Patterns in Stone: The Lithic Assemblage from Dunefield Midden, Western Cape, South Africa

Abstract

Dunefield Midden is a Later Stone Age hunter-gatherer campsite displaying a series of short occupations between c. 900 BP and c. 600 BP that post-dates afar earlier one. The lithic assemblage can be split into two chronologically distinct components: (I) an almost exclusively quartz scatter that is highly expedient in manufacture and completely dominated by backed pieces and bipolar cores; (2) an older, much smaller, wind-abraded scatter comprising a wider variety of both raw materials and tool classes that indicates a more formalized industry. The former displays discrete stoneworking areas while the latter has no clear spatial structure. In keeping with the expedience of the flaked assemblage, a high degree of re-use is evident on the hammerstones, anvils and grindstones. All results have been examined via a density-based spatial analysis. The possibility of not recovering cultural remains or spatial patterning in small excavations of large shell middens is considered.