Mussels and mongongo nuts: logistical visits to the Cape west coast, South Africa

Very large late Holocene shell middens (‘megamiddens’, some over 10 000 m3 in extent) along a 20 km section of the west coast of South Africa provide a particular interpretative challenge in determining whether they result from residential visits or from logistical processing of shellfish for transport and consumption elsewhere. The latter interpretation is preferred here and is consistent with stable carbon isotopic readings on coastal human burials and site contents that illustrate that groups visited specific localities, collected and dried black mussels and then transported and consumed the dried product inland. The sizes and contents of these large middens contrasts sharply with those of unquestionably residential residues from earlier and later time periods. This approach is supported with reference to the ethnographically described processing and consumption of mongongo nuts by 20th century San of the Kalahari.

► Megamiddens are logistical campsites. ► Stable carbon isotopes from coastal skeletons. ► Logistical and residential movements of San hunters and gatherers. ► Food waste and artefact densities in caves and open sites. ► Mongongo collection as analog for shellfish gathering.