Reconstructing Middle Stone Age lifeways and paleotemperatures using shellfish as proxies: A perspective from southern Cape, South Africa

Overview
Some of the earliest evidence of coastal exploitation by humans anywhere in the world is found in the archaeological sites along the southern coast of South Africa dating to the Middle Stone Age. Blombos Cave is one of the sites that are regarded as essential for our understanding of the evolution of anatomically modern humans and the development of modern behavior and cognition (Marean, 2010; Compton, 2011). In coastal southern Africa, one of the traits commonly associated with the emergence of modern human behavior is the exploitation of marine resources. Mollusc shells excavated at archaeological sites can yield crucial information on various aspects of early human occupation, including subsistence, seasonality, paleoenvironment, and chronology (Andrus, 2011; Langejans et al., 2012).
Previous research by Nicholas Shackleton, Francis Thackeray, Mariagrazia Galimberti, and Emma Loftus, among others, has demonstrated the utility of the gastropod Turbo sarmaticus for paleoclimate research (Shackleton, 1973; Galimberti, 2010; Loftus, 2016; Thackeray, 2018). From the δ18O values of the archaeological Turbo sarmaticus opercula, I aim to reconstruct the sea surface temperatures and environmental conditions throughout the Middle Stone Age sequence at Blombos Cave. The season of occupation and the possibility to construct an age model for the entire MSA sequence will also be in the scope of my research.
This PhD project will contribute to a better understanding of the site-specific and regional paleoclimate variability in the southern coastal area of South Africa during Marine Isotope Stages 5 and 4 by providing detailed sea surface temperatures and seasonally resolved paleoclimate records. In a broader context, these records will indicate how and to what degree paleoenvironmental conditions affected early human development, adaptability, and resource procurement. On the other hand, a shell-based age model will complement other dating methods that have been employed to refine the Middle Stone Age chronology of Blombos Cave.