Mussel Point
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Mussel Point also known as Mike Taylor's Midden (MTM) is possibly the largest of 13 megamiddens found along the South African West Coast. MTM is the only open site with remains from the early pottery period (3000 and 2000 years before present) in the Elands Bay and Lamberts Bay areas at 32°18′S 18°19′E.
Mussel Point | |
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Mike Taylor's Midden | |
Location | Elands Bay, Western Cape |
Coordinates | 32°20′12″S 18°18′59″E |
There are only a handful of shell middens along the West Coast of South Africa that are as large and deep as Mussel Point. These very large sites, named "megamiddens", are the expression of unique social and economic (subsistence) solutions to environmental and demographic challenges that precolonial San hunter-gatherers faced between 3000 and 2000 years before present (BP). MTM is at least 350 metres (1,150 ft) long and 200 metres (660 ft) wide and has a depth that varies between 1.0 to 1.5 metres (39 to 59 in). It dates to between 980 and 2800 BP, however, much of this occupational sequence dates to between 2100 and 2500 BP. For this reason, MTM is singular among megamiddens in that it offers the best chronological resolution (greatest volume for shortest time) for the later part of this unique period of the precolonial history of South Africa.[1]