Zooarchaeological analyses of Howiesons Poort and post-Howiesons Poort fauna at Klasies River, southern Cape, South Africa: Environmental change and subsistence behaviour in MIS 4 and 3

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Early human adaptation on the African coasts: Comparing northwest Morocco and the Cape of South Africa" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The transition from MIS 4 to 3 encompassed significant behavioural change in southern Africa. In this region, the Howiesons Poort (HP) techno-complex, generally dated to MIS 4, is associated with more evidence of innovative behaviours, technologies and tools. In the post-HP, during early MIS 3, there is less evidence of these behaviours and technologies. Technological differences between these periods have often been linked to environmental change from MIS 4 to 3. Given its extensive sequence, Klasies River is an important site in understanding diachronic change at this time. Faunal remains from this site are therefore a useful means of examining subsistence behaviour and palaeoenvironments during these periods.

In this paper, zooarchaeological and taphonomic data are used to examine the links between subsistence behaviour and environmental change during the HP and post-HP transition at Klasies River. The results show that humans were the primary accumulators of fauna in the HP, but less so in the post-HP with carnivores contributing significantly to the post-HP assemblage. The analyses also indicate a significant difference between HP and post-HP subsistence patterns, suggesting a close relationship between changing subsistence strategies and the MIS4/3 transition. Links between technology, subsistence behaviour and environmental change are also discussed.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 90th Annual Meeting, Denver, CO (2025)   •
• Early human adaptation on the African coasts: Comparing northwest Morocco and the Cape of South Africa

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 50756