Sites

Three shallow accumulations of marine shell were sampled on 31st January 2009. Sampling started at BP1 as much of this small deposit appears to be in primary context. With perhaps one exception located just north of BP1 and immediately above the cliff face, the rest of the other “shell patches” appear to be in secondary context. These latter occurrences are located below a long and flat rock floor covered by an equally long overhang, which seems to have been a living area. This flat surface devoid of deposit lies in the shade for much of the day, including during mid-day. Food remains, mainly marine shell, was tossed down slope and “shell patches” were built as a result. Assuming that, overall, patches closest to the long shelter have fewer admixtures from different tossing events, two such occurrences (BPT2 and BPT3) were also sampled.

BP1: This ‘patch’ is located right on the corner of Baboon Point Terrace, under two boulders forming a low-lying shelter. This ‘patch’ is comprised mainly of marine shell (whole and fragmented), and a few artefactual contents such as: lithics (mostly quartz and small number of silcrete debitage), ostrich eggshell fragments, and Cape Coastal pottery fragments (coarse quartz temper). Some historical additions to the artefactual assemblage are beer bottle neck and wire hook. Bone fragment was observed on a ledge near the main shell concentration.

Species represented in marine shell assemblage (in order of frequency): C. meridionalis, S. granularis, C. granatina, S. barbara, whelks, barnacles.

Small excavation proceeded by cleaning the surface contents which were sieved, bagged and labelled. Spit 1 was about 5 mm deep, was also sieved, bagged and labelled. Spit 2 had the same depth, and processed in the same way. Degree of fragmentation increased with depth. Aside of marine shell, no other finding was observed during excavations, but lab sorting might indicate otherwise.

Sand contents that were sieved through Spit 2 and containing only minuscule traces of shell were used to backfill the low depression resulting from this excavation. Small rocks and spalls were used to stabilize the soft sediments,

BP2: This patch contains the densest concentration of shell among all patches that are situated higher up and closest to the long and low-lying shelter on the terrace. Only marine shell was observed, with species represented in similar frequencies as in BP1. The presence of near whole large limpet shells in this patch and surrounding area was of note. Excavation proceeded in the same manner as with BP1, with Surface, Spit 1 and Spit 2 being sampled.

BP3: Slightly below BP2, this patch is located near a narrow path and between BP1 and BP2. This occurrence turned out to be shallower than the previous two, with ledge rock reached after the second spit. Excavations here proceeded as with the previous two patches, no artefacts were identified and the composition of the marine invertebrate assemblage seem to be also very similar to that present in the other patches.