Taphonomic and Zooarchaeological Analyses of Strathalan Cave A: Hunting Strategies and Environmental Change During the Early to Mid-Holocene at the Foothills of the Drakensberg, South Africa

Abstract

Abstract The early to mid-Holocene was a significant period in the development of Later Stone Age human society in southern Africa. The Drakensberg and its surrounding foothills may have been an important region at this time. Here, we report on the taphonomic and zooarchaeological analyses of fauna from Strathalan Cave A. We use these and other data from the ongoing excavations to explore subsistence and environmental conditions during the early to mid-Holocene. The prevalence of anthropogenic marks and the lack of tooth marks indicate that humans were the primary bone accumulators. Prey selection appeared to have focused on small and medium mammals from c. 8,000 years ago. This shift to smaller fauna may correspond to changes in site formation processes associated with increased occupational intensity. We argue that faunal, taphonomic and geoarchaeological changes through the sequence may correspond to key palaeoenvironmental events such as the 8.2 ka event and the Holocene Climatic Optimum.