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Afrika 1
Afrika 1
southern Africa
20 J. D . C L A R K
T h e earliest hominids
Darwin and Huxley considered the tropics, and within them perhaps the
African continent, as being the habitat in which m a n had his origins, for it is
here that the chimpanzee and the gorilla, man's closest relatives a m o n g the
primates, are to be found. These pongids, like the c o m m o n ancestor of apes
and m a n , are forest-dwellers and their morphological characteristics show
that they must have evolved over a very long period of adaptation to living in
the tropical lowland and montane forests. M a n , on the other hand, evolved,
not in the forest, but in the savannah lands, and the earliest hominid fossils,
from eastern and southern Africa, are found in the semi-arid grasslands and
deciduous woodlands where the ancestral form has been faced with an
entirely different set of problems for successful survival and with infinitely
greater potential resources than those available to the anthropoids.
There is as yet no general agreement as to w h e n the hominid and pongid
lines diverged. T h e palaeontological evidence has been interpreted as
indicating that it was possibly sometime in the earlier Cenozoic, the lower
Miocene, about 25 million years ago, that that divergence took place. O n the
other hand, the recent calibration work on the comparative biochemistry of
primates (chromosomes, serum proteins, haemoglobin and immunological
differences between m a n , apes and Old World monkeys) suggests that the
separation took place no earlier than 10 and perhaps as late as 4 million years
ago. It might be thought that the evidence provided by the fossils
'.hemselves would be the most reliable, but unfortunately this is not so as, if
the long chronology is correct, the crucial period w h e n the hominids can be
expected to have already become significantly differentiated from the
lineage of the great apes - the late Miocene/earlier Pliocene (12-5 million
years ago) - is one from which there is at present very little fossil primate
evidence. It is only towards the close of the Pliocene that fragmentary fossil
material becomes available again and there can be no doubt that fossil
hominids were present in the record by that time.
T h e late Miocene fossil Ramapithecus wickeri, recovered from Fort
Ternan in the Lake Victoria Basin, is some 12-14 million years old. It is,
AlSIMILA
MWENERONDOi
URAHAHILL'
S
MAKAPANSGAT
• LIMEWORKS
KROMDRAAI
SWARTKRANS STERKFONTEIN
TAUNG CORNELIA
Z ULULAND C L A Y S
>«<BARKLY W£S T
\HOPEFIELD
ÇLANGEBAAI
O Plio-Pleistocene
t Middle Pleistocene
0 1000km
I
FIG. 20.1 Late Pliocenejearlier Pleistocene main faunal and fossil man localities in southern
Africa (after J. D . Clark, ¡gjd)
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Prehistory in southern Africa
unfortunately, known only from portions of the face and teeth but these
show characteristics that suggest classification as a hominid. T o be certain,
however, that the rest of the anatomy and the form of locomotion were not
very different from those of hominids, less fragmentary remains are needed
and particularly post-cranial bones. It is unfortunately necessary, therefore,
to reserve judgement for the present as to whether this form was already
differentiated as a hominid. Ramapithecus occupied a habitat dominated by
gallery forest, streams and savannah at a time when the evergreen forests
that n o w survive only south of the Great Escarpment in South Africa were
m u c h more extensive in southern Africa than they are today. Since
Ramapithecus was present in both East Africa and north-western India, it
was probably present also in the southern African savannahs.
T h e earliest unequivocal evidence for hominids dates from about s
million years ago, by which time the Australopithecines or M a n Apes had
already m a d e their appearance in the East African part of the Great Rift
valley. These Australopithecines occupied the southern savannah lands as
well as those of eastern Africa and the fossils from South Africa are believed
to date from the late Pliocene/earliest Pleistocene time-range some 2-5-3-0
million years ago.
M o s t of the Pliocene geological period was a time of relatively stable
climate which facilitated the development and spread of biologically
adapted species in the savannah. This period of comparative stability was
brought to an end by the general lowering of world temperature and by
major tectonic movements and volcanicity, in particular throughout the
length of the Great Rift valley. T h e drainage pattern of a number of the
African river systems and lake basins also underwent - often drastic -
modification at this time through tectonic warping of the earth's crust. T h e
lowered temperatures that mark the beginning of the Pleistocene period
were also accompanied by decreasing rainfall and increasing desiccation so
that the arid Karroo bush spread extensively in southern Africa at the
expense of the grasslands and forests.
These major changes in climate and environment necessitated significant
readjustments on the part of the hominids and an attendant greater
diversification in their morphology, probably dictated by adaptative
responses to the new environmental pressures. ' B y this time it is certain that
the ancestral form of the hominids (whether a knuckle-walker or more
persistently bipedal) which had moved out of the forest into the savannah
some time during the Pliocene, or perhaps before, had undergone fairly
1. T h e only important locality in southern Africa yielding fossils of this period is that of
Langebaanweg in the western Cape. T h e site is not far from the coast and the environment
is estuarine and terrestrial, preserving a rich fauna of archaic forms of African m a m m a l s
indicating an age off. 3-5 million years. Although no hominid remains have yet been found
here, primate fossils are present and there is every possibility that continuing work at Lange-
baanweg m a y produce evidence of hominids for comparison with those of this age from
East Africa.
489
Methodology and African Prehistory
490
Prehistory in southern Africa
In the later cave sites, Swartkrans and Kromdraai (and most probably
also, it is n o w thought, T a u n g ) , the predominant form is m u c h more robust
{A. robustus). This is a m u c h heavier individual weighing about 68 kilos and
the large males were furnished with bony crests, one running over the top
and another round the back of the skull for the attachment of the very
powerful neck and masticatory muscles. It was generally thought that the
earlier forms were all gracile {A. africanus) and the later all robust (A.
robustus) but recent anthropometric studies are showing that the
differentiation is not as clear-cut as was atfirstthought and both robust and
gracile forms have n o w been shown to occur together in at least one of the
South African sites (Makapan). Similarly, both robust and gracile forms are
found together in the Lower Pleistocene in East Africa and the evidence from
this region suggests that their differentiation from a c o m m o n , more gracile,
ancestor m a y have taken place as early as 5 million years ago.
Recently, in 1972, from the north-eastern part of the Lake Turkana Basin
and dating between 3-0 and 2-6 million years ago, a fossil cranium (with a
cranial capacity of about 810 cc), long bones and other fragmentary cranial
and post-cranial fossils have been found that show m a n y close affinities
with Homo although also exhibiting features (in particular about the face
and dentition) that link them with the Australopithecines. Other related
fossils with enlarged cranial capacities and classified either as advanced
Australopithecines or early Homo (H. habilis) are k n o w n from other sites in
East Africa, notably from the Olduvai Gorge in northern Tanzania, and date
from between 2-0 and 1-75 million years ago. 2 It is most probable that an
early Homo form was also present in southern Africa at this time although
characteristic fossils remain to be found.
This likelihood is borne out by the discovery in 1975, in the Hadar, in the
Ethiopian part of the Rift valley known as the Afar Triangle, of hominid
fossils dating from some 3 million years ago. D r D . Johanson suggests that
the twelve individuals discovered could belong to three different taxa: a
gracile hominid represented by a very well preserved skeleton, a robust form
comparable to A . robustus, and a third form identified by the lower and
upper maxilia, which is closer to Homo sapiens. If this were confirmed, it
would follow that the Homo lineage was already differentiated from the
Australopithecines 3 million years ago.
491
Methodology and African Prehistory
places where they lived. At one time it used to be thought that the deep
limestone caves in the Transvaal were the living places of the hominids and
that the fossil animal bones they contained were the various parts of the
animals preyed upon that had been carried back by the hominids for making
into weapons and other equipment. This Osteodontokeratic culture, as it was
called, can, however, m o r e reliably be interpreted as the food waste of s o m e
carnivore, since careful study of the faunal remains from the Swartkrans site
shows that the accumulation of Australopithecine and other mammalian
fossils might have resulted from several different causes, the most
significant, at that site, being prédation by large carnivores, most probably
leopards or tigers. However, there is no consensus regarding this point (cf.
Chapter 17, pp. 415-17).
Since most other materials are destroyed fairly rapidly, other than in
exceptional circumstances, the earliest of man's artefacts that have survived
are m a d e from stone. However, no generally accepted stone artefacts occur
in the cave breccias that have yielded the older hominid fossils from South
Africa (Makapan, Sterkfontein), although stone tools are k n o w n from three
sealed East African hominid sites which are 2*5 million years or more old. A s
the East African evidence shows us, occupation sites there were situated
close to a lake-shore or the bank of a stream draining into a lake and are
identified by a limited concentration of bones and stone artefacts. There can
be no doubt, from the various species and numbers of individual animals
represented by the deliberately broken faunal remains on these sites, that
these bones are the remains of the collective hunting/scavenging activities of
the hominids w h o used the stone tools, amongst other activities, to process
the meat and bone as well as the plant foods that must have m a d e u p the
major part of their diet. T h e diversity of the remains and their varying state
of preservation suggests that these home-bases were occupied over a period
of several days at least and not simply on a single occasion, although so-
called kill sites are also k n o w n where the remains of a single large animal had
been butchered by a group. T h e generally small area covered by the
occupation waste on the living sites suggests that the group was probably
small and perhaps consisted of no more than two or three families. T h e
extent to which these early hominids were the predatory killers they have
sometimes been m a d e out to be is debatable and it seems m u c h more likely
that, while they derived an increasing proportion of their sustenance from
meat, they were no more aggressive than other large carnivores and
probably appreciably less so because they were not dependent on meat alone
but used also an abundance of plant resources. Clearly, however, it was the
organization of the hunt that provided the stimulus for early m a n to develop
a more rigidly structured socio-economic pattern which was m a d e possible
by his ability to manufacture tools for specific purposes. T h e evidence of the
East African home-bases, to which the products of the hunting and
collecting activities were regularly brought back, shows that the late
Pliocene/Lower Pleistocene hominids were probably organized in open
492
Prehistory in southern Africa
493
Methodology and African Prehistory
materials - wood, bark, bone, horn, hide, and so on - could also have been
used.
A very long period of tool using, during which suitably shaped artefacts
received minimal or no modification, can be expected to have preceded
intentional tool making, behind which lies the express intention of
producing a small number of distinctive kinds of tools from some quite
different material. After flaking or other modification, these would then
sometimes be further shaped by retouching or trimming. F r o m the very
beginning the stone artefacts demonstrate the ability of the hominids to
strikeflakesand to understand the principles of stone technology.
T h e earliest stone tool complex of which w e have evidence from
anywhere in the world has been named the Oldowan - from the Olduvai
Gorge in Tanzania - and the earliest examples of it from East Africa date
from 2*6 million years ago. 3 It is possible that some of the finds m a d e in
ancient river gravels (those of the Vaal or the Zambezi), or lying on high-
level marine platforms around the coasts in southern Africa, m a y also belong
in this time-range. However, since these artefacts have not yet been found
sealed in circumstances where they can be dated, judgement as to their
antiquity has to be reserved as they could be appreciably younger. It might
have been expected that the Malawi rift, like the East African rift, would
have preserved artefacts from this time as well as hominid fossils. While the
northern end (Malawi) has yielded a Plio-Pleistccene faunal assemblage
that forms the only important link between those of East and South Africa,
this area was not, for some reason, favoured for occupation by early m a n
until m u c h later and primates in general are only rarely found in the
sediments of these deep southern rift basins.
T h e tools from the later Australopithecine sites (Swartkrans,
Sterkfontein extension site and Kromdraai) near Krugersdorp are of several
distinctive kinds: choppers m a d e byflakinga cobble or chunk from one or
both faces to form an irregular chopping edge; polyhedral stones which
often show evidence of bruising and use for heavy battering;flat-basedand
rounded-backed tools with a steep scraping edge worked on part of the
circumference;flakessuitable for cutting and skinning and the cores from
which suchflakeswere intentionally struck. Flakes and waste from flaking
are generally u n c o m m o n at the Sterkfontein extension and Swartkrans sites
which is another reason for. supposing that they were not living places.
However, as systematic excavation of the breccias at these two sites
progresses, and more complete assemblages become available, w e can
expect to k n o w considerably more regarding the tool-kit of these early
hominids.
3. T h e K B S tuff tools of Koobi Fora had been dated from 2.6 million years ago by the
potassium-argon method. However, recent results and faunal correlations with the Shunguna
formation of the O m o Basin and the Koobi Fora formation of Lake Turkana suggest that
their age may have been overestimated and that the more likely date m a y be 1.8 million
years ago.
494
4 in
OH
IO cm
fig. 20.2 Lower Acheulian hand-axe, flake and two core/choppers from the Middle Breccia,
Sterkfontein (after R. Mason, 1962) aqs
Methodology and African Prehistory
O n comparison with the artefacts from the East African sites, these South
African tools show attributes that are closer to the more advanced form of
the Oldowan than to the earlier and can, therefore, be best described as
belonging with the Developed Oldowan Complex. In East Africa the earliest
Developed O l d o w a n dates from about 1-5 million years ago and, on the basis
of the faunal remains also, it is n o w generally accepted that the later
Australopithecine sites in South Africa also belong in this range of time.4 B y
then also there appear to be two fairly clear hominid lines—that of the robust
Australopithecine and another comprising early representatives of the true
Homo line.
496
• ISIMILA
/
KALAMBO FALLS
V». LOCHARD
»CAVE OF HEARTHS
ELANDSFONTEIN
STELLENBOSCH **-AMAN2l
0 1000km
l_ I
FIG 20.3 The distribution of Acheulian sites in southern Africa (after J. D . Clark, 1970)
* fi «
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FlG. 20.4 Upper Acheulian tools from Kalambo Falls, Zambia (after J. D. Clark, ¡970), dated
to more than 190000 years b.p. (large tools quart zite, small tools chert): 1, convergent scraper;
2, concave side scraper; 3, denticulated side scraper; 4, divergent edged cleaver; 5, flake knife
with marginal retouch; 6, parallel edged cleaver; 7, ovate hand-axe; 8, spheroid; 9, awl or
bee; 10, elongate ovate hand-axe; 11, lanceolate hand-axe
498
Prehistory in southern Africa
methods had been invented for dealing with those already being processed
with the Oldowan-type tool-kit.
T h e earliest assemblages that belong to the Acheulian and that m a y be
nearly contemporary with the hominids, Homo sp. and A . robustus from
Swartkrans, c o m e from two adjacent sites at the junction of the Vaal and its
tributary the Klip river near Vereeniging. T h e y are contained in a gravel
terrace 10 metres above the present river and the artefacts are mostly
abraded and so are derived and not in their original context. A range of tools
is represented - pointed handaxes m a d e by the removal of a very few large
flakes, cleavers, polyhedral stones, choppers, core-scrapers and a n u m b e r of
minimally modifiedflaketools as well as cores and waste. These all exhibit
hard h a m m e r technique and in this respect are the equivalent of the
Abbevillian of Europe. T h e presence of two handaxe-like forms at the
Sterkfontein extension site lends credence to the suggestion that it is not far
removed in time from the Klip river sites (Three Rivers and Klipplaatdrif).
Occasional finds of other early-looking assemblages have been m a d e from
different parts of southern Africa — for instance, from old river terraces at
Stellenbosch in the Cape Province or from near Livingstone in Zambia - but
they are incomplete and even less satisfactorily dated.
Somewhere between i million and 700000 years ago, the early Homo
stock (represented by the hominid 1470 skull from Koobi Fora^ East
Turkana, and by Homo habilis fossils from the Olduvai Gorge, the O m o
basin and other sites) was replaced by a more robust, larger-brained form
k n o w n as Homo erectus. Roughly at the same time or somewhat earlier, there
had been a rapid dispersal of hominid groups into North Africa and out of
Africa into Europe and Asia, and H . erectus fossils and cultural remains are
found in several widely separated parts of the Old World. In Africa, a large-
brained form of//, erectus fossil is n o w known from the upper part of Bed II
at the Olduvai Gorge, from the discoveries at Melka Konture in Ethiopia
and from coastal and inland sites in north-west Africa and the Maghrib
where they are associated with earlier Acheulian assemblages. H . erectus was
most probably the m e m b e r of the Acheulian in southern Africa, but no fossil
discovery has so far been made.
It is with the appearance of the later, or more advanced, Acheulian that
w e begin tofinda proliferation of sites in southern Africa - as in the whole of
the continent - that strongly suggests an overall increase in the n u m b e r and
size of the hominid groups. T h e scarcity of sites belonging to earlier times
m a y , in part, be due to the comparative sparseness of preserved sediments
belonging to those times, but this is not likely to be the main reason to
account for the marked increase in the number of recorded sites belonging to
the later Acheulian and for the more extensive area that m a n y of these cover.
Although m a n y sites are known, however (389 are recorded for South Africa
in the Atlas of African Prehistory, most river systems that have been
investigated having yielded assemblages of characteristic handaxes and
cleavers), only a very few have been excavated and not m a n y are in a primary
499
Methodology and African Prehistory
5. For example, large quantities of Acheulian artefacts are present in the western part
of the valley of the Vaal river and m a n y of its tributaries but, while some of these
assemblages show interesting technological changes, all of them appear to be in geological
context and derived.
500
Prehistory in southern Africa
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fig. 20.5 Wooden implements from Pleistocene sites m southern Africa (after J. D. Clark,
1970): 1, The grip end of a throwing stick from Peat 1, Florisbad Mineral Spring, age
c. 48000 b.p. for comparison with 2, the grip end of an Australian throwing stick showing
the cut marks made to prevent the hand from slipping; 3, club and 4, double pointed tool from
Acheulian occupation floor at the Kalambo Falls, Zambia, age 190000 b.p.
Associated with the stone tools were several wooden implements - a club,
digging-sticks, short pointed sticks (also, perhaps, used for digging), a thin,
blade-like wooden tool and fragments of bark which may have served as
carrying trays. Some of these occupation horizons provided ample evidence
for the use of fire in the form of charred tree-trunks, charcoals, ash and oval,
basin-shaped, concentrations of carbonized and compressed grasses and
woody plants which may, perhaps, have been lined sleeping places. In
addition, there were a number of carbonized seeds and fruits belonging to
genera and species of edible plants that are still growing in the Kalambo
Basin today. As these become ripe in the closing part of the dry season
(September and October) it is thought that these Acheulian living floors
represent dry season camp sites.
There were no fauna preserved at the Kalambo Falls but at
Mwanganda's, near Karonga at the north-west end of Lake Malawi, is
another site dating from the Middle Pleistocene where an elephant had been
butchered close to a stream running eastwards to the lake-shore. At least
501
Methodology and African Prehistory
502
Prehistory in southern Africa
503
Methodology and African Prehistory
504
Prehistory in southern Africa
composition of the industries and in the nature of the habitat and its
resources, there is a certain broad patterning c o m m o n to the Acheulian as a
whole which suggests that the overall way of life did not vary greatly from
one end of the handaxe world to the other. T h e general picture of Middle
Pleistocene hominid behaviour that emerges is thus one of hunting and
gathering groups with a generally similar life-style and the ability to
communicate moderately efficiently. T h e y were living in larger groupings
than in earlier times and paying more regular visits to favoured sites,
following an established seasonal pattern. T h e social structure must still
have been an open one allowing for free m o v e m e n t of individuals and ideas.
Large areas of the continent, however, including the forests, remained
unoccupied, and the sparseness, in absolute terms, of the overall population,
must have meant that each group probably lived fairly isolated from the
next.
50S
Methodology and African Prehistory
7. b.p. = before present, this being 1950, the year in which the carbon-14 method was
used for thefirsttime.
8. T h e composition of these proto-Stillbay assemblages in Zimbabwe can best be seen
from sealed cave sites such as P o m o n g w e and Bambata and from an open site on the
C h a v u m a plateau, after which the industrial entity has n o w been renamed the C h a v u m a .
Industry. Although nofinitedates are available, the C h a v u m a industry is older than 42 000
b.p. so that the Gwelo Industry is thought to be still earlier.
506
'KIMBERLEYVO «,
í í
ROOIDAM^g S . "° >UMFOLOSI
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0
FAURESMITH
• SANGOAN
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FIG. 20.6 The distribution of Fauresmith and Sangoan sites in southern Africa (after J. D .
Clark, 1Q70)
507
Methodology and African prehistory
508
FIG. 20.7 Artefactsfrom Sangoan assemblages in the Zambezi Valley, near Livingstone, Zambia
(after J. D. Clark, 1950): 1 and 2, picks; 3 and 8, core axes; 4, disc core; 5 and 6, modified
flakes; 7, spheroid
509
Methodology and African Prehistory
Sio
Prehistory in southern Africa
10. T h e Lower Pietersburg from Bed 4 in the Cave of Hearths, Makapan; the 'Middle
Stone Age' I from immediately above the 6-8 metre beach in Klassies river mouth; an open
site in the Orange river scheme area (Elandskloof); and one in the central Transvaal
(Roedoesrand). In addition the Nakassa Industry from the Kalambo Falls is characterized
by similar forms although it also has certain bifacial, heavy-duty tools such as we have seen
are to be expected with entities from the Brachystegia woodlands.
11. Examples of group II assemblages are those from Bed 5 in the Cave of Hearths;
from Bed I at Mvulu's Cave in the Transvaal; the 'Middle Stone Age' II from Klassies
river; assemblages from Mossel Bay and Skildergat Cave in the southern Cape; and the
Stillbay Industry from M u m b w a Cave in Zambia.
S"
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ÍKAKONTWE
oFINGIRA
NACHIKUFU o HORA
Y BROKEN HILL
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FISH HOEK &WILTON
CAPE FLATS
0 1000km
l_ _J
FIG. 20.8 Upper Pleistocene and some post-Pleistocene fossil man sites in southern Africa (after
J. D . Clark, 1970)
512
Prehistory in southern Africa
the south coast. These industries are characterized by varying use of the
disc-core and Levallois techniques, in particular for the production of
triangularflakes,and by an important blade element. Blades and triangular
flakes, m a d e predominantly from quartzite and lydianite, are c o m m o n in the
winter rainfall areas south of the Great Escarpment; in south-west Africa
and on the highveld in the Orange Free State and Transvaal. Retouch or
trimming on these Group II tools is never extensive; it is usually confined to
the margins and not infrequently takes the form of denticulation. In the
tropical woodlands north of the L i m p o p o , where quartz was more generally
used, the emphasis was on shorterflakesworked into various scraper and
other forms with similar, restricted retouch. A small but significant part of
the tool-kit here is composed of heavy-duty tools, occasioned, it is believed,
by more extensive use of w o o d and its by-products.
A third group of industries (Group III)12 ranges in age from about 35 000
to about 15000 years b.p. and is distinguished by m a n y more extensively
retouched artefacts. Scraper retouch is semi-invasive and strangulated
forms are not u n c o m m o n ; foliate points m a y be retouched over the whole of
one or both faces; borers and upper grindstones are characteristic. In
general the tools have smaller dimensions and show a refinement in retouch
that is not found in the earlier groups.
In addition to the three groups just described, there is a fourth (group IV)
that shows some significant differences from them. This is what used to be
k n o w n as the Magosian or Second Intermediate Complex. It combines an
evolved and often diminutive expression of the disc-core and Levallois
techniques with the manufacture of delicate, often ribbon-like blades struck
from cores by m e a n s of a punch of bone, horn or hardwood. T h e raw
materials selected were often crypto-crystalline rocks and foliate and
triangular points, side- and end-scrapers m a d e from these, often by the disc-
core and Levallois methods, arefinelyfinished,sometimes, it is believed, by
pressure-flaking. With these, more traditionally Middle Stone Age, tools are
found others m a d e on blades and blade segments, often of diminutive
proportions, that have been blunted, or backed, or utilized and trimmed in
various ways, as well as several burin or chisel-like tools, notably a carinated
or polyhedral form. This type of assemblage appears to be restricted to
certain parts of the subcontinent- to Z i m b a b w e and Zambia, the eastern Free
State, the southern Cape Province and parts of Namibia, for example - but it
is apparently absent from most of the central portion of the interior plateau
where lydianite was the main raw material used. If such a distribution has an
ecological basis, it behoves us to try to determine what there was in c o m m o n
between the regions where these Group IV industries are found.
It used to be considered that these evolved industries represented a fusion
of middle stone age prepared core and upper Palaeolithic punched blade
12. T h e Upper Pietersburg Industry from the Cave of Hearths and Mvulu's Cave or the
Border Cave in Natal; the upper part of the Stillbay from Peer's Cave at the Cape; the
Bambata Industry from the cave sites and from K h a m i in Zimbabwe are examples.
513
<di^ %£^z?
fig. 20.9 Tools oj the Pietersburg and Bambata Industriesfrom the Cave ofHearths, Transvaal,
and Bambata Cave, Zimbabwe, typical of the open thornbush and bushveld country (after
J. D. Clark, 1970)
SM
Prehistory in southern Africa
515
Methodology and African Prehistory
516
Prehistory in southern Africa
sufficient individuals in a sample to give m u c h indication of the range of
variation that can be expected within any one population. It is none the less
clear, however, that the indigenous African 'races' have a very considerable
antiquity in the continent, where they m a y be seen as having evolved during
the U p p e r Pleistocene and earliest Holocene by means of a long period of
adaptation and selection in the major bio-geographical regions. '
A s stated above, the punched blade element and various small, backed
and truncated blade tools found with the group IV (Howieson's Poort) tool-
kits have in the past been identified as evidence of population movements
with the further implication that these kits were introduced by immigrant
groups of modern m a n . Whether this ethnic hypothesis will later be
substantiated, or whether these tool-kits reflect the acceptance of new
techniques transmitted by stimulus diffusion and adopted because they
permitted more efficient exploitation of the favoured local resources, or
whether, again, they are the products of quite other factors, must await the
outcome of more definitive studies of the excavated sites. There can be little
doubt, however, that whatever the cause, the introduction of the small or
micro-blade technology is related to the development of the composite tool
in which two or more parts and/or materials are combined to m a k e an
improved, more efficient implement. Hafting stone or other material
for m o r e effective use probably begins during G r o u p II times, and
the fluting scars on the dorsal faces of the Mossel Bay points or
the removal of the platform by retouch on the ventral face of an artefact are
believed to be evidence of modification associated with hafting. T h e most
readily available m e d i u m for mounting, for example, a stone knife or a
projectile point, in Africa is likely to have been various forms of mastic
(resin, g u m , latex, and so on) with binding where necessary of sinew or bast.
T h e appearance of modern m a n in the prehistoric record is associated
with a series of innovative cultural practices and traits. T h e deep,
accumulated sediments in caves and rock-shelters and in some
stratigraphically favoured open sites show that regular seasonal occupation
was the general rule from this time onwards. W e appear to be dealing with
m u c h more closely structured groups, though clearly these were still open
and their composition is likely to have changed frequently.
T h e multiplicity and standardization of different types of tool,
intentional burial and the placing of artefacts and food with the dead for use
in the after-life, the employment of pigment for decoration and possibly
ritual - even a liking for music is represented in North Africa - these are all
indications of the immeasurably superior genetic advantages of H . sapiens
sapiens. O n e aspect of the more regionally specialized nature of the tool-kits
can be seen in regional preferences for certain kinds of game animals and the
increasing use being m a d e of certain plant foods, the processing of which
required grinding and pounding. Grinding equipment makes its first
regular appearance with the G r o u p III and IV occurrences and more
particularly after about 25000 before our era. A significant heavy-duty
517
Methodology and African Prehistory
15. Site catchment analysis is a method developed by Vita Finzi and Higgs (1970) to
establish the resource potential of a region exploited from a given prehistoric site. This calls
for identification of the limits of the territory and of the extent to which the habitat and
biome differed from those of the present day. Vita Finzi and E . S. Higgs, 'Prehistoric
economy in the M o u n t Carmel area of Palestine: site catchment analysis', Proc. oj the Preh.
Soc, 36, 1970, pp. 1-37.
518
Prehistory in southern Africa
mmo^i
a/ «¡à
fig. 20.10 Middle Stone Age industryfrom Twins River, typical ofthe Brachystegia woodlands
of Zambia (after J. D. Clark, 1970), dated between 32000 and 22000 years b.p.: 1, angled
scraper; 2, utilized flake from diminutive disc core; 3, convergent scraper; 4, convergent scraper
with point missing; 5, diminutive side scraper; 6, 7, bi-facial heavy-duty tools; 8, hand-axe (3
chert, 8 dolente, all others quartz)
519
6 U^1 j'\V "®$*
fig. 20. 1 1 Middle Stone Age artefacts from Witkrans Cave, typical ofthe equipment ofhunters
in the Karroo/ Kalahari thornveld (after J. D. Clark, 1971), all in chert, except no. 6 in shale:
1 and 2, unijacial points; 3, utilized blade; 4, 6 and 7, singleside scrapers; 5, burin on truncation;
8, end scraper; 9, Leva Hots flake; 10, Levallois core
520
fig. 20.12 Tools of the Middle Stone Age Lupemban Industrial Complex from Kalambo Falls,
associated with Brachystegia woodland and evergreen forest (after J. D. Clark, 1970) Rubble 1,
Site Bi, 1956: 1, single concave side scraper (chert); 2, denticulate, convergent and nosed
scraper (chert); 3, umfaced point (chert); 4, dihedral burin (silcrete); 5, core axe (chert);
6, core scraper (chert); 7, chopper (quartzite); 8, lanceolate (chert)
521
-cr-
(_-n
<&
n - o« °
<?& ° 0:t> o
0
O>x0
9
. . o. - ^ , . ., *> x - H* C
- * C ,01)
fig. 20.13 Distribution of utilized blades and blade fragments in relation to dolerite boulder
structures on a living site at Orangiea, Orange Free State (after C. G. Sampson, 1974)
522
3 cm
FIG. 20.14 Tools from Howieson's Poort sites belonging to Group IV of the Middle Stone Age
in southern Africa, found in a range ofenvironmentsfrom macchia to parkland and dry woodland
(after C. G. Sampson, ¡974): 1, 2, 4, 5, backed crescents; 3, backed trapezium; 6, utilized
Leva/lots core; 7, burin; 8, outil écaillé,- 9, borer; 10, 13, bifacial points; 11, sidescraper;
12, double sidescraper. Specimens 2, 3 and j are from Howiesonspoort; all others are from
Tunnel Cave
523
Methodology and African Prehistory
16. Nelson's Bay Cave, dating from 18000 to 12000 b.p.; Matjes river, dating from
11250 to 10500 b.p.; and Oakhurst. At Nelson's Bay Cave an industry overlying the as yet
unnamed steep scraper industry dates between 12000 and 9000 b.p. T h e majority of the
artefacts are large flake tools and there are no microlithic forms. A similar pre-Wilton
industry is found at other sites in the southern mountain region, e.g. at Melkhoutboom,
where it dates from 10500 ± 190 years b.p.
17. A Smithfield, e.g. Phase I industry from Zeekoegat 13.
18. Uitkomst, dating from 7680 b.p.
19. Windhoek, dating from + 10 000 b.p.
524
Prehistory in southern Africa
occurrences of this kind are known from Pondoland (Umgazana Cave), the
middle Zambezi valley in Zambia (Lukanda) and other regions. T h e
distribution suggests that this radical, technological change m a y have been
fairly general between about 20 000 and 9000 years ago. W h y it should have
come about is unclear but, again, this writer suspects that it m a y have been
caused by a combination of the environmental changes believed to be
recorded at a number of sites in southern Africa at this time (e.g. Nelson's
Bay Cave, Zombepata Cave, and so on) and the independent development
or diffusion or more efficient equipment and techniques, in particular with
respect to n e w hunting methods.
There is some evidence to show that these pre-Wilton industries are
associated with the exploitation of large ungulate fauna - hartebeeste,
wildebeeste, blue antelope and quagga. In addition, at Nelson's Bay Cave,
they appear to be associated with an ecological change shortly after 12000
b.p. w h e n the grasslandflorawere replaced by evergreen forest forms and
the appearance of a quantity of marine animals in the faunal remains
indicates that the rise in sea level in the closing stages of the Pleistocene had
m a d e it possible to exploit sea foods directly from this cave.
Small blade industries with a high percentage of microlithic backed forms
are n o w seen to have m a d e their appearance in south-central Africa m u c h
earlier than used at one time to be thought. O n e of the first of these is
represented by the earliest stage of the Nachikufan Industrial Complex
(Nachikufu I) from Zambia where the oldest date recorded is 16 715 ±
95 b.p. T h e local Wilton industry begins in Z i m b a b w e about 12000 b.p.
(Tshangula Cave) and somewhat later in South Africa (e.g. 8000-5000
b . p ) . These and other early occurrences in south-central Africa are
paralleled by fully microlithic backed blade industries from sites in East
Africa - from Uganda ( M u n y a m a Cave, B u v u m a Island, 14480 ± 130
b.p.), from the Nakuru/Naivasha Rift in Kenya (Prolonged Drift, 13300
± 220 b.p.) and from central Tanzania (Kisese Rock-Shelter, 18 190 ±
300 b.p.). A related but regionally distinctive development was that of the
Tschitolian in the Zaïre Basin (12970 ± 250 b.p.).
T h e microlithic tradition is associated with the development of more
efficient forms of composite tools, one of the most significant of which was
the b o w and arrow. It is not k n o w n w h e n this weapon m a d e its first
appearance in Africa—probably during the closing stage of the Pleistocene -
but of equal importance with the lunates and other small backed forms of
stone tool used for the heads of the arrows were the various forms of bone
point and linkshaft also believed to be the heads of arrows. S o m e of these
m a y be as old as 12000 years b.p.
It is believed that development sequences can be recognized in these
microlithic industries in m a n y different parts of southern Africa but, in
other regions, as in the north-west of Zambia, the disc-core apparently
continued until the second millennium before our era, while in other parts
(e.g. the Orange Free State) the Wilton microlithic element seems to
525
Methodology and African Prehistory
9*
fig. 20.15 Tools of the Later Stone Age Wilton complex (after J. D. Clark, 1970). 1-12, of
chert and chalcedony, Cape Province, South Africa (after M. C. Burkitt, 1928): 1-3, short
endscrapers; 4, 5, straight backed microliths; 6, awl; 7-9, lunates; 10, 11, 'double crescents';
12, ostrich eggshell beads; 3, 4, 12 from Wilton Rock-shelter, others from the Cape Flats.
13-20, Matopan (= 'Rhodesian Wilton) Industry toolsfrom Amadzimba Cave, Matopo Hills,
Zimbabwe (after C. K. Cooke and K. R. Robinson, 1954): 13, spatulate bone awl; 14, bone
point with bevelled butt; 75, link shaft; 16-19, lunates and deep crescents, quartz; 20, slate
pendant
526
Prehistory in southern Africa
?'/
m-
".<&
rm
mm,
H'
w
ft
fig. 20.16 Crescent adze-flake or scraper in chert, mounted in mastic, with rhino horn handle,
from a cave at Plettenberg Bay, eastern Cape Province, South Africa (after J. D. Clark,
'970)
within range of freshwater sources and the sea now exploited the fish,
shellfish and aquatic mammal fauna. Others concentrated on the huge herds
of antelope and others again on small game. In the interior southern
mountain region of the Cape Province, the commonest forms of stone tools
are small scrapers of various kinds and the food waste is mostly from smaller
mammals, perhaps secured by trapping and snaring. On the other hand, in
Zimbabwe, Zambia and elsewhere in the grasslands and woodlands, the
industries contain large numbers of microlithic lunates and backed blades
associated with a food waste of large mammals. These tools suggest that the
chief weapon was most probably the bow and arrow, the microliths being
hafted singly or in pairs to form the broad cutting-heads, similar to the
dynastic Egyptian and the few historic San arrows of this type that have
survived. Territorial ranges of the bands would have depended upon a
number of different ecological factors but, in the western Cape Province (De
Hangen) it has been shown that the late prehistoric San groups spent the
winter at the coast living mostly from sea foods and the summer in the
527
Methodology and African Prehistory
mountains about 140 kilometres inland where the diet consisted of various
plant foods, hyrax, tortoises and other small g a m e .
T h e Late Stone A g e hunter-gatherers in the highly favourable regions of
southern Africa occupied some of the richest natural resource areas of plant
and animal foods in the world. W h e r e resources for hunters were virtually
inexhaustible, as here, there must have been plenty of opportunity for
indulging intellectual interests, some of which are manifest in the
magnificent rock art of the Drakensberg mountains, Z i m b a b w e and
Namibia. While m u c h of the art m a y not be more than 2000-3000 years old, it
nevertheless provides an incomparable record of the way of life of these
prehistoric hunter-gatherers which, in m a n y respects, is perpetuated today
in the life of the San of the central Kalahari.
T h e origins of this art are clearly also of considerable antiquity and the
earliest paintings yet known from southern Africa c o m e from the Apollo 11
Rock-Shelter in Namibia where they occur on rock slabs in a horizon dated
to 28 000 years b . p .
In thefirstfew centuries of our era, the Late Stone A g e hunting-gathering
populations were replaced over m u c h of southern Africa by agricultural
peoples with a knowledge of metallurgy. These populations are most likely
to have been an advance guard of Bantu-speaking groups that migrated into
the subcontinent from a homeland somewhere, it is thought, in the north-
west (Chad and Cameroon). There is, therefore, in southern Africa no
evidence of a Neolithic stage of culture, by which is implied that there were
no food-producing peoples making pottery but using only stone tools, in
particular ground and polished axes. It is, however, necessary to qualify this
by saying that, while there is no evidence for the cultivation of any plants
before the coming of the Early Iron A g e peoples, it is quite certain that some
of the Late Stone A g e groups in the south-west had acquired sheep and, later,
cattle, at least by thefirstcentury before our era and almost certainly earlier.
S o m e of these people can be identified with the historic Khoi Khoi and were
nomadic pastoralists w h o grew no crops but w h o m a d e a distinctive kind of
pottery. N o certainly identified pastoral occupation sites have yet been
excavated, however, so our knowledge of these groups must be drawn from
historic sources and not yet from archaeology. There is also debate as to
whence they obtained their stock. S o m e suggest, on linguistic data, that it
was from Eastern and Central Sudanic-speakers, others favour Early Iron
A g e migrants. Whatever the original source, this pastoral phase can hardly
have begun before about 300 before our era at the earliest and it came to an
end in the eighteenth century of our era.
T h e record provided by prehistoric studies in southern Africa shows,
therefore, the high interior plateau lands to have played a leading part in the
evolution of m a n the tool maker. T h e increasing ingenuity and efficiency
with which succeeding hominid populations developed patterns of
behaviour and the cultural equipment with which to exploit ever more
intensively the resources of these eco-systems in which they lived help to
528
Prehistory in southern Africa
explain the racial and cultural differences that distinguish the indigenous
peoples of southern Africa today (San, K h o i - K h o i , B e r g D a m a , OvaTjimba,
T w a and Bantu) as well as demonstrating the great antiquity and continuity
of m a n y behavioural traits which still persist u p to the present time.
529