LATE HOLOCENE BURIAL CLUSTER AT DIAZ STREET MIDDEN,SALDANHA BAY, WESTERN CAPE, SOUTH AFRICA

摘要

In 2007, a construction crew discovered the remains of six human skeletons beneath a mid-Holocene shell midden on Din Street (DSM) Saldanha Bay, South Africa. Three of the six burials dating to the Late Holocene were found in situ and provide information on burial context. Burial One provides further evidence for interpersonal violence during the Late Holocene, as there is a bone point lodged in her throat, while the large grave shafts of Burials Three and Four are of a style that has not been previously documented archaeologically. The DSM burials have stable isotope signatures and radiocarbon dates that are consistent with the Megamidden period. The six burials are clustered together, which is an abnormal burial pattern for open sites along the west coast. Comparing the DSM burial cluster with the only other published evidence of a burial cluster (Faraoskop Rock Shelter), suggests that towards the end of the Megamidden period people may have been claiming the landscape or becoming territorial.