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Responses to Coastal Environment Diversity in Middle and Late Stone Age Fish Harvesting Practices, Southern Cape, South Africa

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CaseHeader

HeritageAuthority(s): 

Case Type: 

ProposalDescription: 

Overview This postdoctoral project was developed in collaboration with the above participants. The project is designed as part of the Center for Early Sapiens Behavior (SapienCE) project, contributing towards answering the key research question: how adaptable were humans to environmental change and did climate impacts act as drivers for technological innovation and subsistence adaptation? Furthermore, as part of the European Leaders for Marine Sustainability (SEAS) programme at the University of Bergen, the research will contribute towards research on present day marine sustainability along the southern cape of South Africa. This research project will address two primary questions. Did coastal resource diversity increase between the Middle Stone Age (MSA) and Late Stone Age (LSA) along the southern Cape of South Africa in conjunction with estuary development and changes in the range of cold-water fishes? If diversity and stability increased in the LSA, did the human harvesting of marine resources increase? To test these questions, I will analyze fish teeth, seal teeth, and otoliths from the MSA using carbon and oxygen stable isotope analyses and fish and seal bone collagen from the LSA using carbon and nitrogen stable isotope analyses. I will conduct these analyses using fauna assemblages from Blombos Cave, Klasies River main site, Nelson Bay Cave and Hoffman’s/Robberg Cave. These methods will allow me to address both changes in the diversity and stability of marine ecosystem along the southern Cape of South Africa and if human harvesting practices changed. The results have implications not just for ho the ecology of the southern coast of South Africa has changed up to present day, but also how humans respond to environmental changes such as the development of seasonal estuary abundance and sardine migrations.

Expanded_Motivation: 

Aim/Objective The objective of this research is to address whether human harvesting practices of fish and seals adapted to changes in the coastal environment during the MSA (i.e., such as the development of estuaries and changes in sea level) and if harvesting pressures on these resources increased during the LSA. The results will contribute to one of the key questions posed by the SapienCE by addressing to what degree humans adapted their subsistence behaviors within the context of coastal environmental change. Furthermore, at a future date, Dr. Asia Alsgaard will analyze present day species of plants and fish from the southern cape of South Africa of the same or comparable species using carbon and nitrogen stable isotope analyses. She will compare the results of the stable isotope analyses of the archaeological samples with samples from species present day species to identify changes in habitat use of diet. These data will have implications for the conservation of these species. She will collaborate with researchers from the Gourtiz Cluster Biosphere Reserve to apply these results to present day marine sustainability along the southern cape. Methodology Carbon and oxygen stable isotope analysis: fish & seal tooth enamel Fish and seal tooth enamel and otolith From the MSA contexts (i.e., Blombos Cave (BBC) and Klasies River Main Site (KRM), we will analyze carbon and oxygen stable isotopes from fish and seal tooth enamel (Table 1). Tooth enamel is less susceptible to diagenetic alteration than bone collagen or tooth dentine (Koch et al. 1997). Carbon and oxygen stable isotopes in bodily tissues (including tooth enamel and otoliths) record the isotopic ratio of the paleoenvironment. Carbon stable isotopes from fish tooth enamel and otoliths reflect a combination of the δ13C value of dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC; Hudson et al. 2021; Sisma-Ventura et al. 2019) and dietary carbon sources. Dissolved inorganic carbon in the world’s oceans ranges between δ13C= -1‰ and 2.5‰ (Kroopnick 1985). δ13CDIC value is affected by the surface exchange of CO2, accounting for about 2‰ of the global variation in δ13CDIC (Marchitto 2013). Importantly, δ13CDIC values vary with salinity gradients. As salinity decreases, such as in the upper reaches of an estuarine system, δ13CDIC decreases (Bouillon et al. 2011). Dietary carbon reflects the primary producers at the base of the food web such as macroalgae, seagrass, and kelp. While the δ13C of terrestrial dietary carbon is influenced by whether the plant uses C3 of C4 photosynthesis, the δ13C of aquatic producers varies more based distance from the coast and depth (due to a number of environmental conditions including dissolved inorganic carbon and water column mixing; Clementz et al. 2003). Importantly, the δ13C value of producers will be higher near the coast and lower offshore (Clementz and Koch 2001). The variation in the oxygen isotope composition of inorganic compounds is largely a function of temperature, salinity, and physiology. During cool temperatures and higher salinity, the δ18OCarbonate value is higher; during warm temperatures and lower salinity, the δ18OCarbonate value is lower. Furthermore, we should expect higher δ18OCarbonate values from animals foraging in deeper, colder water and lower δ18OCarbonate values from animals foraging in shallower, warmer waters. When taken together (Figure 1), we should expect fish and seal closer to estuary systems to have lower δ13C and δ18O values and marine fish to have higher δ13C and δ18O values (Sisma-Ventura et al. 2019). The δ13C of these species will vary based on the primary producers with inshore, estuarine species such as Zostera capensis higher than kelp which, in turn will have a higher value than offshore producers.

ApplicationDate: 

Friday, December 23, 2022 - 15:10

CaseID: 

20402

OtherReferences: 

ReferenceList: 

CitationReferenceTypeDate Retrieved
Ambrose, S. H., & Norr, L. (1993). Experimental Evidence for the Relationship of the Carbon Isotope Ratios of Whole Diet and Dietary Protein to Those of Bone Collagen and Carbonate. In J. B. Lambert & G. Grupe (Eds.), Prehistoric Human Bone: Archaeology at the Molecular Level (pp. 1-38). Springer-Verlag
Friday, December 23, 2022
Bouillon, S., Connolly, R. M., & Gillikin, D. P. (2011). 7.07 - Use of Stable Isotopes to Understand Food Webs and Ecosystem Functioning in Estuaries. In E. Wolanski & D. McLusky (Eds.), Treatise on Estuarine and Coastal Science (pp. 143-173). Academic Press. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-374711-2.00711-7
Friday, December 23, 2022
Bustamante, R., & Branch, G. (1996). Large scale patterns and trophic structure of southern African rocky shores: The roles of geographic variation and wave exposure. Journal of Biogeography, 23, 339-351. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-2699.1996.00026.x
Friday, December 23, 2022
Clementz, M. T., Hoppe, K. A., & Koch, P. L. (2003). A paleoecological paradox: the habitat and dietary preferences of the extinct tethythere Desmostylus, inferred from stable isotope analysis. Paleobiology, 29(4), 506-519.
Friday, December 23, 2022
Disspain, M. C. F., Ulm, S., & Gillanders, B. M. (2016). Otoliths in archaeology: Methods, applications and future prospects. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 6, 623-632. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2015.05.012
Friday, December 23, 2022
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