An 18 kilometer stretch of rocky shoreline along the western coast of South Africa in the province of the Western Cape is one of the most intensively investigated regions in the country. The reason for all this interest lies in enormous heaps of mussel shells, some containing as much as 60,000 cubic meters of shells, heaped on the shore and coastal dunes during the 1200 year period between 3000 and 1800 years ago.
The shell heaps, called megamiddens, are only part of the story, which includes evidence of a prehistoric lifestyle that included ready access to terrestrial and marine life, caves and rockshelters that served as protection from weather and enemies, and campsites along the rocky beaches from Elands Bay to Lamberts Bay, South Africa.
The environment of the shoreline includes a succession of sandy and rocky beaches with a parallel dune cordon, reaching to heights of 5-19 meters above the current sea level. The vegetation is scrubby, with patches of heath and succulent shrubs. Freshwater marshes called vleis dotted the landscape in the past before modern irrigation lowered the water table, and back=dune lagoons could be used as reliable sources of drinking water and water fowl.
Studied since the 1970s, archaeologists have debated minds about the middens, what the purpose was, and what the history of the people who lived on the western coast of South Africa during the Later Stone Age. This photo essay explores some of the archaeological research behind these enormous shell heaps.
Sources
A bibliography has been collected for this project. Thanks are due to John Parkington for the images and for his suggestions for the text.
