Abstract
Despite a rich archaeological record, the old prehistory of Namibia, particularly from the Earlier Stone Age, is poorly documented, due to the surface context of the findings, exposed by erosional processes. In this context, human behaviors and responses to environment changes in this region during the Middle Pleistocene remain unclear. In the late 1970's, Myra Shackley surveyed the Central Namib dune desert and discovered lithic artefacts associated to fragmented fossilized bones of antelopes, elephants, zebras and buffalos at Namib IV. She interpreted this locality as an Acheulean butchery site on the shores of a paleolake. The radiometric dating suggested an age of ~347ka whereas biochronology broadly pointed the human occupation to the Mid-Pleistocene Transition (1–0.5 Ma). Thanks to these ages, Namib IV is currently the earliest dated evidence of human presence in the current Namib coastal desert. Contextualized by the existing chronological and paleoenvironmental data, we analyzed the unstudied lithic material recovered at Namib IV. To do so, we applied a qualitative morpho-structural approach to the stone tools and tried to reconstruct the productional schemes (chaînes opératoires). Our results argue for an important economy of the raw material, a spatial fragmentation of stone tool production and an important technical homogeneity of the lithic assemblage despite few possible intrusive elements. In the light of these analyses, we finally discussed the advanced site function of Namib IV as butchery site.
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.