The 1992-1993 Excavations at the Die Kelders Middle and Later Stone
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Board of Trustees, Boston University The 1992-1993 Excavations at the Die Kelders Middle and Later Stone Age Cave Site, South Africa Author(s): Graham Avery, Kathryn Cruz-Uribe, Paul Goldberg, Frederick E. Grine, Richard G. Klein, Michael J. Lenardi, Curtis W. Marean, W. Jack Rink, Henry P. Schwarcz, Anne I. Thackeray, Michael L. Wilson Reviewed work(s): Source: Journal of Field Archaeology, Vol. 24, No. 3 (Autumn, 1997), pp. 263-291 Published by: Boston University Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/530685 . Accessed: 15/12/2011 06:59 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. Boston University and Board of Trustees, Boston University are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Journal of Field Archaeology. http://www.jstor.org 263 The 1992-1993 Excavations at the Die Kelders Middle and Later Stone Age Cave Site, South Africa Graham Avery SouthAfrican Museum, Cape Town, SouthAfrica Kathryn Cruz-Uribe NorthernArizona University, Flagstaff, Arizona Paul Goldberg Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts FrederickE. Grine StateUniversity of New Yorkat Stony Brook,Stony Brook, New York RichardG. Klein StanfordUniversity, Stanford, California Michael J. Lenardi Curtis W. Marean StateUniversity of New Yorkat StonyBrook, Stony Brook, New York W. Jack Rink Henry P. Schwarcz McMasterUniversity, Hamilton, Ontario Anne I. Thackeray Universityof the Witwatersrand,Johannesburg, South Africa MichaelL. Wilson SouthAfrican Museum, Cape Town, South Africa Renewed excavations at Die Kelders Cave 1, SouthAfrica, have confirmedand aug- mented priorfindings. The new excavationsfocused on the Middle StoneAge (MSA) de- posits, but theyadded seeds,pips, and crayfishto the categoriesof Later StoneAge (LSA) food debrisand artifacts recoveredearlier With respectto the MSA deposits,the princi- pal newfindings are: 1) previouslyunrecognized site formation processes,including phos- phatization byguano, microfaults, and slippagefaces, and numerous minor interrup- tions in sand accumulation that correspondto short occupation episodes;2) ESR dates that place the top of the MSA sequencebetween 80,000 and 60,000 years b.p.;3) fine- grained rocktypes, flake-blade sizes, and otherfeatures that suggestthe top of the se- quence contains either the Howieson'sPoort or a similar, silcrete-richvariant of the MSA; 4) a pattern of artifact and bone abundance in newly recognizedmicrostrati- graphic units that suggeststhat eagle owls (rather than people) accumulated the dune molerat bonesthat dominate the MSAfaunal assemblages;and 5) new human teeth that resemblepreviously described ones in their large size and in their basic morphologi- cal similarity to modern African homologues.The teeth need not imply that the Die KeldersMSA peoplewere fully modern, but theyare consistentwith othersub-Saharan evidencesuggesting that modernpeople evolved in Africa before60,000 years b.p., when Neandertals were the sole inhabitants of Europe. Ongoing excavations to enlarge the MSA artifact and faunal samplesshould allowfresh behavioral inferencesand reduce re- sidual uncertainty about the age and industrial affiliation of the MSA layers. Introduction Town, on the south coast of South Africa (FIG. 1). Both The Die Kelders site complex (34032'S, 19002'E) caves resulted from wave action and water seepage at the includes the adjoining caves of Die Kelders 1 (DK1) and contact between Tertiary Bredasdorp limestone (calcite- Die Kelders 2 (DK2), approximately 120 km SE of Cape cemented sandstone) above and Paleozoic Table Mountain 264 Die KeldersCave, SouthAfrica/Avery et al. 170 210 250 290 - 270 (former) CAPE PROVINCE 0 400km - 310 Cape Folded Mtns Sea Harvest Boomplaas Kasteelberg '- CAPETOWN Inset Nelson Bay Klasies RiverMouth Below Blombos Cave N Di~e Kehd~ders \B\\ neskranskoF .........O.. ..10. 1100 & ~heights depthsin meters:::?:. 63404,1~163O i'I dunes . ......5 0 j~.. ~ ~ .x 1 rocky ?shorexxi-S;v.. Figure 1. The approximatelocations of the sites mentionedin the text (inset redrawnafter Schweitzerand Wilson 1982: fig. 5). Sandstonebelow. At the dripline,the cave floors are now tools, shells, and bones of indigenousanimals. Radiocar- about 8 m above sea level and 10 m from the high water bon datesplaced the entireLSA sequence between roughly mark(FIG. 2). In seven periodsof work between 1969 and 2000 and 1500 yearsago, which is the intervalwhen both 1973, Schweitzer(1979) showed that DK1 contained a pottery and livestockwere first introducedto southern seriesof archaeologicallyrich LaterStone Age (LSA) mid- Africa (Smith 1990, 1992; Sealy and Yates 1994). As dens separatedby largely sterile sands from equally rich describedby Grine, Klein,and Volman(1991), the MSA Middle Stone Age (MSA)layers below. layersprovided stone artifacts,animal bones, and 13 iso- As reportedby Schweitzer(1979), the LSAlayers were lated human teeth. Radiocarbondates placed the entire particularlynotable for potsherdsand bones of domestic MSA sequence beyond the 40,000-30,000 year range of stock in directassociation with typicalLSA stone and bone the conventionalradiocarbon method, while a combina- Journal of Field Archaeology/Vol.24, 1997 265 floorplan Die Kelders Cave 1 0 1969-73 excavation O 1992-93 excavation (LSA) n 1993 excavation (LSA& MSA) 4N- . (nt s n ecave high water mark , dripline . ....... 0 5 100m 0- 5-g"*g l.i cross-section ... A high water dripline mark (not showing excavation) A Figure 2. The floorplan and a cross-section through Die Kelders Cave 1. tion of sedimentological and faunal evidence fixed it in a marily from much larger samples at Klasies River Mouth, cold interval, perhaps equivalent to global oxygen-isotope and important questions remained about the age and stage 4, between roughly 74,000 and 59,000 years ago. origin of the DK1 MSA deposits. Like human fossils from the Klasies River Mouth Caves In 1992, we renewed excavations in DK1 in order to and other African MSA sites, the human teeth suggested obtain larger MSA artifact and faunal samples, to elucidate that African MSA people were more modern in appearance the age and origin of the MSA deposits, and more gener- than their Neandertal contemporaries in Europe, while the ally to produce information that would help resolve the animal bones suggested that they were less sophisticated lively debate over modern human origins. This report hunter-gatherers than their LSA successors. However, summarizes the results of two eight-week seasons in 1992 both the artifact and faunal samples were too small to and 1993. A third season was completed in 1995 and there check several inferences about MSA behavior drawn pri- may be other seasons to come. 266 Die KeldersCave, SouthAfrica/Avery et al. 1992-1993 Excavation Procedures (CWM, boulders and coarse, poorly sorted interstitial quartz sand FEG, and GA) with weathered echinoid spines. 15 4. MSA and non- Schweitzer's excavations emphasized large-scale strati- through Alternating occupation horizons in a sand matrix. graphic units, while we were equally concerned with occupation mainly quartzose The horizons (even were rich in smaller units that might represent discrete occupational or occupation numbers) artifacts and macrofauna and were com- depositional episodes. In total, in 1992-1993 we identified typically highly pacted, and The non-occu- 359 separate LSA units that correspond broadly to the 12 fine-grained, heavily organic. were rich in microfauna LSA layers of Schweitzer (1979) and 188 MSA units that pation layers (odd numbers) only and were somewhat coarser less and correspond mainly to the uppermost MSA layers4 and 5 of grained, organic, often laminated or banded. So-called frost- Tankard and Schweitzer (1974, 1976). The number of conspicuously fractured roof debris occurred but distinct units will grow dramatically, particularly as we (eboulis) throughout, was common near the bottom. Recent observa- penetrate more deeply into the MSA sequence. especially tions also bared small faces and In both the LSA and MSA deposits, the density of slippage (microfaults) possible insect tracks the MSA archaeological debris was far too great for piece plotting, throughout sequence. 3. Sterile fine-to-medium and for horizontal control we relied mainly on one-meter yellow, iron-stained, grained sands that rest on the MSA be- squares, each of which was subdivided into four 50 cm x unconformably sequence low. 50 cm subsquares designated as northwest (Nw), northeast 2. Shelly fine-to-medium-grained quartz sand with echi- (NE), southwest (sw), and southeast (SE). We removed all excavated sediment in standardized buckets so as to esti- noid spines and foraminfera. 1. LSA shell middens intercalated with lenses of fine-to- mate the sediment volume for each microstratigraphicunit medium calcareous sands. in each square or subsquare. After removal, all sediment Tankard and Schweitzer that units 17 was passed through a superimposed set of 12 mm, 3 mm, (1976) suggested and 16 and 1.5 mm sieves to ensure that even the smallest items formed during relativelywarm conditions when the were recovered. Most of the MSA sediment was wet-