Late Holocene coastal change in the southwestern Cape, South Africa

Radiocarbon-dated elevated marine deposits and the record of anthropogenic and natural debris in archaeological deposits on the west coast of South Africa indicate that significant coastal remodelling has taken place in the past 4300 years in response to sea level change. Geological and archaeological investigation of elevated deposits of sub-fossil shell, abandoned lagoons, and washover bars has shown that many of these features relate to a mid Holocene high stand of the sea of about +2-3 m above modern mean sea level. The detailed course of local late Holocene sea level change cannot be resolved from these elevated geological deposits but information from archaeological sites provides valuable indirect evidence of the effects of coastal change in response to minor fluctuations in relative sea level. © 1995.