A Search For Origins – Phil Bonner Amanda Esterhuysen

Formal spatial patterning is displayed; for example, specific activities appear to have been carried out repeatedly in particular parts of campsites that may have served as aggregation camps. Grassland sites are different in that they contain sparse evidence for occupation; for example, there are small stone tool assemblages associated with few bones of small, collectable creatures. No ornaments or artwork occur and there is no evidence for formal spatial patterning.

These may have been dispersal phase camps because it is a universal hunter-gatherer practice to split (disperse) large groups into small family groups for some part of the annual cycle. It is not really possible to make gender attributions or to make statements about the division of labour in the LSA. We do know, however, that food sharing between the sexes may not have been as common as hunter-gatherer ethnography would have us believe. This conclusion is the result of studies carried out on human skeletons that were buried in Western Cape coastal sites within the last 3 000 years.

The bones of these men and women show significant differences in their carbon isotope values. (There are different photosynthetic pathways for summer-rainfall grasses [C4] and leafy vegetation [C3] and animals that eat these different plant types reflect in their bones the isotope values of the consumed plants. Marine animals have isotopic signatures similar to those of the summer-rainfall grasses.)

Since we are (as we have been told since childhood) what we eat, it is possible to conclude that the ancient Western Cape men and women had different diets. Men’s bones were isotopically enriched compared to those of women, suggesting that women were probably eating fruit and vegetables, while the men were consuming larger amounts of protein from marine resources.

Fig. 7.7 Rock painting of eland (H Pager copy) It is only during the last 10 000 years of the LSA that there is regular evidence for intentional burial of the dead.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be produced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright holders. Edited by Karen Press Picture edit by Sally Gaule Layout and design by Abdul Amien, Cape Town, South Africa Printed and bound by Paarl Print, Paarl, South Africa 1kitap1.com/en CONTENTS FOREWORD Phillip V Tobias PART 1 Introduction AFRICA IS SELDOM WHAT IT SEEMS Philip Bonner Chapter 1 WHITE SOUTH AFRICA AND THE SOUTH AFRICANISATION OF SCIENCE: HUMANKIND OR KINDS OF HUMANS?

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