A zooarchaeological analysis of faunal remains from the Middle Stone Age III and Howiesons Poort layers at Klasies River, Eastern Cape, South Africa

Abstract

There are few taphonomic studies comparing the agents of accumulation, subsistence strategies and site formation processes of Middle Stone Age III (MSA III) and Howiesons Poort (HP) periods from South Africa. In this study, the results of taphonomic analyses on the faunal assemblages from selected layers from the MSA and HP from cave 1A at Klasies River Main site (KRM) are presented. The relatively higher abundance of zoogenic modifications in the MSA III assemblage than the HP sample implies more animal activity during the MSA III and indicates that carnivores, probably leopards, brown hyaena and possibly raptors contributed significantly to the accumulation of this assemblage. The presence of anthropogenic modifications in the MSA III sample, although in lower frequencies compared to zoogenic modifications, suggest that humans were present but contributed less significantly to the accumulation of the assemblage. The anthropogenic modifications are more prevalent in the HP sample, inferring that humans were likely the primary accumulators of the HP assemblage. Several subsistence strategies are considered, and a bone marrow extraction focus is evident in both assemblages, at different intensities. The skeletal-part profiles indicate that the ‘Klasies Pattern’ is clearly evident in the MSA III sample, but less evident in the HP sample. The degrees of burning and trampling implies that the HP reflects periods of fluctuating human occupational intensities, and the MSA III represents periods of constituently low human occupational intensities. The data indicates that post-depositional processes, such as breakage, trampling and water activity affected both assemblages