Klasies River Main site is a complex of four caves and rock shelters on the Eastern Cape coast which has become widely known due to the recovery of important Middle Stone Age archaeological assemblages and human fossils. Numerous anthropogenic features, such as hearths and shell middens, are preserved at the site complex. Despite the recognition that these deposits could be vital sources of behavioural information, researchers lacked the tools to analyse their formation and alteration in detail until the recent introduction of microscale geoarchaeological techniques such as micromorphology. These techniques allow the analysis of undisturbed deposits under a microscope as though they were still in situ within a site.



This talk details the results of the microscale analysis of deposits dating between 120 000 and 80 000 years ago. The remarkable preservation of some deposits, such as individual sub-millimetre layers of ash within hearths, means that it is possible to identify events which may have taken place within periods of days or even hours. More broadly, the results reveal the cumulative effects of thousands of years of deposition and alteration of sediments, providing insight into long term patterns of human behaviour and natural processes within the site complex, which included both periods of stability in occupational intensity, and times of changes in intensity and the management of space within the sites. These findings are particularly significant given that site management behaviours like dumping material in middens were relatively novel prior to 100 000 years ago. 

Bio

Peter Morrissey is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the School of Geography, Archaeology, and Environmental Studies at the University of the Witwatersrand. He recently obtained his PhD in Archaeology from the same institution. He is a specialist geoarchaeologist who has worked at a range of scales, from landscape studies to microscopic analysis of natural and anthropogenic sediments. To date, his work has mainly focused on Middle Stone Age sites, but he is interested in the application of geoarchaeological approaches to all periods in South Africa’s archaeological record. Dr Morrissey’s work is supported by GENUS: DSI-NRF Centre of Excellence in Palaeosciences.