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New field work at Rose Cottage Cave (eastern Free State)

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ProposalDescription: 

Rose Cottage Cave has a long significant regional sequence encompassing Middle Stone Age and Later Stone Age occupations. After the excavations of Berry Malan in the 1940s and Peter Beaumont in 1962, Prof. Lyn Wadley investigated the site from 1987 to 1997 as part of a research programme, providing extremely valuable and important data as well as publications relevant for the southern African Stone Age archaeology. However, since these remarkable works have been undertaken, there has been less archaeological research, especially concerning the Middle Stone Age in the eastern Free State, which now calls for a revival. This project represents a great opportunity to give a new impulse to this region and is part of a broader venture aiming to understand technological developments, cultural changes, and innovations within the Middle Stone Age of Marine Isotope Stage 5 in southern Africa. The field activities at Rose Cottage Cave will be limited and focused on re-opening and cleaning the previous excavation areas, and documenting and sampling the archaeological profiles. Profiles will be excavated only to an extent necessary to stabilize the deposits before closing the site. The fieldwork at Rose Cottage Cave follows recent preliminary studies that we conducted on the lithic assemblages recovered during Wadley/Harper’s excavation as well as Malan’s excavation. In order to complete these ongoing studies, strengthen or rather elaborate statements, and publish results, the acquisition of new field data is essential. In parallel, a growing interest in different parts of the cultural sequence emerged over the last years, and fieldwork as well as sampling will be beneficial in this respect.

Expanded_Motivation: 

Rationale for reopening the site The main focus of the new excavation project is on the earliest occupations of the site, the pre-HP. However, we intend to touch upon specific research questions relating to younger phases of occupation. Additionally, we address more global topics regarding site formation and preservation issues. These analyses will support ongoing and future technological and functional studies on the lithic industries at Rose Cottage by providing new insights into the timing and character of site occupation and into the preservation of biomolecules, phytoliths, and stone tool residues at the site. We propose to address and clarify the following specific research questions in the field: -) How do the lowermost stratigraphic units relate to each other? -) How do the natural sedimentation processes correlate with cultural changes? -) What are the site formation processes, namely the anthropogenic and natural influences, at play? -) Can we identify combustion features and the type of fire use? What new information about fire-related activities can be revealed by combining different proxies ? -) Is ancient DNA preserved in bones and sediments and what can we say about the humans occupying the site? -) What is the degree of preservation for phytoliths at the site and what palaeoenvironmental insights can they provide? -) Are micro residues preserved on stone stools, how does their preservation change through time, and what do they tell us about taphonomy and/or human activities? -) Can luminescence redating confirm former dates and potentially clarify some issues? Objectives of the field project The objectives of this new fieldwork project taking place at Rose Cottage Cave include five main feasible, inter-linked goals. -) Exposing and cleaning the stratigraphy Eyewitness reports by the former excavator Prof. Lyn Wadley as well as other archaeologists and a recent visit to Rose Cottage Cave made it clear that the site, even though fenced for protection by the Ladybrand Municipality (Wadley 1991), is in a rather bad state. This is especially concerning as it is a national monument (Wadley 1997). The backfilled excavation area and protected profiles have undergone quite some disturbances. The profiles are partly exposed, thus affected by erosion and sediment collapsing, chain-link from the fence is spread over the surface, and plastic bags are partially torn open. We will first expose the profiles by removing the sediment, old bags, and rubbish, sieve the disturbed sediments, and fill military bags that will be used during and after the excavation for stabilizing, sealing, and protecting the cave. As the cleaning work will raise a lot of dust, the rock art will be protected to prevent possible degradation. -) Stabilizing and documenting the profiles Before the cleaning as well as afterwards photogrammetric models will be produced to document the old as well as new status quo. As the archaeological profiles are partially in a poor state of preservation, we will have to stabilize them and ensure to straighten them before any descriptions and sampling can be undertaken. When limited excavation will be necessary, excavation procedures will be adopted and an adapted excavation and post-excavation protocol will be established following (Nigst et al. 2004; Porraz et al. 2018; Parkington and Porraz 2016) using the EDM software (for details see https://oldstoneage.com/osa/tech/index/). A measurement grid will be established with a total station (Leica TS15) and a handheld device, installing reference points for the determination of position and height of finds, features, surfaces, and layers. The position of archaeological remains equal to or larger than 2 cm as well as identifiable bones, organic and lithic tools or tool fragments, and lithic cores/core fragments will systematically be recorded using the Leica TS15 combined with a handheld device. Sieving with a 3- and 1-mm mesh will be executed on the small plateau in front of the site, as the fieldwork progresses. The archaeological material collected during the sieving will be labelled and bagged. Tasks related to post-excavational work, including washing, labelling, and sorting will be conducted off-site to secure good lightning conditions and enough space. All the archaeological material of the excavation will be consigned to the National Museum in Bloemfontein. The field documentation of the old excavations as well as the information from the former field director, including information about the location of the altitude datum, limits of the squares, and stratigraphic units, will facilitate matching the stratigraphy as well as the excavation grid of the old and new fieldwork. The profiles will be documented using the total station, recording old landmarks, finds, features, and layers, as well as by producing field drawings, which will be scanned and later redrawn in Adobe Illustrator. -) Sampling Once the archaeological sequence has been clarified and correlated, the fieldwork will entail various types of sampling. The first type will include micromorphological blocks that will serve to produce thin sections of specific parts of the deposits, and sediment samples. Their analyses will provide information regarding to the composition of the different stratigraphic units, taphonomic processes, the nature of the contact between layers, and ultimately the formation history of the site. Sampling will be conducted to collect potential microscopic palaeoenvironmental proxies in the form of phytoliths. Sediment samples will be collected to this end, followed by analytical work in the lab. Furthermore, we will take samples for sedimentary ancient DNA (aDNA) to firstly test for preservation and secondly to extract genetic data on the humans and animals who inhabited Rose Cottage Cave. We additionally plan to take small sediment samples to detect possible residues within the different layers. Previous studies by Gibson and colleagues (2004) have shown that residues preserve at Rose Cottage Cave. However, their functional interpretations can be considered unreliable in the light of subsequent methodological developments. Since these first analyses were carried out, progress has been made in identifying the nature of residues and their cause of deposition more accurately, partly by contrasting residue observations with use-wear evidence. One of the most critical steps in residue analysis is a taphonomic assessment that establishes the range of environmental residues, i.e., non-functional residues that are deposited on artefacts through contact with the sediment, at the site. This work makes use of soil samples taken from archaeological layers containing stone tools and helps achieve a critical evaluation of the effect of the burial context on residue preservation. This analysis will be informed by the data obtained on the micromorphology, phytolith, and sedimentary DNA samples. Finally, we will collect samples for dating from the profile and secure stratigraphic contexts. This will add to the corpus of dates and will help solve issues of discrepancy as well as clarify the ages of the lowermost stratigraphic units. Charcoal will be used for radiocarbon dating and sediment samples will be taken for OSL dating. We will put dosimeters in the profiles for several months to measure the background radiation that we will have to collect from the profiles at a later stage. -) Educational aspect Prof. Lyn Wadley invested heavily in her research programme, and it was a matter close to her heart that Rose Cottage Cave served as training ground for future archaeologists. Not only had students the chance to develop and improve their excavation, recording, and curation skills, but they also were given the opportunity to conduct primary research (Lyn Wadley 1997). We plan to carry on Prof. Wadley’s wonderful legacy by including undergraduate and postgraduate students from southern African and European universities. Our aim is to prepare the substrate for them to gain excavation experience and to provide them opportunities to become further involved in the project by tackling their own research questions. -) Raw material survey Before and during the excavation, we will conduct surveys in the surroundings of the site to localise possible sources of lithic and ochre that were accessed and exploited by past people. We will describe the outcrops, take photos, and record GPS coordinates. Petrographic analyses will be performed and serve to support the lithic technological, techno-economic, and functional studies that are currently being carried out on the material from the Wadley and Harper excavation and that have been planned for the near future. Closure and conservation plan of the site At the end of the field season, we will cover the surfaces and profiles with tarps and backfill the site with military bags to keep it protected for future investigations. We will additionally arrange the main entrance gate to the site in a way to inhibit the entry of unauthorized persons and to protect the site from possible vandalism. The above listed objectives should all be achieved within a four-week field campaign (planned for October/November 2023). In case a further field season would be necessary because of unexpected challenges, the formulation of new research questions, and/or the need for additional sampling, the appropriate SAHRA authorities will be consulted. The land the site is situated on belongs to the municipality. The municipality has permitted us access to the site. As support was provided in the past, we are in touch with the Municipality Ladybrand to inform and update them about the project as well as to discuss possibilities of heritage site promotion in the future. Finally, a progress report on the field project will be sent to SAHRA in due time.

ApplicationDate: 

Tuesday, May 23, 2023 - 12:55

CaseID: 

21421

OtherReferences: 

ReferenceList: 

CitationReferenceTypeDate Retrieved
Wadley, L. 1997. ‘Rose Cottage Cave: Archaeological Work 1987 to 1997’. South African Journal of Science 93 (10): 439–44.
Friday, December 16, 2022
Wadley, L., and P. Harper. 1989. ‘Rose Cottage Cave Revisited: Malan’s Middle Stone Age Collection’. The South African Archaeological Bulletin 44 (149): 23–32. https://doi.org/10.2307/3888316.
Friday, December 16, 2022
Harper, P. T. 1997. ‘The Middle Stone Age Sequences at Rose Cottage Cave: A Search for Continuity and Discontinuity’. South African Journal of Science 93: 470–75.
Friday, December 16, 2022
https://www.oeaw.ac.at/en/oeai/research/prehistory-wana-archaeology/quaternary-archaeology/stone-technology-in-south-africa-in-mis-5
Friday, April 14, 2023
 
 

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