More Than Just Pretty Things: Taphonomic and Behavioral Observations from the Unworked Ostrich Eggshell Assemblage Recovered from Grassridge Rockshelter, South Africa

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Current Zooarchaeology: New and Ongoing Approaches" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Grassridge Rockshelter demonstrates one of the largest assemblages of ostrich eggshell beads and preforms in southern Africa that dates to the mid-Holocene. The site, located in the interior of the Eastern Cape of South Africa, therefore reflects an intensive use of ostrich eggshell as a raw material source for the production of decorative jewelry and clothing. Unworked ostrich eggshell from archaeological contexts, however, has been frequently overlooked, with the majority of studies focusing only on counts and weights. Here, we present preliminary results from a more detailed approach to studying unworked ostrich eggshell that includes counts and weights, as well as fragment size, burning, shape, and spatial location within the site. These data provide novel insights into the use and discard of ostrich eggshell at the site, as well as insights into the taphonomic processes that contributed to the site’s formation, specifically the impact of repeated hearth construction and burning.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 86th Annual Meeting, Online (2021)   •
• Current Zooarchaeology: New and Ongoing Approaches

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 32112