Stone Age Of South Africa Research Articles

Coastal adaptations on the eastern seaboard of South Africa during the Pleistocene and Holocene? Current evidence and future perspectives from archaeology and marine geology

The use of marine resources and the settlement of coastal settlements may have influenced the bio-cultural evolution and dispersal of PleistoceneHomo sapiensin Africa. In order to test such scenarios, however, we require evidence for these behaviours deriving from an expanded spatio-temporal archaeological record. The Stone Age of South Africa documents the richest and longest record of coastal adaptations. In contrast to abundant evidence of coastal sites on the western and southern seaboard, the eastern Indian Ocean coast has not played a role in recent discussions. Considering the important and well-known Middle and Later Stone Age (MSA/LSA) record from inland sites of KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), this region may be an underappreciated area for further study. Here we provide a systematic overview of marine resource use and the settlement of coastal landscapes during the Late Pleistocene and Holocene in KZN. For the first time, we contextualize these archaeological findings with a review and new data on the changing marine and coastal geomorphology in the context of GIS modelling and offshore marine geophysical investigations. Our review finds evidence for long-term dietary and non-dietary use of marine resources during the MSA and LSA from a few stratified sites, with many more surface occurrences particularly for the MSA along the modern KZN coastline indicating human habitation. Comparisons to other areas of South Africa, GIS modelling and geological considerations suggest that current data on the eastern seaboard are not reflective of the original extent and nature of the consumption of marine foods and settlement of coastal landscapes. By contextualizing the biased and patchy MSA and LSA record with results on the dynamic marine and coastal geomorphology of KZN, we develop productive lines of future studies to assess open questions on potential coastal adaptations in this region. These research strategies include the identification of areas with high potential for finding new sites within a 10 km transect along the current coastline as well as dedicated off-shore projects including underwater archaeology aided by new marine geological work in the southwest Indian Ocean.

Atop Kasteelberg: Social Complexity in the Later Stone Age of South Africa

Kasteelberg is a prominent hill and a famous archaeological locality on the west coast of South Africa. It has abundant evidence of pre-colonial herding practices. In this paper, I describe the Later Stone Age hilltop site of KBDe and its excavated remains. I argue that KBDe is merely one part of an extensive site that covers the summit of Kasteelberg, and which includes the previously published locality KBA. From the late seventh to the mid-eleventh centuries AD, the hilltop was used as a location for conspicuous feasts. Hilltop settlements often broadcast higher social status, and Kasteelberg may be the oldest example of such signalling in South Africa.

Symbolic use of marine shells and mineral pigments by Iberian Neandertals 115,000 years ago.

Cueva de los Aviones (southeast Spain) is a site of the Neandertal-associated Middle Paleolithic of Europe. It has yielded ochred and perforated marine shells, red and yellow colorants, and shell containers that feature residues of complex pigmentatious mixtures. Similar finds from the Middle Stone Age of South Africa have been widely accepted as archaeological proxies for symbolic behavior. U-series dating of the flowstone capping the Cueva de los Aviones deposit shows that the symbolic finds made therein are 115,000 to 120,000 years old and predate the earliest known comparable evidence associated with modern humans by 20,000 to 40,000 years. Given our findings, it is possible that the roots of symbolic material culture may be found among the common ancestor of Neandertals and modern humans, more than half-a-million years ago.

What factors govern the procurement and use of silcrete during the Stone Age of South Africa?

Fluctuations in the frequency of silcrete in lithic assemblages have been an important focus of Stone Age research in southern Africa. Here, we review temporal and spatial variation in silcrete abundance during the LSA and MSA of southern Africa and discuss mechanisms that might drive the differential acquisition and treatment of this raw material. Previous research has proposed a variety of explanations that include non-behavioural factors (sea level changes, climatic and environmental driving forces) and various behavioural determinants that range from functional constraints and economic considerations to socio-cultural preferences. In order to test these explanations and provide a systematic spatio-temporal overview of silcrete use, we performed a meta-analysis by collecting a database on silcrete abundance from a total of 25 Stone Age sites that encompass >200 assemblages. Quantitative statistical analyses of this database reveal significant variation in silcrete prevalence among and between sites. The main temporal trajectory conforms to a bimodal pattern that features peak frequencies in MIS 4 & 3 as well as MIS 1. The results also demonstrate a significant association between silcrete abundance and technocomplexes with particularly high values for the Howiesons Poort, “post-HP” and Wilton, but not the Still Bay. Silcrete abundance is significantly correlated with the production of tools in general, and the manufacture of microlithic or backed artefacts in particular, suggesting an influence of functional considerations and potentially cultural preferences. In contrast, we found little support for the dependence of silcrete use on purely economic grounds such as procurement costs or a strong impact of non-behavioural factors such as changes in sea level or environmental circumstances. By operating on a large spatio-temporal scale with aggregated data, the results of this study can help to embed the acquisition and treatment of silcrete by Stone Age people in a wider behavioural and evolutionary framework.

Faunal Assemblage Structure Suggests a Limited Impact of the Introduction of Domestic Stock on Later Stone Age Subsistence Economies in South Africa

Livestock remains appear in the South African archaeological record around 2100 years ago. However, the economic importance of domestic animals in Later Stone Age subsistence is debated. This paper adopts an approach rooted in Optimal Foraging Theory to examine if the introduction of livestock is reflected in changing taxonomic diversity of faunal assemblages. Based on the analysis of a database of 300+ faunal assemblages, it is concluded that the economic importance of livestock during the final Later Stone Age of South Africa was relatively limited.

Direct evidence for human exploitation of birds in the Middle Stone Age of South Africa: The example of Sibudu Cave, KwaZulu-Natal

Here, we present direct taphonomic evidence for the exploitation of birds by hunter-gatherers in the Middle Stone Age of South Africa as far as ∼77 ka. The bird assemblage from Sibudu Cave, KwaZulu-Natal, was analysed for bone surface modifications. Cut-marks associated with skinning, defleshing, and disarticulation, perforations on distal humeri produced during disarticulation of the forewing, peeling, and human tooth marks were observed on bird bones (i.e., mostly pigeons, doves, Galliformes, waders, and raptors) recovered from pre-Still Bay, Still Bay, Howiesons Poort, and post-Howiesons Poort techno-complexes. We conducted experiments to butcher, disarticulate, cook, and consume pigeon and dove carcasses, in order to create a comparative collection of bone surface modifications associated with human consumption of these birds. Human/bird interactions can now be demonstrated outside of Europe and prior to 50 ka. The evidence sheds new light on Middle Stone Age subsistence strategies in South Africa and introduces a fresh argument to the debate regarding the early emergence of behaviours usually associated with Later Stone Age hunter-gatherers.

The Still Bay and Howiesons Poort at Sibudu and Blombos: Understanding Middle Stone Age Technologies.

The classification of archaeological assemblages in the Middle Stone Age of South Africa in terms of diversity and temporal continuity has significant implications with respect to recent cultural evolutionary models which propose either gradual accumulation or discontinuous, episodic processes for the emergence and diffusion of cultural traits. We present the results of a systematic technological and typological analysis of the Still Bay assemblages from Sibudu and Blombos. A similar approach is used in the analysis of the Howiesons Poort (HP) assemblages from Sibudu seen in comparison with broadly contemporaneous assemblages from Rose Cottage and Klasies River Cave 1A. Using our own and published data from other sites we report on the diversity between stone artifact assemblages and discuss to what extent they can be grouped into homogeneous lithic sets. The gradual evolution of debitage techniques within the Howiesons Poort sequence with a progressive abandonment of the HP technological style argues against the saltational model for its disappearance while the technological differences between the Sibudu and Blombos Still Bay artifacts considerably weaken an interpretation of similarities between the assemblages and their grouping into the same cultural unit. Limited sampling of a fragmented record may explain why simple models of cultural evolution do not seem to apply to a complex reality.

The origins and significance of coastal resource use in Africa and Western Eurasia

The systematic exploitation of marine foods by terrestrial mammals lacking aquatic morphologies is rare. Widespread ethnographic and archaeological evidence from many areas of the world shows that modern humans living on coastlines often ratchet up the use of marine foods and develop social and technological characteristics unusual to hunter-gatherers and more consistent with small scale food producing societies. Consistent use of marine resources often is associated with reduced mobility, larger group size, population packing, smaller territories, complex technologies, increased economic and social differentiation, and more intense and wide-ranging gifting and exchange. The commitment to temporally and spatially predictable and dense coastal foods stimulates investment in boundary defense resulting in inter-group conflict as predicted by theory and documented by ethnography. Inter-group conflict provides an ideal context for the proliferation of intra-group cooperative behaviors beneficial to the group but not to the altruist (Bowles, 2009). The origins of this coastal adaptation marks a transformative point for the hominin lineage in Africa since all previous adaptive systems were likely characterized by highly mobile, low-density, egalitarian populations with large territories and little boundary defense. It is important to separate occasional uses of marine foods, present among several primate species, from systematic and committed coastal adaptations. This paper provides a critical review of where and when systematic use of coastal resources and coastal adaptations appeared in the Old World by a comparison of the records from Africa and Europe. It is found that during the Middle Stone Age in South Africa there is evidence that true coastal adaptations developed while there is, so far, a lack of evidence for even the lowest levels of systematic coastal resource use by Neanderthals in Europe. Differences in preservation, sample size, and productivity between these regions do not explain the pattern.

Technological Trends in the Middle Stone Age of South Africa between MIS 7 and MIS 3

The range of technological elements that marks the Middle Stone Age originated more than 300,000 years ago and formed the basic tool kit for an extended period of time. No spatial and chronological patterns can be identified from the Early Middle Stone Age until marine isotope stage (MIS) 5, and there is no cumulative trend of increasing complexity and diversity; instead, periods of complexity come and go. The Howiesons Poort and Still Bay techno-complexes, broadly associated with MIS 4, are recognized across various ecological zones of South Africa. These techno-complexes contain relatively more retouched tools and exhibit heightened levels of what is described as innovative practices. The Howiesons Poort is the best understood industry in the Middle Stone Age of South Africa. Its unifying technological characteristic is the almost exclusive use of a blade and bladelet production system, but subtle changes in types of backed artefacts, other retouched tools, and raw material exploitation patterns occur through time. Technological preferences change in the ensuing MIS 3 period, and other strategies and implement types become popular, particularly unifacial points, but trends once again are less clear. This historical review of the technological diversity in the Middle Stone Age of South Africa emphasizes that the roots of some innovations may lie in the earlier Middle Stone Age and that innovation is best understood within the context of local historical trajectories of technological change in South Africa.

Development of Middle Stone Age innovation linked to rapid climate change

The development of modernity in early human populations has been linked to pulsed phases of technological and behavioural innovation within the Middle Stone Age of South Africa. However, the trigger for these intermittent pulses of technological innovation is an enigma. Here we show that, contrary to some previous studies, the occurrence of innovation was tightly linked to abrupt climate change. Major innovational pulses occurred at times when South African climate changed rapidly towards more humid conditions, while northern sub-Saharan Africa experienced widespread droughts, as the Northern Hemisphere entered phases of extreme cooling. These millennial-scale teleconnections resulted from the bipolar seesaw behaviour of the Atlantic Ocean related to changes in the ocean circulation. These conditions led to humid pulses in South Africa and potentially to the creation of favourable environmental conditions. This strongly implies that innovational pulses of early modern human behaviour were climatically influenced and linked to the adoption of refugia.

Border Cave and the beginning of the Later Stone Age in South Africa

The transition from the Middle Stone Age (MSA) to the Later Stone Age (LSA) in South Africa was not associated with the appearance of anatomically modern humans and the extinction of Neandertals, as in the Middle to Upper Paleolithic transition in Western Europe. It has therefore attracted less attention, yet it provides insights into patterns of technological evolution not associated with a new hominin. Data from Border Cave (KwaZulu-Natal) show a strong pattern of technological change at approximately 44-42 ka cal BP, marked by adoption of techniques and materials that were present but scarcely used in the previous MSA, and some novelties. The agent of change was neither a revolution nor the advent of a new species of human. Although most evident in personal ornaments and symbolic markings, the change from one way of living to another was not restricted to aesthetics. Our analysis shows that: (i) at Border Cave two assemblages, dated to 45-49 and >49 ka, show a gradual abandonment of the technology and tool types of the post-Howiesons Poort period and can be considered transitional industries; (ii) the 44-42 ka cal BP assemblages are based on an expedient technology dominated by bipolar knapping, with microliths hafted with pitch from Podocarpus bark, worked suid tusks, ostrich eggshell beads, bone arrowheads, engraved bones, bored stones, and digging sticks; (iii) these assemblages mark the beginning of the LSA in South Africa; (iv) the LSA emerged by internal evolution; and (v) the process of change began sometime after 56 ka.

Marine fish exploitation during the Middle and Later Stone Age of South Africa

Marine fish exploitation during the Middle and Later Stone Age of South Africa

Studying prehistoric hunting proficiency: Applying Optimal Foraging Theory to the Middle Palaeolithic and Middle Stone Age

Middle and Late Pleistocene bone assemblages have been analysed to infer hominin hunting competence. Interpretations in terms of competence are usually based on the species represented in bone assemblages, such as the presence or absence of large and dangerous species. However, the sophistication of hunting strategies is not the only factor that influences the exploitation of prey species. Before interpreting an assemblage in terms of hunting proficiency, more parsimonious explanations of prey choice must be eliminated. One important reason to focus on certain species is that they are more economic to exploit than others. To test whether the presence or absence of species can be explained by economic motives rather than by hunting proficiency, Optimal Foraging Theory is applied to Pleistocene bone assemblages. The motives that drive prey choice are studied by modelling the behavioural characteristics of species and scrutinizing which characteristics the exploited species had in common. Application to Middle Palaeolithic sites in the Eemian of Germany shows that large and dangerous species were exploited frequently, but that solitary species are better represented at some sites than species living in herds. In another case-study from the Middle Stone Age in South Africa, the most important characteristic of selected prey species is their size. Large and dangerous species were preferred over smaller dangerous species. The better representation of large docile species can be ascribed to “common sense” and not, as has been suggested, to a lack of hunting proficiency.

Is there evidence for a Congo peafowl (<i>Afropavo congensis</i>) in the Middle Stone Age of South Africa? – Comments on Stidham (2008)

1 gave two characteristics for distinguishing the fossil from guineafowl (Numididae) - 'rounded ventral expansion' of the bicipital crest and the lack of a 'raised area adjacent to the capital incisure'. When a large set of guineafowl specimens representing all modern species as well as Afropavo congensis is considered, both characters turn out to be highly variable within species, and thus unsuitable for identifying the fossil. Hence, the Plovers Lake specimen cannot be distinguished from that of Numididae based on its few discernible morphological features. The assignment of the fossil to modern Congo peafowl would then rely on size, but not on discrete characters. We found that the proximal end of the humerus of helmeted guineafowl (Numida meleagris) and vulturine guineafowl (Acryllium vulturinum) is similar in size to that of the fossil specimen as well as of the Congo peafowl (Table 1). Stidham 1 himself vaguely stated that the fossil is 'in the size range of a guineafowl or a peacock' without mentioning which guineafowl species were considered. Furthermore, in comparisons with our own measure- ments, the dimensions given for the thickness of the humeral head by Stidham 1 appear to be too large relative to the proximal width of the humerus. 4 1 Because this species is now restricted to rainforests in the Congo Basin, it was concluded that the fossil indicates forested, or even rainforest, habitats in the vicinity of Plovers Lake Cave during the Pleistocene. 1 The correct identification of the fossil specimen is, however, questionable, and the hypothesis of densely forested areas in this area 71 000 years ago is at odds with manifold evidence that grass- lands and open woodlands predominated the palaeoenvironment in Pleistocene southern Africa. : Afropavo, Plovers Lake, Middle Stone Age, Pleisto- cene, rainforest, climate change

Subjectivity Inherent In By-Eye Symmetry Judgements and the Large Cutting Tools at the Cave of Hearths, Limpopo Province, South Africa

The Stone Age of South Africa is an area of study due for a renaissance, and there is a real need for unification of the extant evidence. As a beginning to this, new methodologies have been proposed. This paper tackles the issue of symmetry, specifically the subjectivity involved in by-eye judgements. Assumptions of subjectivity, however, are not proof: presented here is a critical analysis of the inherent bias of by-eye symmetry judgements. Ultimately it is clear that the method contains a level of subjectivity which strips it of any analytical value. The by-eye judgement of symmetry is replaced by the more robust Flip Test computer program, and a brief study is made of the Large Cutting Tools (LCT) at a vitally important, yet often overlooked, site dating from the Pleistocene in South Africa, the Cave of Hearths, Limpopo province. The corollary is that the symmetry present in the Cave of Hearths Large Cutting Tools can be studied with some measure of confidence: suggestions are made regarding the nature of tool typologies and the knappers’ ultimate focus on tip shape and utility.

Behavioral ecological models of lithic technological change during the later Middle Stone Age of South Africa

This paper examines changes in the organization of lithic technological systems during the later Middle Stone Age (MSA) of South Africa. Using principal components analysis (PCA), the study looks at the lithic data from two important South African MSA sites: Blombos Cave and Klasies River Mouth. The paper uses PCA to describe the transition to (1) the biface-dominated Still Bay industry at Blombos Cave and (2) the microlithic Howiesons Poort industry at Klasies River Mouth. Based on these analyses, the paper offers a synthetic scenario of the emergence of the Still Bay industry from earlier MSA industries, closely followed by the dramatic transition to the Howiesons Poort. Using a few principles of tool design and behavioral ecological models derived from the study of modern foragers, the paper suggests that the Still Bay came about as the result of deteriorating environmental conditions at the beginning of Oxygen Isotope Stage 4, which caused resources to become scarce and more widely distributed. The study proposes that the bifacial point strategy of the Still Bay was a response to wider mobility patterns and increased movement away from lithic raw material sources. The paper then suggests that Howiesons Poort emerged as information sharing strategies improved, and resources in the environment could be more efficiently targeted with more task-specific tools. The paper closes by reviewing the implications of these findings for modern human origins in South Africa.

Blade technology and tool forms in the Middle Stone Age of South Africa: the Howiesons Poort and post-Howiesons Poort at Rose Cottage Cave

It has been suggested that between 80 and 35 ka the Middle Stone Age record of South Africa reveals episodes of inventiveness and innovation, punctuated by apparent returns to more conventional technologies. One such episode is the Howiesons Poort (HP). The appearance of a range of small geometric forms, apparently used as insets in multi-component tools, has been considered as evidence of improved hunting weapons, with possible social and symbolic connotations. On the basis of evidence such as backed tool production, small blade technology, the occurrence of typical end-scrapers and burins similar to those encountered in the European Upper Paleolithic, long-distance transport of fine-grained raw materials, and non-lithic novelties, the HP is associated with increased levels of technological efficiency and with behavioral innovations that could have allowed the expansion of African populations to other regions. Yet our knowledge of HP technology and tool production is limited to the analysis of Klasies River Main site by Singer and Wymer and Sarah Wurz, and a few preliminary reports from other sites. This is why we present here a detailed technological and typological analysis of several HP and post-HP assemblages from the well-excavated, well-dated and well-stratified site of Rose Cottage. Our analysis shows: (a) that the HP blade production was a real technical innovation, but was not based on indirect percussion, as often suggested; (b) that blade production was based on the use of marginal percussion which does not occur in the blade production of the Eurasian Middle Paleolithic; (c) that the tool kit was dominated by backed pieces, but not all can be considered as hunting weapons; (d) that neither end-scrapers nor burins are typical of this industry and are no more an antecedent to the European Upper Paleolithic than the end-scrapers and burins of the Middle Paleolithic; (e) that patterns of raw material procurement do not conform to models based on evidence from Klasies; (f) that diachronic changes within the Rose Cottage sequence indicate slow, gradual abandonment of the technological style of the HP; (g) that the post-HP assemblages are of MSA character and are typologically and technologically quite similar to the European Middle Paleolithic; (h) that the lack of persistence of the HP innovations is in need of an explanation. The HP is not a monolithic entity. Implications for the symbolic interpretations of the HP phenomenon are discussed.

A morphological and histological study of the human humerus from Border Cave

The fragmentary hominid humerus shaft discovered at Border Cave in 1987 can be studied from several perspectives. A small flake of cortical bone yields histological evidence for an age at death late in the fifth decade, plus relatively small osteons (total osteon area). Shaft dimensions, cross-sectional characteristics at midshaft and estimated length are compared with values from Late PleistoceneHomo sapiensand to humeri from the Later Stone Age in South Africa (C14 dated 2090–9750 BP). The Border Cave humerus is platybrachic, has a %CA (cortical area/total area×100) of 82·7 at midshaft, and is estimated to have been about 330 mm in length, or less. It is morphologically most similar to Neanderthal humeri, suggesting that it is “archaic”. Its robustness and its small osteons are consistent with Middle Stone Age antiquity. Some features suggest that it may represent a larger, more robust version of the Later Stone Age population. This in turn suggests possible continuity from archaic to modern infracranial anatomy in southern Africa.

A morphological and histological study of the human humerus from Border Cave

The fragmentary hominid humerus shaft discovered at Border Cave in 1987 can be studied from several perspectives. A small flake of cortical bone yields histological evidence for an age at death late in the fifth decade, plus relatively small osteons (total osteon area). Shaft dimensions, cross-sectional characteristics at midshaft and estimated length are compared with values from Late Pleistocene Homo sapiens and to humeri from the Later Stone Age in South Africa (C14 dated 2090–9750 BP). The Border Cave humerus is platybrachic, has a %CA (cortical area/total area×100) of 82·7 at midshaft, and is estimated to have been about 330 mm in length, or less. It is morphologically most similar to Neanderthal humeri, suggesting that it is “archaic”. Its robustness and its small osteons are consistent with Middle Stone Age antiquity. Some features suggest that it may represent a larger, more robust version of the Later Stone Age population. This in turn suggests possible continuity from archaic to modern infracranial anatomy in southern Africa.

Revised Radiocarbon Chronology for the Stone Age in South Africa

SEVERAL radiocarbon dates have recently become available which necessitate a rather drastic revision of the chronology of the Stone Age south of the Limpopo River1. An important consequence of the new time scale is that there is now strong evidence to suggest a very early appearance of Homo sapiens sapiens in Africa—considerably earlier than in the Middle East and Europe. It thus seems possible to envisage the continent of Africa as the area where much of modern man's early evolutionary development took place.