The effects of burrowing activity on archaeological sites: Ndondondwane,South Africa

Burrowing activity is a widely recognized source of site modification. Most taphonomic studies of burrowers emphasize their destructive aspects on the archaeological record. Excavations at Ndondondwane, South Africa, suggest burrowing activity is destructive in some ways, but may also preserve cultural behavior. Drawing on both direct and indirect sources of evidence, we discuss how burrowing activity by rodents, earthworms, and termites can inform about pedogenic and depositional processes at archaeological sites and both preserve and destroy evidence of intra‐settlement patterns and early African cultigens. Specifically, we demonstrate the limited effect of earthworms on site stratigraphy, how the localized activity of termites have preserved casts of early African cultigens, and how the ability of archaeologists to distinguish the devastating effects of rodent burrowing from remains of architectural features have permitted important inferences about social and ritual life in early African farming communities. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.