Environmental implications of marine bird remains in the late Holocene of Pinnacle Point.

Summary

Marine bird remains are common in late Holocene coastal sites in South Africa. The Pinnacle Point Shell Midden Complex (PPSMC) is such a site. Marine bird remains from the PPSMC were studied to better understand their role in the foraging and mobility patterns of late Holocene stone age people on the Mossel Bay coast. The PPSMC has four separate excavation areas and marine bird remains are present and were studied in each. Microscopic analyses for signs of surface modification proved to be difficult as root damage was extensive. However some signs of cutting and tool manufacture were found. Research of modern bird wash-ups by Avery have shown that certain marine bird species are more commonly found washed out along the South African coast during certain times of the year. A comparison of the PPSMC analyses to these modern data shows that the four excavated areas were exploited on a seasonal basis. The strong seasonality of marine birds provided a predictable food and raw material resource for hunter-gatherers.

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This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Building the hunter-gatherer’s paleoscape on the South African coast: Environment, landscape, and foraging resources   •
• Society for American Archaeology 80th Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA (2015)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage