A pattern of seasonal mobility between the coast and the hinterland by Khoekhoe pastoralists in the south-western Cape of South Africa was documented at the time of European contact. Because the region is characterized by a mosaic of geological substrates of various ages and vegetation types with different proportions of C3 and C4 plants, this mobility model for prehistoric herders can be tested by analysis of carbon, oxygen and strontium isotope ratios in domestic bovid tooth enamel. Isotopic analysis was performed on archaeological sheep, cattle, eland and steenbok teeth from the Late Stone Age site of Kasteelberg on the Vredenburg Peninsula. Sequential sampling of enamel provided a chronological record of the isotopic composition of diet during tooth formation. Results from carbon and oxygen isotope analysis of archaeological and modern steenbok teeth show seasonal variation in the δ13C of local pastures in the vicinity of the site (up to 2·9‰ in a single individual), which could be due to seasonal change in proportions of C3 and C4 plants and/or seasonal variation in the δ13C of C3 plants. A pattern of seasonal change of 0·9–3·5‰ in the δ13C of tooth enamel is also observed in the sheep teeth. This amplitude of variation could be due to local seasonal changes, thus it is not possible, from the δ13C values, to infer whether the sheep were moving seasonally. Results from 87Sr/86Sr analysis of two sheep suggest that one individual stayed all year round on the coast, whereas the other had grazed in the interior for part of its life. Both δ13C and 87Sr/86Sr values measured in a cow tooth suggest that this animal spent part of its life in the interior, even though it died at Kasteelberg. Results on this cow also suggest longer residence within habitats rather than seasonal mobility. A clear pattern of seasonal mobility between the coast and the interior has not been shown for prehistoric pastoralists. However, the pattern of mobility attested in historical times might have developed only later in prehistory, when cattle pastoralism developed in the region.

Timing of birth of domestic animals is regulated by environmental and genetic variables, and can also be manipulated by the herder. For this reason it is difficult to predict birth distribution in a prehistoric context. Birth seasonality of prehistoric sheep from the site of Kasteelberg, South Africa, was investigated by high resolution intra-tooth analysis of enamel oxygen isotope ratios. The results show two birth seasons, probably in autumn and spring. This may reflect females lambing more than once a year, or subdivision of the flock into groups where births were scheduled at different times of the year. This result has important implications for food availability throughout the year, the role of sheep in the subsistence economy, residential mobility strategy of the human community and use of sheep mortality profiles for interpretation of season of occupation of archaeological sites.

In response to Cronk and Dickson (this issue), I differentiate between hunters who have the “space” to retain their independence from those who are in close relationships with food producers. In all cases reviewed in the original paper, the hunters were seen as being from the latter category and in subservient social positions to the herders. “Independent” hunters can choose to be, or not to be, in contact with food producers, but when dealing with food producers, even they do not compete as equals. Archaeological information is given which elaborates on the original model from the Cape, South Africa. Changing ostrich eggshell bead sizes are used as an indication of shifting (and possible “hardening” of) social relations between prehistoric hunters and herders, with the hunters being pushed even further onto the periphery of herding society when cattle began to dominate the economy.

This paper raises the question of whether it is possible to recognise different cultural groups in the later prehistory of the Western and Northern Cape Provinces, and, if so, how to use the archaeological signatures as indicators of site integrity. To do this we have used a 300-year-old open site at Bloeddrift along the Orange River which yielded a number of hearth features and cultural debris that were indications of discrete cooking areas, possibly associated with individual huts. The hearths of Bloeddrift 23 are indications of a limited occupation period and of places where social activity was focussed. Their survival and association with the rest of the cultural material is a key to the integrity of the site. Comparisons between Bloeddrift 23 and Jakkalsberg A & B, some 30 km upstream, suggest that it is associated with a pastoralist economy. While the sites appear similar, in both context and material culture, the radiocarbon dates indicate Bloeddrift 23 is 1000 years younger. Using data from coastal surveys, and guidelines from Bushmanland, as well as Western and Northern Cape Provinces, we believe we can separate hunter from herder archaeological signatures. Based upon this, we suggest that not all the cultural and faunal material from these sites may be contemporaneous with the hearths. By knowing what the pastoral signature should be, we have attempted to separate out those elements of cultural material that may be intrusive. This exercise warns us to be careful of mixture, and not to assume all materials on sites found on the Orange River floodplain are necessarily coeval.

Social hierarchies comprise different levels of consciousness, each of which is mediated by the other. The social condition of low status, while ideologically “fixed,” exists only with reference to those above, so neither is independent from the other. Between ethnic groups, especially across the mode of production divide, such as hunters and herders, hunters are often on the periphery of herding society. If they accept the “coin” of pastoralism, i.e., become clients, not only do they serve important functions necessary for the success of pastoral life, but they ideologically accept their position as dependent. Taking examples from Africa and Arabia, this paper attempts to show the almost universal condition of the marginalization of non-stock holders on the periphery of herding society and suggests that the same conditions would have been manifest in the prehistoric period.

Early travelers in the southwest and south of the Cape Colony, and later explorers in the north, saw Khoikhoi pastoralists making and using large, reddish or black, coil-built cooking vessels with shoulder lugs and incised necks with everted rims. In these, they boiled meat and used some as drums. Smaller serving bowls were also seen. Travelers on the east and north frontiers of the Colony saw Bushman hunter–gatherers using flat-bottomed cooking bowls tempered with grass and decorated with punctate motifs. They boiled meat, soups, bones, skins, locusts, and seed mush in these, converted some to drums, and used others in gift exchanges. Few later sherd collectors made full use of these ethnohistoric sightings, but developed their own labeling systems. Most thought that the Bushmen of the interior learned pot-making through contact with coastal Khoikhoi. Why the two wares differed in every respect, however, could not be explained. Recent multidisciplinary studies in the northeast frontier area verify those differences, but also show that both wares were introduced together before 700 A.D., by herders. Thereafter the use of Khoi ware dwindled, then disappeared when the herding economy collapsed, leaving only grass-tempered bowls in general use. Thus “Bushman” pottery in the northeastern Cape appears to have its prehistoric roots in ancestral Khoi technology.

(1996). The Kalahari Bushmen Debate: Implications for Archaeology of Southern Africa. South African Historical Journal: Vol. 35, No. 1, pp. 1-15.

A cetacean “trap” close to the prehistoric herder site of Kasteelberg would have periodically provided the inhabitants with large quantities of meat and fat. Short-term storage by burial in beach sands was recorded by historical observers. We analysed seal meat and fat buried in sand over a period of 35 days and found the bacterial counts and edible quality remained within satisfactory limits for human consumption for up to 10 days.

Abstract Bone tools are to be found in almost every excavation of Later Stone Age sites in southern Africa. A bone tool fabrication area was identified at Kasteelberg on the Vredenberg Peninsula where the entire process of production can be seen. The paper describes the process of bone preparation, experimental work on bone, and compares the finished product from Kasteelberg and other sites in the Cape with ethnographic arrow‐points made by San hunters.

International Journal of Nautical ArchaeologyVolume 15, Issue 1 p. 53-59 Excavations at Plettenberg Bay, South Africa of the camp-site of the survivors of the wreck of the São Gonçalo, 1630 Andrew B. Smith, Andrew B. Smith Department of Archaeology, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch, Cape 7700, South AfricaSearch for more papers by this author Andrew B. Smith, Andrew B. Smith Department of Archaeology, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch, Cape 7700, South AfricaSearch for more papers by this author First published: February 1986 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1095-9270.1986.tb00544.xCitations: 5AboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat Citing Literature Volume15, Issue1February 1986Pages 53-59 RelatedInformation

In those parts of the world where cetacean populations migrate close to the land an important resource is available for coastal exploitation. Stranded whales probably played an important, if archaeologically invisible, role in the diet of coastal dwellers. Energy budgets for such people would have to consider the variability in stranding potential of different coastal zones for prediction of conditions prior to the advent of large‐scale commercial whaling.

The Khoikhoi of the Southwestern Cape are well known from historical literature. Large gaps in our information exist, however, and a number of the problems in elucidating these are outlined here. Research design for pastoral archaeology in the Cape is offered and it is suggested that the frontier situation that existed between the indigenous hunters and immigrating herders can be described in terms of adaptive strategies, and the success of the herders was due to increased exploitation efficiency of grasslands allowing larger population densities.

Studies of post-palaeolithic material excavated in the Lower Tilemsi Valley at Karkarichinkat suggest that the area was not occupied before c. 4000 b.p. That permanent water existed in the valley prior to this date seems probable, therefore it is surprising not to find earlier human occupation of the area. Colonization may well have been due to a number of coincident factors. The first was the increasing desiccation of the Southern Sahara around 4500 b.p. putting strain on pasturage and water resources that supported the cattle-owning nomadic cultural complex. The second factor would have been the gradual southward movement of the savannah zone with the decreasing rainfall. A third factor may have been the concomitant retreat of the tsetse belt that would be closely tied to riverine areas in the dry season. With this southward movement of the tsetse new areas were thus available for colonization by these pastoral peoples who followed the permanent water courses of the Tilemsi and Azaouak Valleys towards their confluence with the Niger River by 4000 b.p.