Pub Date : 2022-07-03DOI: 10.1080/0067270X.2022.2111085
Brent Sinclair-Thomson
ABSTRACT Ostriches are depicted at rock art sites that appear to be associated with raiding dating to the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. Taking into account the well-attested spiritual beliefs that relate to rock art made by past San hunter-gatherer populations and the understanding that the art does not depict scenes of daily life, it is highly unlikely that the artists were painting scenes of actual raids that somehow involved ostriches. An examination of broader Khoe-San beliefs concerning ostriches demonstrates instead that the depiction of these animals within a raiding context makes sense. This paper examines the historical significance of the Great Fish River region, as the former boundary of the Cape Colony and the location of frequent banditry, exemplified by stock-theft carried out by mixed groups of ‘Bushman’ bandits — comprising San, Khoekhoen, runaway slaves and military deserters — against European settlers. When such raids targeted European settlers, punitive expeditions were undertaken by commandos that included members of military regiments which themselves consisted of Khoe-San members. It was common for such individuals to desert their regiments and join up with the very bandits whom they were expected to combat, the reasons for which are examined in detail. An investigation of San and Khoekhoe beliefs about ostriches, both past and present, reveals a reverence for this bird as an animal of great strength that is able to escape dangerous situations by means of its powerful legs. This paper suggests that these raiders painted ostriches because they were purposefully drawing on ostrich potency to enable their own escape from military service as well as from pursuing commandos after stock raids.
{"title":"Escape and abscond: the use of ostrich potency by nineteenth-century rock artists in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa","authors":"Brent Sinclair-Thomson","doi":"10.1080/0067270X.2022.2111085","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/0067270X.2022.2111085","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Ostriches are depicted at rock art sites that appear to be associated with raiding dating to the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. Taking into account the well-attested spiritual beliefs that relate to rock art made by past San hunter-gatherer populations and the understanding that the art does not depict scenes of daily life, it is highly unlikely that the artists were painting scenes of actual raids that somehow involved ostriches. An examination of broader Khoe-San beliefs concerning ostriches demonstrates instead that the depiction of these animals within a raiding context makes sense. This paper examines the historical significance of the Great Fish River region, as the former boundary of the Cape Colony and the location of frequent banditry, exemplified by stock-theft carried out by mixed groups of ‘Bushman’ bandits — comprising San, Khoekhoen, runaway slaves and military deserters — against European settlers. When such raids targeted European settlers, punitive expeditions were undertaken by commandos that included members of military regiments which themselves consisted of Khoe-San members. It was common for such individuals to desert their regiments and join up with the very bandits whom they were expected to combat, the reasons for which are examined in detail. An investigation of San and Khoekhoe beliefs about ostriches, both past and present, reveals a reverence for this bird as an animal of great strength that is able to escape dangerous situations by means of its powerful legs. This paper suggests that these raiders painted ostriches because they were purposefully drawing on ostrich potency to enable their own escape from military service as well as from pursuing commandos after stock raids.","PeriodicalId":45689,"journal":{"name":"Azania-Archaeological Research in Africa","volume":"111 1","pages":"316 - 334"},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2022-07-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"80143107","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-04-03DOI: 10.1080/0067270X.2022.2078575
J. Then‐Obłuska, Jacke S. Phillips, K. Tucker
ABSTRACT Several thousand glass beads excavated in the Maryam Anza (Tigray, Ethiopia) cemetery over three seasons between 2014 and 2016 tell the story of the direct or indirect long-distance contacts of the people buried there. By combining typological and quantitative studies of drawn glass beads, this paper provides new bead evidence on the subject of the Red Sea and Indian Ocean trade in Late Antiquity. The assemblage is dominated by tiny monochrome glass beads of mid-fourth/fifth-century AD date that were brought as ships’ cargo from South Asia through Arabian ports, reaching Northeast Africa at a time of intensive Indian Ocean trade. Close proximity to the Red Sea port at Adulis (in modern Eritrea) also allowed the transport of other overseas bead imports produced in Egypt or the East Mediterranean region. Comparative percentage analysis makes Aksum and the Maryam Anza community one of the major accumulators of India/Sri Lankan beads in Northeast Africa.
{"title":"Imported ornaments of a Late Antiquity community in Christian Ethiopia","authors":"J. Then‐Obłuska, Jacke S. Phillips, K. Tucker","doi":"10.1080/0067270X.2022.2078575","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/0067270X.2022.2078575","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Several thousand glass beads excavated in the Maryam Anza (Tigray, Ethiopia) cemetery over three seasons between 2014 and 2016 tell the story of the direct or indirect long-distance contacts of the people buried there. By combining typological and quantitative studies of drawn glass beads, this paper provides new bead evidence on the subject of the Red Sea and Indian Ocean trade in Late Antiquity. The assemblage is dominated by tiny monochrome glass beads of mid-fourth/fifth-century AD date that were brought as ships’ cargo from South Asia through Arabian ports, reaching Northeast Africa at a time of intensive Indian Ocean trade. Close proximity to the Red Sea port at Adulis (in modern Eritrea) also allowed the transport of other overseas bead imports produced in Egypt or the East Mediterranean region. Comparative percentage analysis makes Aksum and the Maryam Anza community one of the major accumulators of India/Sri Lankan beads in Northeast Africa.","PeriodicalId":45689,"journal":{"name":"Azania-Archaeological Research in Africa","volume":"18 1","pages":"280 - 296"},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2022-04-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"81784417","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-04-03DOI: 10.1080/0067270X.2022.2078577
Zachary McKeeby, Lorraine W. Hu, William Mundiku, Richard Mbewe
ABSTRACT After c. AD 700 the Machili Valley in Western Province, Zambia, is exemplary of the type of ‘in-between’ places that made up large portions of the African continent where states did not develop, but that were anything but isolated and undifferentiated. Limited archaeological surveys in the 1950s to 1970s situate the Machili Valley into a larger context of Iron Age life in Zambia in particular and in south-central Africa more broadly. This paper details early results from survey work in Machili conducted in 2019 that employed a combination of geophysical and shovel test survey methods to re-survey previously documented sites, identify new ones and study localised variations in iron production practices in the valley. Results suggest geographic and temporal changes in settlement patterns and iron production practices, as well as in the spatial relationships between domestic areas and iron smelting and smithing locations among Early Farming Communities in Zambia.
{"title":"Archaeological survey in the Machili Valley, Zambia: a report on the 2019 preliminary field season","authors":"Zachary McKeeby, Lorraine W. Hu, William Mundiku, Richard Mbewe","doi":"10.1080/0067270X.2022.2078577","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/0067270X.2022.2078577","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT After c. AD 700 the Machili Valley in Western Province, Zambia, is exemplary of the type of ‘in-between’ places that made up large portions of the African continent where states did not develop, but that were anything but isolated and undifferentiated. Limited archaeological surveys in the 1950s to 1970s situate the Machili Valley into a larger context of Iron Age life in Zambia in particular and in south-central Africa more broadly. This paper details early results from survey work in Machili conducted in 2019 that employed a combination of geophysical and shovel test survey methods to re-survey previously documented sites, identify new ones and study localised variations in iron production practices in the valley. Results suggest geographic and temporal changes in settlement patterns and iron production practices, as well as in the spatial relationships between domestic areas and iron smelting and smithing locations among Early Farming Communities in Zambia.","PeriodicalId":45689,"journal":{"name":"Azania-Archaeological Research in Africa","volume":"74 1","pages":"252 - 279"},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2022-04-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"86342519","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-04-03DOI: 10.1080/0067270X.2022.2078553
Gregor D. Bader, C. Sommer, N. Conard, L. Wadley
ABSTRACT The end of the Middle Stone Age in southern Africa, often called the final MSA (∼40–28 ka), represents one of the most understudied technocomplexes in this part of the world. Researchers have often focused on earlier time periods associated with Marine Isotope Stage 4 or have emphasised the transition between the Middle and the Later Stone Age. Thus, the final MSA has been poorly understood and, at least in KwaZulu-Natal, only a few chrono-cultural markers called hollow-based points are known for it. Since 2016, excavations at Umbeli Belli rock shelter have produced new insights into this period. The site provides one of the most accurately dated sequences for the final MSA, spanning four geological horizons, respectively GH7, GH8, GH9 and GH10, that date to between 29.9 ± 2.3 and 40.3 ± 3.5 ka. Significant technological and typological variations are evident between those horizons, raising questions about the mechanisms behind them. A direct comparative analysis with the final MSA layers Coffee – Espresso at Sibhudu, which date to ∼38 ka, places these results in the regional archaeological context. The analysis shows first that the final MSA encompasses diachronic variability within relatively short time frames at Umbeli Belli. Secondly, it reveals several distinct chronological discrepancies between Sibhudu and Umbeli Belli. A detailed review of the environmental setting of the research area helps to explain these changes.
{"title":"The final MSA of eastern South Africa: a comparative study between Umbeli Belli and Sibhudu","authors":"Gregor D. Bader, C. Sommer, N. Conard, L. Wadley","doi":"10.1080/0067270X.2022.2078553","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/0067270X.2022.2078553","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT The end of the Middle Stone Age in southern Africa, often called the final MSA (∼40–28 ka), represents one of the most understudied technocomplexes in this part of the world. Researchers have often focused on earlier time periods associated with Marine Isotope Stage 4 or have emphasised the transition between the Middle and the Later Stone Age. Thus, the final MSA has been poorly understood and, at least in KwaZulu-Natal, only a few chrono-cultural markers called hollow-based points are known for it. Since 2016, excavations at Umbeli Belli rock shelter have produced new insights into this period. The site provides one of the most accurately dated sequences for the final MSA, spanning four geological horizons, respectively GH7, GH8, GH9 and GH10, that date to between 29.9 ± 2.3 and 40.3 ± 3.5 ka. Significant technological and typological variations are evident between those horizons, raising questions about the mechanisms behind them. A direct comparative analysis with the final MSA layers Coffee – Espresso at Sibhudu, which date to ∼38 ka, places these results in the regional archaeological context. The analysis shows first that the final MSA encompasses diachronic variability within relatively short time frames at Umbeli Belli. Secondly, it reveals several distinct chronological discrepancies between Sibhudu and Umbeli Belli. A detailed review of the environmental setting of the research area helps to explain these changes.","PeriodicalId":45689,"journal":{"name":"Azania-Archaeological Research in Africa","volume":"1 1","pages":"197 - 238"},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2022-04-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"82076814","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-04-03DOI: 10.1080/0067270X.2022.2078561
Maciej Ehlert, J. Kim, Y. Sohn, M. Cendrowska, Joanna Krupa-Kurzynowska, Eric Andrieux, S. Armitage, Grzegorz Michalec, Ewa Dreczko, Hassan Mustafa Alkhidir, Marcin Szmit, M. Masojć
ABSTRACT Middle Stone Age (MSA) lithic artefacts coming from dated layers preserved in their original stratigraphic position are still rare in Northeast Africa in general and in Sudan in particular. This paper aims to present the results of technological and functional analyses of an assemblage coming from a stratigraphic context, i.e. the upper level of the EDAR (Eastern Desert – Atbara River) 135 site, discovered in an abandoned gold mining pit in the Sudanese Eastern Desert, approximately 70 km east of the town of Atbara. The assemblage, which is based on locally available quartz and rhyolite, comes from a layer bracketed by OSL dates of 116 ± 13 and 125 ± 11 kya. Such dating places it within Marine Isotope Stage 5e–5d. Analysis of the assemblage revealed several characteristics that seem to set it apart from other MSA Northeast African inventories. Among these, the dominance of simple, non-predetermined core reduction strategies and expedient tool types, coupled with the lack of traces of Nubian Levallois technique, are the most conspicuous. Micro-traces of use on animal and plant matter were preserved on some of the tools. EDAR 135 is part of a newly discovered complex of sites that confirms the presence of Middle and Late Pleistocene hominins along one of the possible routes out of Africa towards Eurasia.
{"title":"The Middle Stone Age in the Eastern Desert. EDAR 135 — a buried early MIS 5 horizon from Sudan","authors":"Maciej Ehlert, J. Kim, Y. Sohn, M. Cendrowska, Joanna Krupa-Kurzynowska, Eric Andrieux, S. Armitage, Grzegorz Michalec, Ewa Dreczko, Hassan Mustafa Alkhidir, Marcin Szmit, M. Masojć","doi":"10.1080/0067270X.2022.2078561","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/0067270X.2022.2078561","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Middle Stone Age (MSA) lithic artefacts coming from dated layers preserved in their original stratigraphic position are still rare in Northeast Africa in general and in Sudan in particular. This paper aims to present the results of technological and functional analyses of an assemblage coming from a stratigraphic context, i.e. the upper level of the EDAR (Eastern Desert – Atbara River) 135 site, discovered in an abandoned gold mining pit in the Sudanese Eastern Desert, approximately 70 km east of the town of Atbara. The assemblage, which is based on locally available quartz and rhyolite, comes from a layer bracketed by OSL dates of 116 ± 13 and 125 ± 11 kya. Such dating places it within Marine Isotope Stage 5e–5d. Analysis of the assemblage revealed several characteristics that seem to set it apart from other MSA Northeast African inventories. Among these, the dominance of simple, non-predetermined core reduction strategies and expedient tool types, coupled with the lack of traces of Nubian Levallois technique, are the most conspicuous. Micro-traces of use on animal and plant matter were preserved on some of the tools. EDAR 135 is part of a newly discovered complex of sites that confirms the presence of Middle and Late Pleistocene hominins along one of the possible routes out of Africa towards Eurasia.","PeriodicalId":45689,"journal":{"name":"Azania-Archaeological Research in Africa","volume":"12 1","pages":"155 - 196"},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2022-04-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"79569499","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-04-03DOI: 10.1080/0067270X.2022.2076996
D. Pearce
ABSTRACT A rare, painted depiction of a bushbuck (Tragelaphus scriptus) is reported from the Drakensberg Mountains of the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa. The painting is located outside the known distribution range of the species. It is identified based on the close correlation between details of the painting and the colouration of the animal. Differences between the painting and animal are noted. These differences are discussed in terms of San views on anomalous individual animals. How depictions of such animals may act as symbols is also discussed.
{"title":"Interpreting unusual imagery: a rare rock art depiction of a bushbuck in the southeastern mountains of South Africa","authors":"D. Pearce","doi":"10.1080/0067270X.2022.2076996","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/0067270X.2022.2076996","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT A rare, painted depiction of a bushbuck (Tragelaphus scriptus) is reported from the Drakensberg Mountains of the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa. The painting is located outside the known distribution range of the species. It is identified based on the close correlation between details of the painting and the colouration of the animal. Differences between the painting and animal are noted. These differences are discussed in terms of San views on anomalous individual animals. How depictions of such animals may act as symbols is also discussed.","PeriodicalId":45689,"journal":{"name":"Azania-Archaeological Research in Africa","volume":"218 1","pages":"239 - 251"},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2022-04-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"89367128","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-01-02DOI: 10.1080/0067270X.2022.2047521
Kyra Pazan
The Between 45,000 and 25,000 years ago, the prepared cores and formally retouched tools of the southern African Middle Stone Age (MSA) were replaced by idiosyncratic, informal and min-iaturised lithic assemblages. This murky period of prehistory, loosely named the ‘ Middle to Later Stone Age Transition ’ (MSA/LSA transition), terminated with the appearance of southern Africa ’ s fi rst true Later Stone Age (LSA) industry, the Robberg, and the onset of the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). The LGM profoundly impacted southern Africa ’ s human occupants by altering the viability of certain environments and the distribution of bioavailable resources. Despite this, the relationships between the MSA/LSA transition, the beginning of the Robberg and the onset of the LGM are relatively misunderstood. Previous studies have emphasised the di ff erences between fi nal MSA, transitional and Robberg indus-tries, attributing the slow spread of the poorly de fi ned ‘ Early Later Stone Age ’ (ELSA) tech-nocomplex to di ff usion or migration from other parts of the sub-continent and denying the roots of Robberg technology in the MSA. This dissertation tests three hypotheses on the MSA/LSA transition through the analysis of lithic assemblages from Melikane Rockshelter, Lesotho: that the transition was precipitated by population replacement; that it was a conse-quence of changes in mobility and resource distribution due to LGM conditions; and/or that it was prompted by demographic shifts unrelated to large-scale migration. and dated
{"title":"The Last Glacial Maximum and acceleration of technological change in the Lesotho highlands","authors":"Kyra Pazan","doi":"10.1080/0067270X.2022.2047521","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/0067270X.2022.2047521","url":null,"abstract":"The Between 45,000 and 25,000 years ago, the prepared cores and formally retouched tools of the southern African Middle Stone Age (MSA) were replaced by idiosyncratic, informal and min-iaturised lithic assemblages. This murky period of prehistory, loosely named the ‘ Middle to Later Stone Age Transition ’ (MSA/LSA transition), terminated with the appearance of southern Africa ’ s fi rst true Later Stone Age (LSA) industry, the Robberg, and the onset of the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). The LGM profoundly impacted southern Africa ’ s human occupants by altering the viability of certain environments and the distribution of bioavailable resources. Despite this, the relationships between the MSA/LSA transition, the beginning of the Robberg and the onset of the LGM are relatively misunderstood. Previous studies have emphasised the di ff erences between fi nal MSA, transitional and Robberg indus-tries, attributing the slow spread of the poorly de fi ned ‘ Early Later Stone Age ’ (ELSA) tech-nocomplex to di ff usion or migration from other parts of the sub-continent and denying the roots of Robberg technology in the MSA. This dissertation tests three hypotheses on the MSA/LSA transition through the analysis of lithic assemblages from Melikane Rockshelter, Lesotho: that the transition was precipitated by population replacement; that it was a conse-quence of changes in mobility and resource distribution due to LGM conditions; and/or that it was prompted by demographic shifts unrelated to large-scale migration. and dated","PeriodicalId":45689,"journal":{"name":"Azania-Archaeological Research in Africa","volume":"31 1","pages":"147 - 148"},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2022-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"87166406","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-01-02DOI: 10.1080/0067270X.2022.2050558
A. Högberg, M. Lombard
ABSTRACT With this contribution we revisit the lithic point assemblage from Hollow Rock Shelter, South Africa. Our objective is to test whether, in addition to its finely retouched Still Bay points, an earlier Levallois-type Mossel Bay point-making tradition may also be represented at the site and, if so, how the two traditions relate to each other. We conducted a fine-grained temporal attribute study that includes point-production strategies, material use and morphometric analyses. We show that, contrary to previous interpretation, Mossel Bay-type points are represented at Hollow Rock Shelter before about 80,000 years ago. Subsequently, the knappers started to make Still Bay points during the later phase, but Levallois-type Mossel Bay points continued to be used throughout the sequence. Variation between the phases lay in the frequencies of point types and material use through time, as well as in subtle changes in morphometric attributes. As a result, we suggest that Levallois point production was part of the inventory of the Still Bay at Hollow Rock Shelter, but has not previously been reported as such. This study adds to an increasing body of work that demonstrates that Still Bay point production in southern Africa was not the abrupt technological phenomenon previously claimed, but our outcomes nevertheless require further testing at sites with better stratigraphic context than that available at Hollow Rock Shelter.
{"title":"Was there a shift from Levallois to Still Bay point knapping at Hollow Rock Shelter, South Africa?","authors":"A. Högberg, M. Lombard","doi":"10.1080/0067270X.2022.2050558","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/0067270X.2022.2050558","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT With this contribution we revisit the lithic point assemblage from Hollow Rock Shelter, South Africa. Our objective is to test whether, in addition to its finely retouched Still Bay points, an earlier Levallois-type Mossel Bay point-making tradition may also be represented at the site and, if so, how the two traditions relate to each other. We conducted a fine-grained temporal attribute study that includes point-production strategies, material use and morphometric analyses. We show that, contrary to previous interpretation, Mossel Bay-type points are represented at Hollow Rock Shelter before about 80,000 years ago. Subsequently, the knappers started to make Still Bay points during the later phase, but Levallois-type Mossel Bay points continued to be used throughout the sequence. Variation between the phases lay in the frequencies of point types and material use through time, as well as in subtle changes in morphometric attributes. As a result, we suggest that Levallois point production was part of the inventory of the Still Bay at Hollow Rock Shelter, but has not previously been reported as such. This study adds to an increasing body of work that demonstrates that Still Bay point production in southern Africa was not the abrupt technological phenomenon previously claimed, but our outcomes nevertheless require further testing at sites with better stratigraphic context than that available at Hollow Rock Shelter.","PeriodicalId":45689,"journal":{"name":"Azania-Archaeological Research in Africa","volume":"1 1","pages":"5 - 36"},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2022-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"83087263","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-01-02DOI: 10.1080/0067270x.2021.1983302
L. Machiridza
{"title":"Palaces of stone: uncovering ancient southern African kingdoms","authors":"L. Machiridza","doi":"10.1080/0067270x.2021.1983302","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/0067270x.2021.1983302","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":45689,"journal":{"name":"Azania-Archaeological Research in Africa","volume":"8 1","pages":"149 - 151"},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2022-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"82002765","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-01-02DOI: 10.1080/0067270X.2022.2050566
Lorraine W. Hu, Zachary McKeeby, M. Muia, John M. Munyiri, Charles M. Nelson
ABSTRACT Close relationships between human and animal living spaces have been a central element of the settlements of pastoralist communities in eastern Africa since the introduction of herding c. 5000 BP. The spatial organisation of pastoralist architecture and material deposits within settlements has been the subject of much ethnographic and ethnoarchaeological research designed to identify variation in social practices and cultural contexts. However, baseline questions regarding settlement layout have proven difficult to examine archaeologically due to poor preservation of household features such as hearths and postholes. New magnetometry data from the late Pastoral Neolithic (PN) settlement site of Silanga (GvJm52) in southern Kenya, combined with unpublished excavation data, delineate several potential structures and middens c. 1900–1600 BP. Our data suggest that living structures may have been associated with individual dumps and corrals, similar to the pattern proposed for the PN site of Luxmanda, Tanzania, and contrasting with centralised refuse disposal at the PN site of Prolonged Drift, Kenya. Findings from Silanga may also contrast with the well-known pattern of centrally located livestock spaces seen in ethnographically documented pastoralist settlements in East Africa. The evidence reported here demonstrates the potential of integrated spatial analyses for examining settlement management practices during the PN.
{"title":"Examining Late Pastoral Neolithic Settlement at Silanga (GvJm52), Lukenya Hill, Kenya","authors":"Lorraine W. Hu, Zachary McKeeby, M. Muia, John M. Munyiri, Charles M. Nelson","doi":"10.1080/0067270X.2022.2050566","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/0067270X.2022.2050566","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Close relationships between human and animal living spaces have been a central element of the settlements of pastoralist communities in eastern Africa since the introduction of herding c. 5000 BP. The spatial organisation of pastoralist architecture and material deposits within settlements has been the subject of much ethnographic and ethnoarchaeological research designed to identify variation in social practices and cultural contexts. However, baseline questions regarding settlement layout have proven difficult to examine archaeologically due to poor preservation of household features such as hearths and postholes. New magnetometry data from the late Pastoral Neolithic (PN) settlement site of Silanga (GvJm52) in southern Kenya, combined with unpublished excavation data, delineate several potential structures and middens c. 1900–1600 BP. Our data suggest that living structures may have been associated with individual dumps and corrals, similar to the pattern proposed for the PN site of Luxmanda, Tanzania, and contrasting with centralised refuse disposal at the PN site of Prolonged Drift, Kenya. Findings from Silanga may also contrast with the well-known pattern of centrally located livestock spaces seen in ethnographically documented pastoralist settlements in East Africa. The evidence reported here demonstrates the potential of integrated spatial analyses for examining settlement management practices during the PN.","PeriodicalId":45689,"journal":{"name":"Azania-Archaeological Research in Africa","volume":"99 1","pages":"37 - 58"},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2022-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"84727400","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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