Tortoise Remains from a Later Stone Age Rock Shelter in the Upper Karoo, South Africa

The rock shelter site of Mumba in northern Tanzania plays a pivotal role in the overall study of the late Pleistocene archaeology of East Africa with an emphasis on the Middle to Later Stone Age transition. We used phytolith analysis to reconstruct general plant habitat physiognomy around the site from the onset of the late Pleistocene to recent times, tallying 4246 individual phytoliths from 19 archaeological samples. Statistical analysis explored phytolith richness, diversity, dominance, and evenness, along with principal components to compare phytolith distributions over the site’s sequence with known plant habitats today. Generally, the phytolith record of Mumba signifies paleoenvironments with analogs in the Somalia – Masai bushland and grassland, as well as Zambezian woodlands.

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Was yellow lead chromate pigment used during Middle Stone Age at Sibudu rock shelter (South Africa)?

Journal of Raman Spectroscopy ◽

10.1002/jrs.5704 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 50 (11) ◽

pp. 1712-1721 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Marine Wojcieszak ◽

Lyn Wadley ◽

Linda Prinsloo

Keyword(s):

South Africa ◽

Middle Stone Age ◽

Lead Chromate ◽

Stone Age ◽

Rock Shelter

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Kite-like structures in the Nama Karoo of South Africa

Antiquity ◽

10.15184/aqy.2018.96 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 92 (363) ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Jaco van der Walt ◽

Marlize Lombard

Keyword(s):

South Africa ◽

Middle East ◽

Central Asia ◽

Near East ◽

Stone Age ◽

Later Stone Age

Desert kites are well documented in the Middle East, Near East, Arabia and Central Asia, but are much rarer elsewhere. Here, we present two newly discovered kites near Keimoes in South Africa that provide possible evidence for animal exploitation during the Later Stone Age.

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Human Skeletal Remains from the Southern Cape Province and Their Bearing on the Stone Age Prehistory of South Africa

Quaternary Research ◽

10.1016/0033-5894(78)90069-8 ◽

1978 ◽

Vol 9 (2) ◽

pp. 219-230 ◽

Cited By ~ 21

Author(s):

G. P. Rightmire

Keyword(s):

South Africa ◽

River Mouth ◽

Middle Stone Age ◽

Stone Age ◽

Later Stone Age ◽

Human Skeletal Remains ◽

Upper Pleistocene ◽

Skeletal Samples ◽

Source Of Information ◽

Cave Sediment

Substantial numbers of human skeletons have been recovered from caves and shelters of the southern Cape Province, South Africa, and these constitute a valuable source of information about evolutionary change and population movement during Upper Pleistocene and Holocene times. A few fragments from Klasies River Mouth and Die Kelders are firmly associated with Middle Stone Age cultural assemblages, but most of the material is probably linked with the Later Stone Age Albany and Wilton industries. Unfortunately the largest collections of relatively well-preserved remains have come from earlier excavations (Matjes River Shelter, Oakhurst), and the stratigraphic provenance of these burials is frequently in doubt. Other skeletal samples are small, and paleodemographic approaches are diffcult to apply. However, Bushman- or Hottentot-like individuals can certainly be identified, and this is important to the questions of Bushman antiquity or origins. Other problems concerning early Cape populations can also be examined, and this work on the human skeletons should complement ongoing cave sediment and other geological studies, faunal and plant analyses, and archaeological investigations of associated cultural remains.

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