Steenbokfontein Cave is the name of a Later Stone Age rockshelter with a megamidden deposit, and some of the oldest rock art known from South Africa. The cave is located in the Lamberts Bay area of the West Cape region of South Africa, and it is one of the few coastal caves which were visited by humans regularly between 3000 and 2000 BP.
The cave is oriented west northwest, and it overlooks reefs and beaches of Elands Bay. The cave opening measures 19 meters wide and 7 meters tall, and it has a recess of 9 meters in depth.
Stratigraphy at Steenbokfontein Cave
Human occupation of the cave includes two major occupational periods, with a gap of about 400 years, illustrated by five major stratigraphic layers. The earliest layer dates between 6100 and 4000 BP (years ago); the later occupations date between 3600 and 2200 BP. All of the occupations likely represent temporary short-term visits and revisits. Archaeological data from stable isotope studies revealed a shift from a terrestrial diet in the earliest days to a more marine-oriented diet later in the sequence.
- Layer 1: sandy deposits with slightly fragmented shell, dessicated kelp and charcoal, dated to ca 2200 BP
- Layer 2: sandy matrix, thin lenses of shell, postcranial microfauna dated to 2360 BP.
- Layer 3: heavily burnt, fairly deep and loosely packed shell midden deposits. several hearths, large fragments of rock and grindstones, smears of ochre. A well-preserved human newborn was discovered buried in a small pit within this layer. Dated between 2490-2690 BP.
- Layer 4a: intensively burnt sand and ash. 3510-3640 BP (shell dates, corrected for sea water)
- Layer 4b: dark brown organic sand with shell lenses; a hearth dated to 3990, charcoal in the lowest layer above bedrock was dated to 6070 BP
Rock Art
Rock paintings on the walls are primarily of hand prints and human figures, but two images are noted of fat-tailed sheep. Ten slabs of rock, apparently fallen from the rear of the cave, were excavated from Layer 4a. These had drawings of seven human figures, in red paint with white details. Their location in Layer 4a places the date of the paintings as at least as old as 3600 years ago.Artifacts at Steenbokfontein Cave
Faunal material recovered from the cave includes a large amount of marine shells, ostrich eggshell, flaked stone, tortoise, mammal, bovids, rock hyrax, sheep remains. The shellfish are dominated by black mussels (Choromytilus meriodionalis), with fewer limpets (Patella spp) and whelks (Burnupena spp).
Other artifacts include pigments (ochre/hematite and psiolmelane), and finished and unfinished beads and bendants. Formal stone tools are mostly scrapers and adzes. Assemblages are quartz-dominated, especially in the earliest phase; silcrete increases in the later stage.
Child Burial at Steenbokfontein Cave
The burial was an nearly complete infant, who died within a few weeks of its birth. The child was buried in a small pit, without grave offerings or personal ornaments, except for a small wad of grass placed over the body. Radiocarbon assays on the bones returned a date of 2445+/- 50 years BP. The dry environment of the cave led to the good preservation of the child's body, including some preserved soft tissue.
Steenbokfontein Cave was excavated in the mid-1990s by Antonieta Jerardino and Royden Yates from the Department of Archaeology at the University of Cape Town.
Sources
Jerardino A. 2001. Diversity in mastic-mounted stone adzes and the use of mastic in precolonial South Africa: evidence from Steenbokfontein Cave. Antiquity 75(290):859-866.
Jerardino A. 1999. A First Account of Fat-Tailed Sheep in the Rock Paintings of the Western Cape Coast. The South African Archaeological Bulletin 54(169):64-66.
Jerardino A, and Yates R. 1996. Preliminary Results from Excavations at Steenbokfontein Cave: Implications for Past and Future Research. The South African Archaeological Bulletin 51(163):7-16.
Jerardino A, Sealy J, and Pfeiffer S. 2000. An Infant Burial from Steenbokfontein Cave, West Coast, South Africa: Its Archaeological, Nutritional and Anatomical Context. The South African Archaeological Bulletin 55(171):44-48.
Jerardino A, and Swanepoel N. 1999. Painted Slabs from Steenbokfontein Cave: The Oldest Known Parietal Art in Southern Africa. Current Anthropology 40(4):542-547.
