Rescue excavations at Diaz Street Midden, Saldanha Bay, South Africa

This paper documents Diaz Street Midden, a Later Stone Age site discovered during recent development of a property in Saldanha Bay, South Africa. It began accumulating some 6000 years ago but the upper deposits were destroyed prior to excavation. The small excavation yielded a spectacular silcrete-dominated lithic assemblage with an unusually high frequency and variety of retouched artifacts. Ostrich eggshell beads were made on the site and seals and shellfish comprised the primary food sources. Several burials date to a later occupation than that represented by the deposits. The loss of this highly significant site is tragic given its richness and the rarity of similar aged sites on the Western Cape coast.