in particular handprints, was investigated. One of the main aims is to examine whether we can distinguish between individual handprlnts and therefore individual people, and between groups of peopie and clusters of handprints of the same person. This examination will hopefully provide us with the opportunity to answer questions concerning the authorship of the handprints, as well as questions concerning the relationship between archaeological deposits and the rock art of the same sites. We might see whether the conceptions of previous researchers in the interpretation of their data were correct, and what remains indeterminable. To achieve this goal and truly understand the meaning and the reasons behind the making of the handprints, a methodology and technique needed to be established which allowed for highly accurate recording and later assessment of the measurements of archaeological handprints. For this reason, I chose to digitally obtain the data with close-range photogrammetry. This technique offered a fast and efficient way of creating sets of measurable data for further analysis.

Bibliography: pages 87-98. / This thesis assesses the feasibility of using wood charcoal from archaeological sites as a palaeoclimatic indicator. Three techniques are described: (i) charcoal identification from Xylem Anatomy. (ii) Ecologically Diagnostic Xylem Analysis and (iii) stable carbon isotope analysis on wood charcoal. The first is a well established method of environmental reconstruction. This is the first systematic application of Ecologically Diagnostic Analysis and the first application of stable carbon isotope analysis on wood charcoal. Charcoal identification shows that the most common woody species at Elands Bay today are also evident in the archaeological record over the last 4000 years, indicating a relatively stable plant community composition. Previous studies of wood anatomy have shown that there are links between vessel size, vessel number and climate. This study demonstrates that the wood anatomy of Rhus is not simply related to climatic factors, necessitating the employment of a wide range of statistical analytical techniques to identify climatic signals. In contrast, the anatomy of Diospyros shows strong correlations with temperature. Factor analysis of anatomical parameters of charcoal from Elands Bay archaeological sites indicates that there have been temperature changes over the last 4000 years. Stable carbon isotope ratios (¹³C/¹²C) of plants have been found to be a useful indicator of water use efficiency; plants in drier habitats exhibit more positive values than their more mesic relatives. The results of an isotopic analysis on modern wood charcoal show that ¹³C/¹²C ratios can be related to temperature and rainfall. The climatic component of the range in variation of ¹³C/¹²C in the archaeological record is not as easy to identify due to increased use of fossil fuels since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. Indications are that wood charcoal does carry a climatic signal. A larger sample from more areas may give more dependable results.

Includes bibliographical references. / The nineteenth century was one of considerable change within the Cape Colony. There was the change from Dutch VOC control to a British government early in the nineteenth century which exposed small scale Trekboer sheep farmers of the Karoo to a wider mercantile capitalism, especially with the adoption of Merino sheep for the global export market. This thesis charts the early nineteenth century history of colonial Trekboer society into the Karoo with a specific focus on the region to the north of the Roggeveld Mountains and west of the Nieuweveld Mountains. Of particular importance in this history is the change in land rights whereby title deeds and ownership were introduced by the British early in the nineteenth century. The distribution and chronology of title deeds are explored in this area of the Karoo using GIS to map and determine the chronological spread of deeded farms and possible links with environmental and ecological variability. While some correlations can be made under the assumption that better areas were claimed earlier in the nineteenth century other factors were also important. In particular the spread of Merino sheep, for wool production, from the Eastern Cape accounts for some of the geographic emphasis in title deed chronology, while technological innovations may underpin others. Furthermore, the thesis also examines the relationship between the title deeds and the distribution of corbelled buildings, a unique nineteenth century vernacular architecture associated with the Trekboer farmer.

Bibliography: pages 145-150.

Bibliography: pages 124-137. / Umhlatuzana Rock Shelter in Natal was excavated in 1985. A long and detailed sequence of stone artefacts was recovered. These artefacts covered the time range from the Middle Stone Age (MSA) to the Later Stone Age (LSA). The excavations generated important information on the MSA, MSA/LSA transition, the Late Pleistocene early microlithic bladelet assemblages, and the relationship between hunter-gatherers and farmers between AD 400-AD 800. The primary aim of this thesis is to describe the excavation and the results, showing how Umhlatuzana Rock Shelter contributes to a broader understanding of the southern African MSA and LSA technological evolution. The stone artefact sequence, animal and plant remains, worked bone tools, beads, pottery and ochre finds are described. Evidence is presented which shows that the change from the MSA to the beginning of the LSA .took place between 35 000 BP and 20 000 BP, while a true LSA industry occurred closer to 20 000 BP. No technological boundary exists between the MSA and the LSA: rather change was a gradual process beginning· in the MSA. The bladelet-rich assemblages recovered from Umhlatuzana Rock Shelter are the first of their kind to be positively identified in Natal. Pre-dating 18 000 BP and post-dating 12 000 BP, they show that assemblages of this nature were systematically produced earlier and later in Natal, than elsewhere in southern Africa. The metrical results for bladelet cores and bladelets show that there is a progressive decrease in the mean length sizes of. these artefacts from the MSA to the LSA, as well as within the LSA sequence. statistics show that the model for gradual change is corroborated. These results have significant implications for our understanding of the culture-history sequence in southern Africa. The results also raise questions regarding the nature of MSA and MSA/LSA assemblages, and the origins of the early microlithic assemblages of the southern African LSA.

No description available.

Bibliography: pages 377-393. / Today there are the known remains of some fifteen or so forts and redoubts left which were built in the period under review. These are: Today there are the known remains of some fifteen or so forts and redoubts left which were built in the period under review. These are: Hout Bay - East and West Fort, Fort Klein Gibraltar, Conway Redoubt on Constantia Nek, Kyk-in-de-pot Battery, which became Fort Wynyard , Amsterdam Battery, Central Redoubt and Hollands Redoubt in Woodstock, King's, Queen's and Prince of Wales' Blockhouses, York Redoubt on Devil's Peak, Muizenberg - High and Low Batteries, 2 Magazines and several defence lines on the mountain side between the Main Road and Boyes Drive, Simon's Town - North and South Batteries. For various reasons, including a great interest in developing the sites as open-air museums, the Hout Bay forts were chosen for an archaeological investigation. They were found to yield data encompassing the whole period from 1781 to 1829, a constant occupation of about fifty years. The forts' buildings are reasonably well preserved. But as already experienced from the Amsterdam Battery excavation, the artefactual remains connected with the people stationed there were few. Some aspects of their daily lives and their interaction with the civilians in the area can be gleaned from documentary evidence and will be presented. This study is by no means comprehensive. The aim was to initiate the first phase of a study of military installations in the Cape Peninsula.