Heading to Cape Town today for the 2023 #archaeology field season at #BlombosCave !

Blombos Cave is located on the southern cape of South Africa and has a #MiddleStoneAge component between 100,000 and ~72,000 as well as a #LateStoneAge occupation

Artifacts important to the understanding of early human behavior have been found here such as the oldest drawing of #ochre on a silcrete flake at 73,000 and a ochre grinding toolkit at 100,000

Excavation starts Feb 4th! @AsiaArchaeologist on #tiktok

Working on submitting destructive sampling permits for #StableIsotope analysis of #CapeFurSeal tooth enamel, fish #otoliths and bone collagen.
Here is the seal plan: 🦭
Comparing carbon and oxygen SI of #MiddleStoneAge seals from #KlasiesRiverMainSite and #BlombosCave with #LateStoneAge seals from #Hoffman’s/Robberg and #NelsonBayCave
Planning to compare the archaeological samples with present day seal populations to see if the #foraging environments have changed.
#archaeology #zooarchaeology

What fish are in the #zooarchaeology assemblage at #BlombosCave and #KlaisesRiverMainSite ? You can see some at the #TwoOceans #Aquarium in Cape Town, South Africa— here are three #endemic beauties!

You’ll find the Red Stumpnose and Galjoen from the #MiddleStoneAge at Blombos Cave and the White Stumpnose and Galjoen at Klasies.

(Data and map from van Niekerk 2011)

Going through the #MiddleStoneAge fish remains from the #archaeology site of #BlombosCave in #SouthAfrica and found this giant, 100kya vertebrae!

It belongs to a dusky or silver kob (Image below), a #fish considered delicious and sought after. Today fishing is restricted to try and keep population levels up. Some #MarineProtectedAreas are in place but more would likely help!

(Image 2 credits Marius Diemont 2020)

Thrilled to have made it to the lab in #SouthAfrica to select #MiddleStoneAge and #LateStoneAge #fish and #seals for #StableIsotopes! More fish, seal, and marine sustability content to come…

New introduction time! I’m #zooarchaeologist analyzing #MiddleStoneAge and #LateStoneAge fish and seals from the #SouthAfrican sites of #BlombosCave #KlasiesRiverMainSite and #HoffmansRobberg

I’m a #postdoc at the University of Bergen #UiB with the #SEAS programme for #marine #sustainability, #SapienCE and department of archaeology #AHKR

I will give periodic updates on my work and aim to contribute to the conversations here. 😊

Photo: #Utstein 13th century monastery near Stavanger