9/2/052/0021

This site is situated about 10 km east from Plettenberg Bay and is of great archaeological and physical anthropological importance due to its nearly 10 meter deep archaeological deposits spanning the last 10 000 years and the large number of human burials found there which amount to about 90 individuals. Matjes River shelter has arguably the largest concentration of human burials for the Later Stone Age in South Africa, something analogous to a pre-colonial cemetery. The study of the domestic refuse (marine shells from molluscs gathered from nearby shoreline, and bone remains from terrestrial and marine animals), and artefact assemblage (stone tools, bone fish gorges, painted stones with human figures, shell beads and pendants) left over hundreds of visits allow the reconstruction the original hunter-gatherer lifestyle along the south coast.