A Late Holocene community burial area: Evidence of diverse mortuary practices in the Western Cape, South Africa

Abstract

Over several decades, human skeletal remains from at least twelve individuals (males, females, children and infants) were recovered from a small area (ca. 10 x 10 m) on the eastern shore of Table Bay, Cape Town, near the mouth of the Diep River where it empties into the sea. Two groups, each comprising four individuals, appear to have been buried in single graves. Unusually for this region, several skeletons were interred with large numbers of ostrich eggshell (OES) beads. In some cases, careful excavation enabled recovery of segments of beadwork. One collective burial held items including an ostrich eggshell flask, a tortoise carapace bowl, a fragmentary bone point or linkshaft and various lithic artefacts. This group appears to have died together and been buried expediently. A mid-adult woman from this group sustained perimortem blunt-force trauma to her skull, very likely the cause of her death. This case adds to the developing picture of interpersonal violence associated with a period of subsistence intensification among late Holocene foragers. Radiocarbon dates obtained for nine skeletons may overlap but given the uncertainties associated with marine carbon input, we cannot constrain the date range more tightly than 1900-1340 calBP (at 2 sigma). The locale appears to have been used by a community as a burial ground, perhaps regularly for several generations, or on a single catastrophic occasion, or some combination thereof. The evidence documents regional and temporal variation in burial practices among late Holocene foragers of the southwestern Cape.

Dated Holocene Human Remains From South Africa: Recalibration and Broad Contextualization

“…Variation in forager behaviour included a shift from marine to more mixed diets, and perimortem trauma from interpersonal violence (Gibbon and Davies 2020; but also see Pfeiffer 2016). Some evidence for persistent burial places or “cemeteries” occurs at, or soon after, the introduction of pastoralism to the region (Pfeiffer et al 2020). New burial clusters from this period may reflect attempts to control territory through direct ties with ancestors (Loftus and Pfeiffer 2023).…”

“…Archaeological interpretations remain incomplete without an understanding of the people who inhabited the sites (Larsen 2000(Larsen , 2015, and human remains can inform on aspects of human behavior, demography, and health. Southern Africa (Africa south of the Zambezi River), with its ancient human origins and rich population diversity (Schlebusch et al 2017(Schlebusch et al , 2020Fortes-Lima et al 2023), has much to offer in this regard (e.g., Sealy 2016a; Pfeiffer et al 2020;Steyn et al 2019;Loftus and Pfeiffer 2023;Rifkin et al 2023). Human remains represent an integral part of the population record of a region, and South Africa (the current geopolitical republic) has a long history of reporting on human skeletal remains.…”

El registro bioarqueológico de individuos noadultos en contextos de cazadores-recolectores de la transición Pampeano-Patagónica oriental (Argentina)

“…Además, de acuerdo con lo observado aquí, no existe una preferencia en la selección de un grupo de edad por sobre otro, sino que todas las edades desde fetal hasta adolescentes están representadas, incluso de ambos sexos. Teniendo en cuenta que tanto no-adultos como adultos comparten el mismo espacio funerario, es posible proponer que hubiera existido una identidad comunitaria y posiblemente una estructura social aparentemente simétrica (Hutchinson y Aragon, 2002;Martínez, 2021;Pfeiffer et al, 2020). Sin embargo, estos aspectos necesitan ser explorados con mayor profundidad.…”

The Faraoskop Event: a significant moment in the history of foraging in the Western Cape, South Africa?

“…The Faraoskop event provides an opportunity, of which many more will be needed, to integrate biological, life history, genetic and dietary studies at a particular time and place (for another instance see Pfeiffer et al 2020). Thus far, no remains of domestic stock have been identi ed from the Faraoskop faunal assemblages, and only two adiagnostic ceramic fragments were recovered from the excavations.…”