Shellfish Exploitation During The Oakhurst At Authors: Klipdrift Cave, Southern Cape, South Africa

Abstract

Introduction Early evidence for the exploitation of shellfish for subsistence traces back to at least 164 ka during the Middle Stone Age (MSA) in South Africa1 , and by 100–60 ka shellfish were systematically and intensively exploited at a handful of sites2-5. Evidence for the use of shellfish for purposes other than food, such as making containers and ornaments, appears from 100 ka to 75 ka in the southern Cape.6-8 It is, however, possible that many older sites containing shellfish remains were destroyed by the Marine Isotope Stage 5e sea level transgression.1 Further, there is little evidence for shellfish exploitation between 50 ka and 14 ka, mainly because of the paucity of coastal sites from this time period. Evidence for shell-fishing re-appears at around 14 ka in the southern Cape,9 at the end of the period associated with the Robberg techno-complex. Shellfish become more abundant in sites during the subsequent period linked to the Oakhurst techno-complex, around 14–7 ka, although sites from this period with shellfish are still relatively uncommon.10,11 The most abundant evidence for intensive shellfish exploitation comes from the ‘megamidden’ period, between 3 ka and 2 ka, from the West coast, which is dotted with extensive open shell middens.12 Here we present new data on shellfish exploitation during the Oakhurst period from a recently excavated Later Stone Age (LSA) site – Klipdrift Cave (KDC) – situated in the southern Cape. We compare our data to those from contemporary sites in the region by examining the role that shellfish played in the subsistence of these coastal dwellers. Climatic and predation pressure hypotheses are examined against these data. We investigate three main issues: the nature of marine shellfish exploitation; the intensity of shellfish collection; and the extent to which climate and environmental conditions can be deduced from shellfish remains.