The significance of MIS 5 shell middens on the Cape coast: A lithic perspective from Klasies River and Ysterfontein 1

Abstract

In this paper, lithic assemblages from two MIS 5 middens on the Cape coast, Klasies River main site and Ysterfontein 1 are compared. Klasies River, on the southern Cape coast, has provided an abundant sample of stone artefacts from MIS 5, the MSA 1 and MSA 11 techno-complexes. Recent work at Ysterfontein site has yielded the largest lithic sample so far of a comparable age from the Cape west coast. The assemblages from Klasies River and Ysterfontein 1 represent three clearly discernable techno-complexes. At Klasies River, the MSA 1 or Klasies River techno-complex is characterized by a recurrent strategy to produce elongated products. This is followed by the MSA 11, also termed the Mossel Bay in which a strategy with unipolar convergent Levallois characteristics was followed. The MSA 1 and MSA 11 are different techno-complexes, even though the products are morphometrically somewhat similar. The Ysterfontein 1 techno-complex differs from the Klasies River MIS 5 assemblages in terms of in raw material composition, technology and dimensions of the flaked products. In the Ysterfontein 1 techno-complex, relatively short blades and flakes were produced from platform and two volume cores. Scrapers, notches and denticulates comprise the retouched component of all three assemblages. Insight into the technological capabilities of MIS 5 populations is important to understand subsequent techno-complexes such as the Still Bay and Howiesons Poort. The technical behavior of humans that lived around 100 000 years ago on the Cape coast is of more than parochial interest – cultural changes in all of Africa in MIS 5 provide a window into sapient cognitive and adaptive conventions.