Thesis (Ph. D.)--Halle-Wittenberg University. / "Literaturnachweis", pp.[149]-158.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1983. / Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 252-274).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Halle-Wittenberg University. / "Literaturnachweis", pp.[149]-158.

A dissertation submitted to the School of Geography, Archaeology and Environmental Studies, Faculty of Science University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg for the degree of Master of Science. Johannesburg 2013. / Tool manufacturing played a major role in the development and evolution of our species, and by studying the tools left behind by our ancestors we gain valuable insight into their development and behaviours through time. This study was conducted on the Swartkrans Oldowan (2.2 - 1.7 Ma), early Acheulean (1.5 - 1 Ma), and Middle Stone Age (<110 ka) assemblages to determine the degree of lithic raw material selectivity for making stone tools, and if they practiced ever increasing selection towards better quality stone over time. The presence of quality selection was determined by comparing the various Swartkrans assemblages with experimentally created lithic tools from rock types found in the study area. Three main characteristics that determine selection of rock types were isolated: flaking predictability, durability and sharpness. Analysis of the data provided further evidence that our early stone tool making ancestors had the ability to understand how different rock types behave when knapped and tended to select rocks that had a high flaking predictability, high durability and could produce fairly sharp edges. It was also apparent that they could identify features that diminish the above mentioned characteristics. Variables such as the impurity encounter rate, fracture encounter rate, weathering, grain size and homogeneity were semiquantitatively recorded for the three techno-complexes at Swartkrans and compared to each other to help identify the degree of selectivity that was practiced over time. The data revealed that selection for quality of lithic raw materials was practiced to some extent during the Oldowan and improved slightly in the early Acheulean. The most marked selection for quality was seen for the Middle Stone Age when modern humans used the site. These results indicate that as time progressed in the Sterkfontein valley, and the stone tool technologies became more complex, so too did the selective pressures and thus an increase in selection for quality lithic raw materials over the course of time.

In order to understand past human behavior, it is necessary to identify and explain variability in the cultural materials resulting from this behavior. Chipped stone artifacts are the most ubiquitous cultural materials from the Middle Paleolithic. However, the interpretation of variability in these artifacts has been difficult. To address this problem, morphological variability in 1,146 Middle Paleolithic chipped stone tools, from four sites in the Iberian Peninsula, is examined in detail. This study differs from other analyses of Middle Paleolithic artifacts in emphasizing a quantitative investigation of both continuous and discrete morphological variability at the level of tool edges. These data permit analyses of the distribution of variability at the levels of individual edges, whole pieces, and assemblages. Patterns of lithic variability are also examined in the context of early Upper Pleistocene chronology and environment and compared with a larger population of Middle Paleolithic sites in Spain and the northwestern Mediterranean as a whole. For the assemblages studied, variability in edge morphology is predominantly continuous and normally distributed. Signficantly patterned relationships between edge attributes are restricted to cases in which one attribute limits, rather than determines, the range of variability in the other. These seem primarily based in the degree to which use, resharpening, and consequent edge reduction has taken place. Additionally, a dichotomy in patterns of edge use is suggested, associated with the extensiveness of use and modification. For whole pieces, most variability mirrors that of edges, suggesting that retouched artifacts are more the result of the extent and nature of the use of their edges than planned tools for which the maker had some form of "mental template." At the level of assemblages, temporal variability is minimal, while spatial and environmental associated variability is more apparent. These results are examined in light of the three most often proposed explanations for variability in Middle Paleolithic assemblages--style, function, and diachronic change. Subsequently, other aspects of Middle Paleolithic behavior--ranging from raw material usage to settlement patterns--are examined as potential sources for the patterns of lithic variability in the assemblages studied.

A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Science, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2013 / Cyperaceae (sedge) nutlets dominate the archaeobotanical assemblage of fruits and seeds recovered from the Middle Stone Age deposits at the rock shelter Sibudu, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa (Sievers 2006). My aim is to investigate the implications of the nutlet presence in terms of human behaviour and to demonstrate that the nutlets were likely brought into the shelter on sedge culms (stems) deliberately harvested by people and informally placed on the shelter floor to provide “bedding”, a surface for working, resting or sleeping. I use various empirical and experimental approaches to confirm the use of sedges for bedding at Sibudu as early as ~77 000 years ago, almost 50 000 years earlier than any previously identified archaeological bedding. The bedding consists of the sedges Cladium mariscus subsp. jamaicense, Scleria natalensis, S. melanomphala, Cyperus sp. and a panicoid grass, identified through Scanning Electron Microscopy To investigate repeated and deliberate burning of bedding at Sibudu, I use experimental micromorphology and I compare the signatures of the Sibudu sediments with burned fresh sedge and grass bedding. I undertake further fire experiments, also in open air situations, to answer questions about burning sedge beds and the taphonomic implications. Experimental sedge bedding fires are hot and brief. The matrix beneath the fires affects the temperatures achieved both on the surface directly under the fire, and at depths of 2 cm and 5 cm below the surface; an ash matrix conducts heat more effectively than a matrix of 1–2 mm sized particles and allows for carbonisation of buried nutlets. The burning of dry and green bedding indicates that once the bedding is burning, the temperatures are sufficient to carbonise sedge nutlets below both dry and moist bedding. The methodological innovations I introduce are the use of experimental micromorphology to address an archaeobotanical question and the use of GIS-based coexistence analysis of southern African archaeobotanical data to make interpretations about past climate. The analysis develops previous palaeovegetation research in the area (Sievers 2006; Wadley et al. 2008) and provides an environmental context for people/plant activities at Sibudu.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 1999. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 162-179). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 1999. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 162-179). Also available on the Internet.

No description available.

Thesis (D Phil)--Stellenbosch University, 2000. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The Late Pleistocene, Middle Stone Age artefact sequence at the Klasies River main site, was studied to establish what information this held for inferences on the emergence of symbolic thought and communication. The approach adopted was to complement traditional typological analysis by a technological study of artefact production within the framework of the chafne opératoire. The results show that technology was aimed at producing preformed blanks. In the choice of materials, the technique and method of blank production and the retouch of blanks, arbitrary or stylistic choices were made. Changes in stylistic conventions can be documented through the sequence. Changing conventions in artefact production show that the lives of the people who made the artefacts were structured in a symbolic web. These results together with evidence from evolutionary biology, show that by at least 115 000 years ago, people were able to think and speak symbolically. This African archaeological evidence for the emergence of symbolism, a defining attribute of modem peoples, is much older than previously considered. KEYWORDS: Klasies River, Middle Stone Age, technology, symbolic communication, human evolution. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die Latere Pleistoseen, Middel Steentydperk artefakte by Klasiesrivier vindplaas is bestudeer om te bepaal watter kennis ingewin kan word aangaande die ontstaan van simboliese denkwyse en kommunikasie. Die benadering wat gevolg is, was om tradisionele tipologiese analise te komplementeer met 'n tegnologiese studie van artefak produksie binne die raamwerk van die chafne opératoire. Die resultate demonstreer dat tegnologie gemik was op die produksie van voorafgevormde skilfers. Die keuse van roumateriaal, die tegniek en metode van produksie en die herafwerk van skilfers is gelei deur arbitrêre stilistiese keuses. Veranderinge in hierdie konvensies kan gedokumenteer word deur die hele sekwens. Hierdie verandering is tipies van mense wie se lewens gestruktureer word deur 'n simboliese web. Dié resultate, en dié van evolusionêre biologie, dui daarop dat mense reeds teen 115 000 jaar gelede simboliese denke en spraak magtig was. Hierdie bewyse vanuit Afrika vir die ontstaan van simboliese gedrag is veel vroeër as vantevore gereken. SLEUTEL WOORDE: Klasiesrivier, Middel Steentydperk, tegnologie, simboliese kommunikasie, menslike evolusie.