Abstract
Grassridge rock shelter is located in the high elevation grassland foothills of the Stormberg Mountains in the Eastern Cape of South Africa. This places Grassridge at an important biogeoclimatic intersection between the Drakensberg Mountains, the South African coastal zone, and the interior arid lands of southern Africa. First excavated in 1979, the approximately 1.5 m stratigraphic sequence was divided into two major occupational components: a 50–70 cm thick Later Stone Age component dating between 7–6 ka and an underlying 50–80 cm thick Middle Stone Age component dated to 36 ka at the base. Here we present a reanalysis of the Grassridge stratigraphic sequence that combines new optically stimulated luminescence and radiocarbon age estimates with sedimentological and microbotanical analyses to evaluate site formation processes and the palaeoenvironmental context of human occupations. Results indicate a complex history of geogenic, anthropogenic, and biogenic inputs to the depositional sequence that are interspersed with pulsed human occupation from 43–28 ka, 13.5–11.6 ka, and 7.3–6.8 ka. Microbotanical remains indicate a cooler, drier grassland environment in MIS 3 that transitions to a warmer, moister grassland environment dominated by summer rainfall in the middle of MIS 1. The pulsed occupational sequence identified at Grassridge is characteristic of the Pleistocene and Holocene record across the greater high elevation grassland region of South Africa, which, based on comparison with other currently available evidence, seems linked to a complex system of forager mobility entwined with rapidly fluctuating palaeoenvironments across the last glacial to interglacial transition.
Highlights
There is a rich tradition of Pleistocene archaeological research in southern Africa, which over the past century has significantly contributed to our understanding of human origins (Barham & Mitchell 2008)
Sedimentation is highly variable throughout the Grassridge stratigraphic sequence and is likely driven by human presence, with three occupational pulses identified at 43–28 ka, 13.5–11.6 ka, and 7.3–6.8 ka
Each occupational pulse is associated with a different stone tool technocomplex for which analyses of recently excavated material are in progress
Summary
There is a rich tradition of Pleistocene archaeological research in southern Africa, which over the past century has significantly contributed to our understanding of human origins (Barham & Mitchell 2008). At the macro-scale, and for the Pleistocene record, there are large gaps in the distribution of recorded archaeological sites—most notable is the absence of data from the arid central interior, including the Nama-Karoo, northern savannah regions, and north-. Ames et al: Chronostratigraphy, Site Formation, and Palaeoenvironmental Context of Late Pleistocene and Holocene Occupations at Grassridge Rock Shelter (Eastern Cape, South Africa) central dry highland grasslands. Continued exploration is required to understand the nature and sequence of occupation and adaptation in the inland areas of southern Africa, and to clarify the relationships between foragers in the interior and the coastal regions
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