Assessing hominin involvement with the faunal assemblages from Bundu Farm and Pniel 6, Northern Cape, South Africa

Summary

The transition from the Early Stone Age (ESA) to the Middle Stone Age (MSA) represents an important technological shift in hominin behavioral evolution in southern Africa. Subsistence behaviors during this transition, however, are relatively unknown due to a lack of faunal preservation or insecure associations between lithic and faunal accumulations. Often, these sites originate from riverine, lakeshore, and spring deposits, locations that likely attracted hominin hunters and other carnivores in search of prey. Distinguishing features of these open-air faunal accumulations that relate directly to hominin activity from those produced by other natural processes is critical for assessing hominin subsistence behaviors during the ESA/MSA transition in southern Africa.

Here I present an analysis of the faunal assemblages from Bundu Farm and Pniel 6, two transitional ESA/MSA open-air sites located in the Northern Cape, South Africa. This analysis is supported by a neotaphonomic study of modern bone accumulations surrounding a complex of seasonal waterholes at Ngamo Pan, Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe. Comparisons between the fossil and modern assemblages suggest primary access to animal carcasses at Bundu Farm fauna, but only secondary access at Pniel 6. Overall, there exists a variable signature of hominin subsistence during the ESA/MSA transition in southern Africa.

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This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• From Taphonomy to Human Ecology: Papers in Honor of Gary Haynes   •
• Society for American Archaeology 80th Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA (2015)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage