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Abstract
Ju/’hoan hunters from Nyae Nyae, near Tsumkwe in Namibia, demonstrate the manufacture of three fixative pastes made from plant extracts, and poison made from grubs and plant extracts. Ammocharis coranica and Terminalia sericea produce simple glue. Ozoroa schinzii latex mixed with carbonized Aristeda adscensionis grass is a compound adhesive. Composite poison is made from Chrysomelid grub viscera mixed with salivary extracts of Acacia mellifera inner bark and the tuber sap of Asparagus exuvialis. In order to document potential variability in the chaîne opératoire, and to eliminate inherent biases associated with unique observations, we studied manufacturing processes in three separate Nyae Nyae villages. Although there are methodological similarities in the Nyae Nyae area, we observed a few differences in contemporary traditions of poison manufacture. For example, some hunters make powder from Asparagus exuvialis tuber sap by boiling, reducing, hardening and grinding it, while others simply use heated sap. The Ju/’hoan hunting kit provides insights for archaeologists, but we must exercise caution when looking for continuity between prehistoric and historical technical systems. Some traditions have been lost to modern hunters, while others are new. We should also expect variability in the Stone Age because of geographically restricted resources. Simple glue, compound adhesive, and poison recipes identified in the Stone Age have no modern equivalents. By about 60,000 years ago at Diepkloof, simple glue was used for hafting tools, but at similarly-aged Sibudu there are recipes that combine red ochre powder with plant and/or animal ingredients. At Border Cave, novel poisons and compound adhesives were used in the Early Later Stone Age. It is possible that the complexity that we record in the manufacture of fixative pastes and poison used by Ju/’hoan hunters represents a hafting system both similar to and different from that observed at the Stone Age sites of Diepkloof, Sibudu, and Border Cave.
Highlights
Composite weaponry seems to have originated in Europe and Asia in the Middle Palaeolithic (MP) and in Africa during the Middle Stone Age (MSA)
Ammocharis coranica bulb scale glue is a simple, single component, waterproof fixative paste that can be reconstituted by heating and kneading. It is used for fixing heavy duty weapons and implements to their shafts or handles, and for mending various artefacts
Terminalia sericea gum is simple, water soluble glue that is used for the final sealing of sinew on spear shafts or on arrow components such as grass shafts, collars and metal arrow shanks
Summary
Composite weaponry seems to have originated in Europe and Asia in the Middle Palaeolithic (MP) and in Africa during the Middle Stone Age (MSA). At present there is no evidence for the use of fixative pastes early on in the African MSA because glues and adhesives only remain as residues on stone tools if there is good organic preservation in the archaeological site concerned. Ochre, used as a loading agent in some adhesives, remains as a red trace on stone tools from, for example, Enkapune ya Muto in East Africa [22], Rose Cottage Cave in Free State, South Africa [23] and Sibudu [20,21, 24,25,26] (Table 1). At 44 ka ago in Border Cave there are small bone points with possible marks of ownership coloured with red ochre, and, together with the poison applicator, these artefacts imply the use of hunting devices similar to those used by San hunters historically [15]. The hunters we observed used iron, not wooden, digging sticks
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