Journal of’ Archaeological Science 199 1, 18,33 I-342 Approaches to Dietary Reconstruction in the Western Cape: Are You What You Have Eaten? John Parkington” (Received I October 1989, revisedmanuscript accepted I.5 September 1990) Debate has arisen over the extent of marine food consumption and by implication coastalresidence among Holocene hunter-gatherers in the Cape Province of South Africa. Whereas bioarchaeological methods havebeenassumed to imply short-term probably seasonal coastal visits, stable carbon isotope results are heldto demonstrate heavy marine food intake and almostpermanent coastal dwelling. Here a metabolic critique of the isotopeinterpretation is offered, in which the suggestion is made that marine food signals are exaggerated in skeletons because of protein induced high turnover rates.In a second critique, the palaeoenvironmental implications of isotope readings are shownto demonstrate a higher inland C, component than hashitherto been recognized. Some enrichment of skeletons may-wellresult from terrestrialrather than marinefood consumption. Keywords: DIETARY RECONSTRUCTION, ISOTOPES, BIOARCHAEOLOGY, WESTERN CAPE, COASTAL PREHISTORY. Introduction Some debate has emerged from the contrast between the results of bioarchaeological and archaeometric analyses of prehistoric settlement strategies in the western Cape (Sealy, 1986; Sealy & van der Merwe, 1985, 1986, 1988; Parkington, 1986, 1988). Briefly, in this paper it is argued that a consideration of potential variability in bone turnover rates, related to protein intake, and of the isotopic value of precolonial terrestrial food resources, allows us to see the isotope results as less conflicting with traditional models. More specifically it is argued that enriched 613C values for skeletons from coastal sites need not reflect a restrictedly strandloping existence and that for some time periods at least the differences between coastal and inland samples are negligible. Some clarification of the temporal and spatial aspects of the issue is required. The original suggestion of seasonal mobility (Parkington, 1972) and its subsequent elaboration (Parkington, 1976, 1977) referred broadly to the Holocene time period but specifically to the area between the mouths of the Berg and Olifants rivers and between the coast and the Cape Fold Belt (Figure 1). The time frame was narrowed by two realizations. Bioarchaeological analyses of animal and plant remains from the stratified sequence at Elands Bay Cave illustrated (Parkington, 1980) that the timing of visits, and also perhaps the duration of visits, had changed significantly between Terminal Pleistocene and Late Holocene. Dating of both this and other sequences revealed the episodic nature of site use “Spatial Archaeology Research Unit, Department of Archaeology, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch 7700, South Africa. 331 0305-4403/91/03033 I + 12 $03.00/0 0 1991 Academic Press Limited