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Unretouched lithic pieces are often overlooked with regard to function and subsistence strategies. Macrofracture analysis on two lithic assemblages from the Northern Cape indicates that some unretouched blades and bladelets were used in hafted hunting weapons. We suggest that the blade- and bladelet-dominated Swartkop Industry reflects the design o...
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... site Jagt Pan 7 is a 3 × 2 m oval stone structure located on a ridge flanking a pan complex on the farm Jagt Pan in the Carnarvon district, Northern Cape (Fig. 4). The complex carries water after summer showers. The structure has been interpreted as the base of a hut, windbreak or hunter 's hide (Jacobson 2005) and three of the incorporated stones exhibit scraped and pecked rock engravings (Morris 1990). Peter Beaumont col- lected surface material and excavated four 50 mm spits at Jagt Pan 7 ...
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... Unfortunately and with few exceptions, the function of Wilton and post-Wilton microliths in southern Africa has received little attention when compared to much older lithic industries (e.g., Lombard, 2020). These few studies show that microliths were used for different purposes such as wood working (Binneman, 1983) or as insets in hunting composite tools (Lombard and Parsons, 2008). While these and many other microliths were hafted, thumbnail-sized and larger artefacts may not have needed this form of fixture and could have been handheld for hide-scraping. ...
Evidence of different compound resin-based adhesives is present in South Africa from at least 77000 years ago. Ancient glue production is considered one of the oldest known highly complex technologies, requiring advanced technological and mental abilities. However, our current knowledge of adhesive materials, recipes, and uses in South Africa is limited by the lack of in-depth analysis and molecular characterization of residues. To deepen our knowledge of past adhesive technology, we performed a detailed multi-analytical analysis (use-wear, XRD, μ-CT, IR spectroscopy, GC-MS) of 30 Later Stone Age tools with adhesive remains from Steenbokfontein Cave, South Africa. At the site, tools made of various rocks were hafted with compound adhesives, and we identified three recipes: 1) resin/tar of Widdringtonia or Podocarpus species combined with hematite; 2) resin/tar of Widdringtonia or Podocarpus species mixed with hematite and another plant exudate; 3) resin/tar without hematite. The studied scrapers were used in hide-working activities, and the studied cutting tools were used to work animal and soft plant matters. All scrapers display evidence of intense resharpening and were discarded when no longer useable. The combination of different methods for residue analysis reveals the flexibility of adhesive technology at Steenbokfontein. Despite the consistent use of conifer resin/tar throughout the sequence, we observed that other ingredients were added or excluded independently of the tools' raw materials and functions. Our results highlight the long-lasting tradition of using adhesive material from conifer species but also the adaptability and flexibility of adhesive traditions. The systematic application of this multi-analytical approach to Pleistocene adhesives will be useful to better characterise adhesive traditions and enhance the debate on the technological, cognitive, and behavioural implications of this technology.
... However, these same technologies leave foragers unprepared to take advantage of last-minute subsistence opportunities or cope with changes in resource scheduling (Nelson, 1991;Vaquero & Romagnoli, 2018). Composite bladelet technology, while reliable and effective, is also portable and flexible: identical bladelets can be used with a variety of implements, allowing foragers to adapt to unpredictable circumstances with a relatively limited toolkit (Bjørnevad et al., 2019;Lombard & Parsons, 2008;Manninen et al., 2018;Yaroshevich et al., 2010). As such, we hypothesize that Robberg technologies were adopted at Melikane as a solution to increasing subsistence risk during the early LGM. ...
... Although the archaeological and ethnographic records preserve examples of effective multicomponent weapons equipped with irregular microliths (eg. Davidson, 1934;Flood, 1995;Knutsson et al., 2016), experimental data do show that longitudinally mounted bladelets are more lethal and reliable on projectiles than other types or arrangements of microlithic inserts (Lombard & Parsons, 2008;Yaroshevich et al., 2010). Yaroshevich et al. (2010) compared different microlithic projectiles and discovered that self-pointed arrows using longitudinally hafted blade fragments (Fig. 10b) combined great penetrating power with exceptional durability. ...
... The versatility of such inserts is also of obvious economic advantage and would override the limitations of using a curated technology (Lombard & Parsons, 2008;Nelson, 1991;Vaquero & Romagnoli, 2018). Preplanned, premade curated Yaroshevich et al. (2010, p. 370 fig. ...
Melikane, a large sandstone rockshelter in the Maloti-Drakensberg Mountains of highland Lesotho, preserves an 80,000-year-old archaeological sequence including an occupation pulse dated to the onset of the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), ~27–23 kcal BP. Paleoenvironmental proxies indicate that temperature depressions of ~6 °C below present values provoked changes in vegetation distribution around the site. The onset of the LGM also coincides with a global shift towards microlithization, expressed in southern Africa as the Later Stone Age Robberg bladelet industry. Bousman and Brink’s (Quaternary International 495:116–135, 2018) rapid replacement hypothesis asserts that this technocomplex was adopted nearly simultaneously across the subcontinent ~24 ka cal BP, replacing the Early Later Stone Age technologies that preceded it. An alternative model, which we term the LGM acceleration hypothesis, suggests that the Robberg developed slowly as existing technologies were modified and expanded to function flexibly in a variety of LGM environments. In this paper, we test these hypotheses at Melikane through attribute and morphometric analyses of > 17,000 lithic artifacts. Intrasite continuities and gradual, asynchronous changes in flaking systems are inconsistent with rapid replacement. Instead, the subtle refinement of bladelet reduction strategies alongside climate shifts and a reorganization of mobility and settlement systems supports our LGM acceleration hypothesis. However, Melikane’s combination of highland-specific idiosyncrasies and shared flaking systems with sites in less marginal environments suggests a complex role for cultural transmission. We suggest that periodic isolation throughout the LGM encouraged the development of new flaking systems, the most flexible of which were adopted in a variety of environments when biogeographic barriers to transmission were lifted.
... The versatility of such inserts is also of obvious economic advantage (Lombard and Parsons, 2008). Regularly-shaped inserts would maximize ease of maintenance -no modi cation of a pre-slotted haft or point would be necessary -and could be used on a variety of implements (Clarke, 1978;Elston & Brantingham, 2002;Mitchell, 1988). ...
... At the same time, foragers at nearby Sehonghong intensi ed their use of aquatic resources, available only in the spring and summer (Kuhn, 1994). The upfront costs of manufacturing regular bladelets and slotted hafts would be balanced by greater reliability during these short windows (Lombard & Parsons, 2008). Furthermore, although curated technologies typically leave foragers vulnerable to the loss of unanticipated subsistence opportunities (Nelson, 1991 Other differences between contexts 6-8 and 5 can be attributed to shifts in mobility patterns. ...
Melikane, a large sandstone rockshelter in the Maloti-Drakensberg Mountains of highland Lesotho, preserves an 80,000 year-old archaeological sequence including two layers (4 & 5) dated to the onset of the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), ~ 24 kcal BP. Paleoenvironmental proxies indicate that these layers were associated with increasing aridification and changes in resource distribution. An analysis of > 17,000 lithic artifacts combining attribute and morphometric approaches reveals that these environmental changes occurred alongside the adoption of Later Stone Age (LSA) Robberg bladelet technology at the site (Layer 4), which developed out of an early microlithic industry we classify as “incipient Robberg” (Layer 5). We argue that the accelerated implementation and standardization of bladelet technology in Layer 4 was the consequence of modifying and expanding existing technologies to function in a high-stakes LGM environment. While intrasite continuities and gradual changes in flaking systems at Melikane are inconsistent with the Robberg’s arrival via population replacement or migration (cf. Bousman and Brink, 2018), shared flaking systems with penecontemporary sites also implicate a role for cultural transmission in the Robberg’s development and demand an alternate explanation for its use in nonmarginal environments. We attribute its adoption in southern Africa more broadly to the extraordinary flexibility of bladelet technology and an ongoing cycle of connectivity and isolation throughout the LGM, encouraging the development of new flaking systems and their subsequent coalescence and diffusion.
... In another reference to quartz, this time !goa, we hear in the dictionary gloss provided by Bleek what is seemingly an attempt to differentiate between milky and crystal quartz: "!goa, n. quartz, flint 'witteklip'; quartz once cut deep into kemmi-tu's foot; real 'witteklip' it is not, but a stone which resembles a diamond it is" (Bleek 1956: 383). This discursion into the ethnography of quartz is not exhaustive (See Deacon 1996 andMcGranaghan 2012, Table 6) and in addition there are features of quartz that bear relevance to composite tool and projectile point fabrication (Lombard & Parsons 2008). ...
This research investigates the density and distribution of quartz deposited over an area measuring 70,000m2 at the Kurukop in the Nama Karoo, South Africa. My interest was in the quartz artefacts and a possible relationship with engraved depictions, water features and “rubbed” surface abrasions. To investigate this I used a combination of techniques. These include the GIS capability available in Google Earth Pro, primarily to measure and quantify areas, distances and elevations. To improve resolution and measurement accuracy a composite drone image of the entire site was photographed and imported into the Google Earth application. Quartz samples from two squares (SA1, SA2) were collected, counted and weighed, and this data was intercalated with measurements provided by the aerial map and a detailed ground survey. A number of trends can be observed, indicating that the remains of previous activities probably influenced subsequent decisions.
A rhythmanalysis is applied to the ethnoarchaeological dimensions of the study and from this perspective the production of space at the Kurukop is considered. The conclusion I draw is that the presence of water appears to have influenced the way in which people chose to interact with and mark the site.
Key words: quartz, petroglyphs, landscape, rhythmanalysis, spatial mapping, aerial photography
... However, among some San groups they were used to tip arrowheads (Clark 1977;Deacon 1972). This in part fueled the notion that these tools were used as weapon inserts in hunting tools, which has subsequently been shown through numerous experimental programs and usewear analyses of archaeological specimens (Lombard and Pargeter 2008;Lombard and Parsons 2008;Parkington 1980). No study has examined backed tools throughout a sequence in order to track hunting intensification, and so, to my knowledge, there is no site yet identified as similar to Dzombo that shows increasing hunting activities from the first millennium AD. ...
The Kalahari debate deals primarily with the influence that contact with incoming groups had on San communities in southern Africa. Two schools of thought emerged and engaged in heavy debate. The traditionalists, most of whom collected primary ethnographic data in the Kalahari Desert, argued that the San were relatively isolated and affected minimally by contact with outsiders. Arguing against this were various revisionists who contended that “San” identity arose due to a long period of social and cultural interactions with farmer communities. This conflict—broadly isolationism versus historical production—has overarching implications for the use of ethnography to understand precolonial forager groups. In this contribution, the debate’s salient points are revisited and contrasted with the archaeology of the middle Limpopo Valley, where forager communities participated in the rise of a state-level kingdom within farmer society. Interactions in the valley led to a range of forager responses including craft development, hunting intensification, and trade relations, but also social and cultural continuity. These reactions and their feedbacks offer different perspectives to those provided by the two schools of thought in the Kalahari debate and reinforce their antithetical perspectives. Here it is argued that a binary approach is incapable of capturing transformations that took place in the middle Limpopo Valley, and that a focus on historicism and social systems associated with cultural sequences leads to greater insights.
... Since most of the undisputed microblade remains found in China are narrower than 7 mm in width (Chen 2008), we will use 7 mm as the division line and refer to the small regular-shaped pieces narrower than 7 mm as microblades. Following this logic, the microblades identified at the Xishi and Dongshi sites are generally smaller than the tiny blades referred to as "bladelet" in some instances (Ambrose 2002;Parsons 2008;Kaufman 1986). Bladelets were detached from smaller blade cores, and their width is generally narrower than 12 mm. ...
This paper examines how microblade technology emerged in North China based on the case study of the newly excavated Xishi and Dongshi sites in the hinterland of North China. Used as the lithic production area, Xishi and Dongshi sites generated abundant lithic debris which show the presence of a precocious form of microblade techno-complex embedded within the blade techno-complex. Radiocarbon dating suggests that they are among the earliest microblade sites ever found in North China. A chaîne opératoire approach is used to analyze the lithic assemblage of these two sites to investigate the specific features of the precocious form of microblade technology and its correlations to blade technology. The results indicate that the precocious microblade assemblage shows close technical affinity with the blade assemblage but is different from blade technology due to the frequent appliance of the pressure method to produce smaller end products from more diminutive cores. It indicates that the emergence of microblade technology in North China was a local technological innovation based upon blade technology which diffused from Siberia-Mongolia. Its appearance reflects a culturally meditated technological adaptation to cope with environmental change during LGM (Last Glacial Maximum) period.
... Several archeologists have invoked paleoenvironmental change and seasonal scheduling of resource exploitation to explain lithic miniaturization's variability (e.g., Elston and Kuhn 2002;Hiscock 1994;Lombard and Parsons 2008;Petraglia et al. 2009;Clarkson et al. 2018a). The argument follows that more mobile populations' exploitation of generally sparse, patchy, or seasonally variable resources would have increased selective pressure for smaller, lighter, more reliable, and multi-functional miniaturized toolkits. ...
Lithic miniaturization is a multivariate and evolutionarily significant technological phenomenon involving backed tools, bladelets, small retouched tools, flakes, and small cores. This paper investigates the proximate causes for variability in lithic miniaturization processes during Marine Isotope Stage 2 (c. 29–12 ka) in southern Africa. We test the hypothesis that lithic miniaturization represents a form of adaptive behavior by examining its relationship to site occupation intensity and rainfall seasonality at Boomplaas Cave in South Africa. These are two widely cited explanations for shifts in the organization of hunter-gatherer technologies and the data required for testing them are also readily available. We combine several lithic variables, macrofauna and microfauna indicators, and other archeological data to test the hypotheses. We find evidence that demographic processes impacted choices of technology within contexts of shifting rainfall seasonality, aridity, and rapidly rising Late Glacial sea-levels. In this context, Late Glacial humans converged on a small number of high payoff strategies including technological efficiency through bipolar bladelet production, greater production of ostrich eggshell ornaments and water containers, and a reorganized subsistence strategy targeting lower yield small mammals. The results demonstrate that lithic miniaturization was a strategic choice rather than an inevitable technological outcome. The outcomes have implications for understanding global instances of lithic miniaturization and their relationship to rapidly shifting paleoenvironments.
... In emphasizing time, energy, and ecological factors, such approaches have had a great deal of success in explaining why toolkits vary across time and space (e.g. Bousman 1993Bousman , 2005Bleed 2002;Elston & Brantingham 2002;Goebel 2002;Lombard & Parsons 2008;Petraglia et al. 2009;Low & Mackay 2018). Organization of technology approaches assume that prehistoric humans optimized their lithic technologies by minimizing the costs of having a readily available toolkit (extracting as many small flakes and blades from a core) while at the same time maximizing the benefits when deploying such a toolkit (having easily repaired multicomponent toolkits). ...
... Several archaeologists have invoked paleoenvironmental change to explain lithic miniaturization's variability (e.g. Hiscock 1994;Elston & Kuhn 2002;Lombard & Parsons 2008;Petraglia et al. 2009). The argument follows that erratic or especially harsh climatic episodes make resources less predictable. ...
Miniaturized stone tools made by controlled fracture are reported from nearly every continent where archaeologists have systematically looked for them. While similarities in technology are acknowledged between regions, few detailed interregional comparative studies have been conducted. Our paper addresses this gap, presenting results of a comparative lithic technological study between Klipfonteinrand and Sehonghong-two large rock shelters in southern Africa. Both sites contain Late Glacial (~18-11 kcal BP) lithic assemblages, though they are located in regions with different geologies, climates and environments. Results demonstrate that lithic miniaturization manifests differently in these different regions. Both assemblages provide evidence for small blade production, though key differences exist in terms of the specific technological composition of this evidence, the raw materials selected, the role played by bipolar reduction and the manner in which lithic reduction was organized. Patterned variability of this nature demonstrates that humans deployed miniaturized technologies strategically in relation to local conditions.
... The possible addition of backed stone geometrics to bone arrowheads (cf. Clark, 1959;Lombard and Parsons, 2008), would have added stabilising weight to the arrow and increased its lethality (Ellis, 1997). ...
The bone point (SAM 42160) from >60 ka deposits at Klasies River Main Site, South Africa, is reassessed. We clarify the stratigraphic integrity of SAM 42160 and confirm its Middle Stone Age provenience. We find evidence that indicates the point was hafted and partially coated in an adhesive substance. Internal fractures are consistent with stresses occasioned by high-velocity, longitudinal impact. SAM 42160, like its roughly contemporaneous counterpart, farther north at Sibudu Cave, likely functioned as a hafted arrowhead. We highlight a growing body of evidence for bow hunting at this early period and explore bow-and-arrow technology might imply about the cognition of people in the Middle Stone Age who were able to conceive, construct and use it.
... The backed bladelets and points may have been used for arrow tips or set into handles to be used as knives; in the latter case several might have been placed end-to-end (e.g. Lombard & Parsons 2008). Segments may have been used similarly. ...
A set of open-air Later Stone Age sites near the town of Copperton, South Africa, was found to be rich in quartz artefacts that frequently include backed tools and adzes. Comparison with contemporaneous Bushmanland assemblages suggests greater variety in material culture during the past two millennia in the region than hitherto recognised and that categorical distinctions between hunter-gatherer and herder material culture may require revision. We describe the extent of the 'Bushmanland' region from an archaeological perspective and find that 'looking beneath the surface' of local open-air sites in this arid region to maximise the amount of information extracted is critical. Future research into precolonial herding in southern Africa will also benefit from the interregional integration of archaeological findings.
