Archaeological Evidence for Violence in the Later Stone Age

The first archaeological evidence from southern Africa indicating violent death was a skeleton recovered at Quoin Point, near Cape Agulhas, in the middle 1960s.11 Unfortunately there was little burial information as the bones were exposed by dune deflation and were recovered from the surface, but a radiocarbon date of 2220 ± 40 years bce (Beta 241163) has placed the burial securely within the Later Stone Age.

The identification of violence in the case of the Quoin Point specimen was straightforward, but cases where the instrument of injury is no longer present are much more difficult to confirm. In order for a bone fracture to indicate intentional violence, it must be unlikely that it resulted from an accidental or disease process. Traumatic bone lesions can be classified into those that occurred antemortem (with evident signs of healing), perimortem (without healing but with signs of bone damage while still ‘green') and post-mortem (with signs of dry bone damage after soft tissue decomposition). Cranial lesions provide the most solid evidence of violent intent when the nature of

Figure 4.1 The 12th thoracic and 1st lumbar vertebrae of UCT 317 (Quoin Point) showing bone arrowheads in situ. Scale in cm. Left: right lateral view; right: inferior oblique view.

the impact point can be identified, and these can be seen as depressed bone segments or radiating fractures.

Susan Pfeiffer and I have been independently reviewing the osteological evidence for violence in the Later Stone Age of southern Africa, examining human skeletons dating from the middle to late Holocene between 8,000 to around 2,000 years ago. We have found twelve cases with seventeen indivi­duals where violent events can be identified.^{[186] [187]} Table 4.1 lists each of these cases in order from unambiguous at the top to cases with weaker evidence towards the bottom.

The most obvious cases are where remains of the implement that caused the injury are still present. Quoin Point has already been mentioned, but

Table 4.1 (cont.)

* UCT (Department of Human Biology, University of Cape Town); SAM (Physical Anthropology Collection, Iziko Museums, Cape Town); A (School of Anatomical Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand); NMB (National Museum, Bloemfontein)

Figure 4.2 Superior view of cranial vault of UCT 332 individual 3 (Langklip) showing perimortem injury on the right parietal caused by a bluntly pointed object.

Pfeiffer has identified another case from Ballito Bay on the Natal coast where an embedded stone fragment remains in a healed cranial lesion in an older male.^{[188] [189]} A second set of individuals (from Modder River, Melkbosstrand, Langklip and Snuifklip) all demonstrate very distinctive cranial lesions.1⁵ The point of impact is localised and suggests a bluntly pointed implement with a narrow circular diameter as the agent of injury (Figure 4.2).

Two sites noted by Pfeiffer and Genevieve Dewar have the weakest evidence, but still could be included in this sample.1^[192] While the specimens from Saldanha Bay and Buffel's Bay do not show bone trauma, either antemortem or perimortem, in each case bone arrowheads similar in form to the two recovered with UCT 317 at Quoin Point were found in direct association with the bones.^[193] These were not grave goods and could con­ceivably have been artefacts included with the grave fill, but at least in the case of the woman from Saldanha Bay, the bone point was in close associa­tion with the cervical vertebrae suggesting that it was lodged in the covering soft tissue before decomposition. The last case (NMB 5), from Plettenberg Bay, is a reminder that injuries could have other causes unrelated to inter­personal violence. Pfeiffer has proposed that the series of three healed lesions are consistent with bite marks from a large predator such as a brown

Figure 4.3 Posterior view of cranial vault of UCT 386 (Faraoskop) showing impact point on left side and radiating fractures on both sides of the skull.

hyaena.^[194] In this case, the person suffered significant injuries but must have survived the attack.

Summarising eleven sites (excluding the Plettenberg Bay case as a possible animal attack), there are some obvious patterns. Men, women and children were all victims and, in some cases, the wounds suggest that there could be no other reason for the violence except to kill the person. Pfeiffer has described the three children from a single grave at Modder River where each child had been killed by cranial trauma from an implement that is consistent with a Later Stone Age digging stick. Pfeiffer in particular has focused on the time and geographic location of these events. Only one case is not from the western or southern Cape coastal region, and there is a particular cluster of cases from the 150-kilometre-long coastal belt running north from Cape Town. Nine of the skeletons have been dated to between 2,100 and 2,700 years ago, with a mean of around 2500 bce.