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<p>Klasies River is a key site in understanding coastal forager behaviour in the southern Cape of South Africa. Faunal remains from this site offer valuable insights into changing subsistence strategies, nutritional preferences, and prey selection over time. Here, a taphonomic and taxonomic analyses of fauna from the Deacon and Wurz excavations are presented to explore high-resolution subsistence patterns in the Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 5 samples from the c. &gt;110,000-year-old MSA I and SASL MSA II lower and the 100,000-year-old SASU MSA II Lower. Taphonomic analyses were used to infer changes in subsistence behaviour, nutritional preferences, and prey selection based on utility indices and taxon-specific butchery modifications. The data show several similarities throughout the sequence, including a prevalence for large bovid exploitation and relatively equitable distributions of skeletal elements across mammal size classes. The analyses also highlight differences through the sequence with a decrease in marine mammal exploitation over time, an increase in carnivore accumulation contribution and human exploitation of birds in the middle phase (SASL), and an increase in small mammal exploitation in the younger, upper phase (SASU). The ‘Klasies Pattern’, an evenly distributed skeletal profile for small bovids, and a profile dominated by cranial elements and phalanges for larger bovids, is not observed in this study, based on the mammal skeletal part representations. Anthropogenic marks on small, non-bovid fauna, including birds, tortoises, and small mammals, show that a diverse range of taxa were exploited at Klasies River over 100,000 years ago.</p>

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Changing subsistence strategies during the MSA I and MSA II: a zooarchaeological analysis of the vertebrate fauna from the Witness Baulk at Klasies River Main Site: South Africa

  • 期刊论文

  • 出版模式：

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  • 发表日期：

    2026年4月23日

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  • Alexandra Pearson,
  • Sarah Wurz,
  • Karen L. van Niekerk,
  • Jerome P. Reynard

摘要

Klasies River is a key site in understanding coastal forager behaviour in the southern Cape of South Africa. Faunal remains from this site offer valuable insights into changing subsistence strategies, nutritional preferences, and prey selection over time. Here, a taphonomic and taxonomic analyses of fauna from the Deacon and Wurz excavations are presented to explore high-resolution subsistence patterns in the Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 5 samples from the c. >110,000-year-old MSA I and SASL MSA II lower and the 100,000-year-old SASU MSA II Lower. Taphonomic analyses were used to infer changes in subsistence behaviour, nutritional preferences, and prey selection based on utility indices and taxon-specific butchery modifications. The data show several similarities throughout the sequence, including a prevalence for large bovid exploitation and relatively equitable distributions of skeletal elements across mammal size classes. The analyses also highlight differences through the sequence with a decrease in marine mammal exploitation over time, an increase in carnivore accumulation contribution and human exploitation of birds in the middle phase (SASL), and an increase in small mammal exploitation in the younger, upper phase (SASU). The ‘Klasies Pattern’, an evenly distributed skeletal profile for small bovids, and a profile dominated by cranial elements and phalanges for larger bovids, is not observed in this study, based on the mammal skeletal part representations. Anthropogenic marks on small, non-bovid fauna, including birds, tortoises, and small mammals, show that a diverse range of taxa were exploited at Klasies River over 100,000 years ago.