Paternoster Midden is a megamidden on the west coast of

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

. This megamidden has particular value, as it is one of the few megamiddens in existence that has such a rich and diverse faunal and artefactual content.

Significance

Most of the shell middens along the west coast of the

Western Cape The Western Cape ( ; , ) is a provinces of South Africa, province of South Africa, situated on the south-western coast of the country. It is the List of South African provinces by area, fourth largest of the nine provinces with an area of , an ...

are small in size, and their content consists mainly of large amounts of marine shells and only very modest amounts of fauna vertebrae and artefactual remains such as

ostrich Ostriches are large flightless birds. Two living species are recognised, the common ostrich, native to large parts of sub-Saharan Africa, and the Somali ostrich, native to the Horn of Africa. They are the heaviest and largest living birds, w ...

eggshell beads. Several middens have been found at Paternoster. One of these midden sites is known as PNNA, and is now referred to as "Paternoster Midden". This is a megamidden, with a unique content compared to other middens on the same coast. Paternoster Midden is a large site, long and wide. It contains a large percentage of faunal remains made up of small animals such as tortoises, marine birds, snakes, and

Cape fur seal The brown fur seal (''Arctocephalus pusillus''), also known as the Cape fur seal, and Afro-Australian fur seal, is a species of fur seal. Description The brown fur seal is the largest and most robust member of the fur seals. It has a large an ...

s, as well as small and large bovids, such as

steenbok The steenbok (''Raphicerus campestris'') is a common small antelope of southern and eastern Africa. It is sometimes known as the steinbuck or steinbok. Description Steenbok resemble small oribi, standing 45–60 cm (16"–24") at the ...

, grysbok, eland, buffalo and even an extra-large bovid with elephant remains. The megamidden also contains cultural items which are rarely found in middens; ostrich eggshell beads (OES) are among the most notable of these finds. Other cultural items found were stone artefacts and unworked OES fragments that are likely to be the remnants of food or water containers.

Provincial heritage site

Paternoster Midden was declared a provincial heritage site by

Heritage Western Cape Heritage Western Cape (HWC) is a provincial heritage resources authority established by the Minister of Cultural Affairs and Sport of the government of the Western Cape province in South Africa. It is a public entity set up under the terms of ...

on 9 April 2009, in terms of Section 27 of the National Heritage Resources Act.SHARA site finds. http://www.sahra.org.za/sites/pnna This gives the site Grade II status, and provides the site with protection under South African heritage law. Mussel Point is another megamidden that has recently been declared a provincial heritage site.

References

{{Reflist Protected areas of South Africa Archaeological sites in South Africa Buildings and structures in the Western Cape Shell middens Archaeological sites of Southern Africa