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This project describes and interprets the results from the Renbaan Cave excavation and situates the site in the context of contemporary Later Stone Age studies in the southwestern Cape. It is designed to complement the research of professor John Parkington. It is argued that settlement and subsistance patterns at Renbaan Cave reflect similar patterns to those noted at other small cave/shelter sites in the research area. The availability of radiocarbon dates however, forces us to reconsider and question our previous perception of the distribution and occupation of late Holocene sites in the southwestern Cape. Important behavioural information has been located in the analysis of the stone artefact assemblage and new avenues of enquiry are suggested.

Ochre is a ubiquitous artefact in Middle Stone Age (MSA) contexts throughout Africa and the Near East. Archaeological evidence for the abrasive processing of ochre to extract pigment powder becomes increasingly prevalent after 100 ka. The habitual exploitation of ochre is interpreted as evidence for symbolism, a proxy for the origin of language and as a key element of ‘symbolic’ and ‘modern’ human behaviour. Evolutionary explanations agree that ochre and the products of its processing played a significant role in the adaptive strategies of early modern humans, but they differ in the functions assigned to it. I therefore ask the following question: What role did symbolic and functional applications of ochre play in the enhancement of prehistoric technology, and how may these have functioned to promote and maintain social relations within MSA Homo sapiens societies? With the aim of answering this question, I follow a chaîne opératoire approach to elucidate the exploitation of ochre during the MSA. First, I present the results of an experimental study devised to infer the methods employed to process ochre. It is demonstrated that functional data derived from actualistic experiments can enhance our understanding prehistoric behaviour. Second, I describe one of the oldest instances of a deliberate engraving on ochre at 100 ka to 85 ka. I consider the possibility that specific types of raw material were selected for engraving purposes and expand on whether all engraved depictions inevitably functioned in ‘symbolic’ contexts. The third objective entails the evaluation of an often cited functional hypothesis for ochre, namely the use of red ochre as a ‘hide-tanning’ ingredient. I also introduce and discuss three further functional hypotheses, namely those concerning the use of ochre as a form of mineral supplementation and detoxification agent, as a sunprotection element and as an insect repellent. Ethnoarchaeological research has proven to be informative in terms of revealing a range of functional uses for red ochre. I therefore consider how data derived from the Ovashimba of northern Namibia can enhance current understandings of ochre use in the MSA. I propose that in order to assess any hypothesis concerning the exploitation of ochre in the MSA methodically and in a scientific manner, it is necessary to engage with the theories and analytical methods of cognitive and technical sciences not normally viewed as applicable to archaeological enquiry.

A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Science, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Johannesburg, November 2014. / My analysis of the lithics, shellfish and tortoise recovered from layers dating to between 11.8 and 9.7 ka at Klipdrift Cave (KDC), De Hoop Nature Reserve, southern Cape, provides new information on the Oakhurst technocomplex. A re-analysis of a sample of lithic artefacts from Matjes River Rock Shelter (MRS) indicates many technological similarities, but also unexpected differences, highlighting the need for detailed contextualised studies that could reveal the complexity of the Oakhurst Industry. The lithic artefacts were analysed following a typo-technological approach. The KDC Oakhurst shares many characteristics typical of this technocomplex from the southern Cape, for example in the dominance of quartzite, irregular and unstandardized flakes, the occurrence of irregular cores and typical large side and end scrapers. It differs from most coastal Oakhurst sites in the more intensive exploitation of quartz, and the presence of a morphological blade component, especially in the lowermost layers. Shellfish remains were identified to species level in terms of minimum number of individuals (MNI) and weight. The two main species are Dinoplax gigas, dominating in the lower part of the sequence, between 11.8 and 11.1 ka and Turbo sarmaticus that is more numerous thereafter. These species provide the highest energy yield in terms of kilojoules, estimated at 667 511 kilojoules for both species combined. The species composition at KDC reflects changing environmental conditions that may relate to the effect of the Younger Dryas event, changing from a sheltered sandy bay to a habitat with more exposed rocks and less sand after 11.1 ka. T. sarmaticus opercula, Cymbula oculus shells and tortoise medio-lateral humeri were measured to investigate whether human predation pressure could have affected their size. Although the sizes of T. sarmaticus opercula show some decrease through time suggesting human predation pressure on these molluscs, there is also a possibility that environmental factors may have affected Turbo growth. The tortoise sizes at KDC, and some other Oakhurst sites, are similar to that of the Middle Stone Age (MSA) but the KDC data are iv inconclusive on whether intensive harvesting had an effect on average tortoise size.

Bibliography: pages 177-205. / This thesis presents a reinterpretation of the late-Holocene hunter-gatherer archaeology of the Eland's Bay and Lambert's Bay areas of the western Cape. Marked changes in settlement, and subsistence over the last 4500 years had been previously suggested as having resulted from external factors, such as the environment and contact with incoming pastoralist groups. In contrast, this thesis presents hunter-gatherers as active role players in the transformation of their society and history. This was proposed as a result of an excavation and dating programme, palaeoenvironmental reconstructions with better resolved time sequences, and the use of an interpretative framework that emphasises possible changes in population numbers and in modes of production, as well as the consequences of these processes. Between 3500 and 2000 BP, population densities increased and residence permanence became more sedentary, both of which were easily accommodated by a productive environment. Solutions to social stress, resulting from landscape infilling, were not sought through migration, but through the formalization of ritual gatherings at Steenbokfontein Cave. During these gregarious occasions, proper codes of conducts were reinforced, inter- and intra-group conflict was mediated and peoples' identity with the local landscape was also asserted. Coinciding with the increase in population numbers after 3500 BP, subsistence was reorganized around the intensive collection of highly predictable and productive species, such as shellfish, tortoises and plants. Frequent snaring of small and territorial bovids almost completely replaced the hunting of large mobile game. A system of delayed returns was also central to coastal hunter-gatherer economy between 3000 and 2000 BP, whereby the collection, processing and storage of large quantities of shellfish meat was undertaken. The large-scale effort of this activity is attested by the massive build up of large shell middens termed "megamiddens". It seems likely that hunter- gatherers at this time obtained most of the necessary protein from marine resources. In addition to the pervasive and high levels of social stress, ecological stress became palpable as environmental conditions began to deteriorate after 2400 BP. Ritual intensification no longer provided a solution, and aggregation phases at Steenbokfontein Cave came to an end. Social networks amongst hunter-gatherer groups broke down as a consequence of their fission into smaller social units and withdrawal of some of them to the periphery of the study area. The arrival of stock-owning groups around 2000 BP triggered a series of different responses by hunter-gatherers. These varied from cooperative behaviour, assimilation, avoidance and/or conflict. It is argued that these differences were shaped to a large extent by variable socio- economic configurations amongst pre-contact hunter-gatherer groups. The diet of the newly reconfigured and diverse hunter-gatherer society became overall more mixed after 2000 BP. Shellfish gathering became less important, some hunting of large game was practiced, with most of the diet provided by plant collection, snaring of small antelopes and the capture of tortoises.

A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Science, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Johannesburg, 2014. / The site of Canteen Kopje in Barkly West, South Africa, has provided the archaeological record with an invaluable collection of Earlier Stone Age artefacts. An alluvial deposit approximately 1km from the modern Vaal River, the site contains an abundance of artefacts. A 2007 – 2009 excavation in Pit 6 has provided an assemblage of over 15,000 artefacts that has been dated by cosmogenic nuclide burial method. Three distinct assemblages show technological changes through time of the earlier Acheulean industrial complex. The youngest industry, the Prepared Core Technology Assemblage, is dated to 1.2 ± .07 Ma and contains Victoria West prepared core technology. Beneath it is the Organised Core Assemblage which is void of Victoria West prepared core technology but contains cores that demonstrate more organised knapping techniques in the form of asymmetrical control. This assemblage is dated to 1.51 ±0.8 Ma. Finally, the underlying Basal Early Acheulean Assembage lacks both prepared cores and organised cores and is >1.51 Ma in age. The abundance of large angular clasts of andesite in the area made multiple knapping strategies effective for the manufacture of large flakes. A technological sequence in the knapping strategies has emerged in this excavation, from simple cores to organised cores and finally prepared cores. The older technologies clearly display the roots of prepared core technology in the asymmetrical control of the organised knapping methods. The overall success of the knapping strategies prior to the appearance of the Victoria West industry in the Canteen Kopje archaeological record creates questions as to why more complex strategies might have been implemented over time. Analysis of the assemblages from the Pit 6 excavation fails to provide a clear technological explanation within the empirical data as to why this change occurs. This research therefore argues that the Victoria West prepared core knapping strategy is a localized stone age culturally motivated knapping tradition.

Thesis (M.Sc.)--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Science, School of Geography, Archaeology and Environmental Studies, 2018. / There are thousands of Stone Walled Structures (SWS) located in the southern half of the Gauteng Province. In the absence of relevant historical documents, these SWS are all the information we have about how pre-colonial societies were organized in this area. Unfortunately, they are threatened by rapid urbanization and development. This research attempts to estimate how many Iron Age SWS have been lost to urban development in Johannesburg South during the last 80 years. I mapped and quantified the SWS and urbanization in four chronological snapshots using remote sensing techniques. Aerial photographs from 1937 and 1961 were used as well as Google Earth satellite images from 2005 and 2015. The data was analyzed on the ESRI software ArcGIS 10.3. The four snapshots show the trend in urban sprawl and destruction of SWS and this information is valuable for mitigation strategies. Fortunately, there are legislations and procedures in place to ensure that not all these sites are lost forever. / EM2018

A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Science, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Johannesburg, 1995. / The main concern of this study is the investigation of the events which initiated the symbolic construction of communities in the south-eastern Cape during the Holocene Later Stone Age. To understand and to explain the relationships which existed between different groups in this region a social approach was followed. The data presented in this thesis are a summary of the results obtained from a large number of open-air shell middens, a coastal shelter, Kabeljous River Shelter 1, two coastal caves, Klasies River Caves 1 and 5 along the Cape St Francis coast and The Havens Cave, one of several sites excavated in the adjacent Cape mountains. Lithic evidence from the coastal sites indicates that during the past ·+500 years two distinctly different stone tool industries co-existed side by side along the south-eastern Cape coast. Caves were first occupied between 5800 and 4200 BP by groups with a typical Wilton Industry. At ca 3000 BP the Wilton Indu.rry was 'replaced' in the caves by a macro lithic quartzite cobble industry, named the Kabeljous Industry, but was still present in open-air shell middens until ca 1900 BP. At Klasies River Cave 5 both industries were Pl esent in the cave from 4200 BP to ca 3000 BP. There are no marked differences in the subsistence activities between the two different lithic industries and therefore it is argued that the Kabeljous industry does not reflect technological adaptation to a coastal environment. Instead I argue that the stone tools, as part of material culture production, played an active role in communicating information between groups. Central to the understanding of these social relationships are the concepts of power relations and inclusion. Style was the medium through which groups expressed symbolic group identity and maintained social boundaries. Important however, is the fact that the power rclutinns generated by symbolic identity expression was not aimed at excluding ether groups from their territory, but rather at. inclusion.