Article2010

Late Quaternary dietary shifts of the Cape grysbok (Raphicerus melanotis) in southern Africa

45 citations0/0 files storedQuaternary Research

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Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology Evolution and Paleontology Studies Archaeology and ancient environmental studies

Abstract

Abstract The Cape grysbok is endemic to southern Africa's Cape Floral Region where it selectively browses various species of dicotyledonous vegetation. Fossil evidence indicates that the grysbok persisted under glacial and interglacial conditions throughout the late Quaternary and inhabited a range of environments. This study employs mesowear analysis to reconstruct grysbok diets over time and in response to changing environments at Nelson Bay Cave, Die Kelders Cave 1, Klasies River Mouth, and Swartklip 1. Results indicate that the amount of grasses (monocots) versus leafy vegetation (dicots) included in the diet fluctuated over time and largely in agreement with changes in faunal community structure. The case for dietary flexibility is particularly clear at Nelson Bay Cave, where there is a significant trend from mixed feeding towards increased browsing from the late Pleistocene (~ 18,500 14C yr BP) through the Holocene. Dietary shifts at Nelson Bay Cave are consistent with the hypothesis that declining grassland productivity is responsible for the terminal Pleistocene extinction of several large ungulates in southern Africa. Furthermore, the short-term dietary shifts demonstrated here (100s to 1000s of years) provide an important caution against relying on taxonomic uniformitarianism when reconstructing the dietary preferences of fossil ungulates, both extant and extinct.

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References

1984Quaternary extinctions : a prehistoric revolution 2008Ages for the Middle Stone Age of Southern Africa: Implications for Human Behavior and Dispersal 1984The Middle Stone Age at Klasies River Mouth in South Africa 1983The middle stone age at Klasies River mouth in South Africa 1976The Mammalian Fauna of the Klasies River Mouth Sites, Southern Cape Province, South Africa 2010Middle and Late Pleistocene paleoscape modeling along the southern coast of South Africa 2006The mammalian fauna associated with an archaic hominin skullcap and later Acheulean artifacts at Elandsfontein, Western Cape Province, South Africa 2000Middle and Later Stone Age large mammal and tortoise remains from Die Kelders Cave 1, Western Cape Province, South Africa

Cited by

2011Ungulate community richness, grazer extinctions, and human subsistence behavior in southern Africa's Cape Floral Region 2017Paleoenvironmental Reconstruction from Faunal Remains: Ecological Basics and Analytical Assumptions 2018Connections, culture and environments around 100 000 years ago at Klasies River main site 2016Mid to Late Quaternary Landscape and Environmental Dynamics in the Middle Stone Age of Southern South Africa

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