1
|
Hopper C, Dunne J, Dewar G, Evershed RP. Chemical evidence for milk, meat, and marine resource processing in Later Stone Age pots from Namaqualand, South Africa. Sci Rep 2023; 13:1658. [PMID: 36717644 PMCID: PMC9887072 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-28577-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/03/2022] [Accepted: 01/20/2023] [Indexed: 01/31/2023] Open
Abstract
The subsistence practices of Later Stone Age (LSA) foragers and herders living in Namaqualand South Africa are often difficult to differentiate based on their archaeological signatures but characterizing their dietary choices is vital to understand the economic importance of domesticates. However, ethnohistoric accounts have provided information on the cooking/boiling of marine mammal fat, mutton, plants, and milk by early herders and foragers across the Western Cape. To further investigate these reports, we use lipid residue analysis to characterize 106 potsherds from four open-air LSA sites, spanning in time from the early first millennium to the late second millennium AD. Two sites (SK2005/057A, SK2006/026) are located on the Atlantic coast whereas sites Jakkalsberg K and Jakkalsberg M are located further inland on the southern bank of the Orange River. Notably, at the coastal sites, the presence of marine biomarkers suggests the intensive and/or specialized processing of marine products in many vessels. The dominance of ruminant carcass products at inland sites and probable sheep remains confirms the importance of stockkeeping. Furthermore, and in good agreement with ethnohistoric accounts for its use, our results provide the first direct chemical evidence for the use of dairy products in LSA western South Africa.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Courtneay Hopper
- Department of Anthropology, University of Toronto Scarborough, 1265 Military Trail, Toronto, ON, M1C 1A, Canada. .,School of Environment, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada.
| | - Julie Dunne
- Organic Geochemistry Unit, School of Chemistry, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
| | - Genevieve Dewar
- Department of Anthropology, University of Toronto Scarborough, 1265 Military Trail, Toronto, ON, M1C 1A, Canada.,School of Environment, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada.,Rock Art Research Institute, School of Geography, Archaeology, and Environmental Studies, University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
| | - Richard P Evershed
- Organic Geochemistry Unit, School of Chemistry, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Vicente M, Lankheet I, Russell T, Hollfelder N, Coetzee V, Soodyall H, Jongh MD, Schlebusch CM. Male-biased migration from East Africa introduced pastoralism into southern Africa. BMC Biol 2021; 19:259. [PMID: 34872534 PMCID: PMC8650298 DOI: 10.1186/s12915-021-01193-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/10/2021] [Accepted: 11/12/2021] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Hunter-gatherer lifestyles dominated the southern African landscape up to ~ 2000 years ago, when herding and farming groups started to arrive in the area. First, herding and livestock, likely of East African origin, appeared in southern Africa, preceding the arrival of the large-scale Bantu-speaking agro-pastoralist expansion that introduced West African-related genetic ancestry into the area. Present-day Khoekhoe-speaking Namaqua (or Nama in short) pastoralists show high proportions of East African admixture, linking the East African ancestry with Khoekhoe herders. Most other historical Khoekhoe populations have, however, disappeared over the last few centuries and their contribution to the genetic structure of present-day populations is not well understood. In our study, we analyzed genome-wide autosomal and full mitochondrial data from a population who trace their ancestry to the Khoekhoe-speaking Hessequa herders from the southern Cape region of what is now South Africa. RESULTS We generated genome-wide data from 162 individuals and mitochondrial DNA data of a subset of 87 individuals, sampled in the Western Cape Province, South Africa, where the Hessequa population once lived. Using available comparative data from Khoe-speaking and related groups, we aligned genetic date estimates and admixture proportions to the archaeological proposed dates and routes for the arrival of the East African pastoralists in southern Africa. We identified several Afro-Asiatic-speaking pastoralist groups from Ethiopia and Tanzania who share high affinities with the East African ancestry present in southern Africa. We also found that the East African pastoralist expansion was heavily male-biased, akin to a pastoralist migration previously observed on the genetic level in ancient Europe, by which Pontic-Caspian Steppe pastoralist groups represented by the Yamnaya culture spread across the Eurasian continent during the late Neolithic/Bronze Age. CONCLUSION We propose that pastoralism in southern Africa arrived through male-biased migration of an East African Afro-Asiatic-related group(s) who introduced new subsistence and livestock practices to local southern African hunter-gatherers. Our results add to the understanding of historical human migration and mobility in Africa, connected to the spread of food-producing and livestock practices.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Mário Vicente
- Human Evolution, Department of Organismal Biology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
- Department of Archaeology and Classical Studies, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden
- Centre for Palaeogenetics, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Imke Lankheet
- Human Evolution, Department of Organismal Biology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Thembi Russell
- School of Geography, Archaeology and Environmental Studies, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
| | - Nina Hollfelder
- Human Evolution, Department of Organismal Biology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Vinet Coetzee
- Department of Biochemistry, Genetics and Microbiology, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa
| | - Himla Soodyall
- Division of Human Genetics, School of Pathology, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
- Academy of Science of South Africa, Pretoria, South Africa
| | - Michael De Jongh
- Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of South Africa, Pretoria, South Africa
| | - Carina M Schlebusch
- Human Evolution, Department of Organismal Biology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden.
- Palaeo-Research Institute, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa.
- SciLife Lab, Uppsala, Sweden.
| |
Collapse
|