Ce travail de thèse présente une nouvelle lecture technologique des industries lithiques qui documentele Middle Stone Age de la fin du Pléistocène moyen en Ethiopie. Il s’appuie principalement sur une ré-analyse detrois sites majeurs de Gademotta et Kulkuletti (Région du lac Ziway, Vallée du Rift éthiopien), initialement fouillés par F. Wendorf, R. Schild et collaborateurs en 1972. Le croisement des donnés technologiques sur cesindustries à l’échelle locale permet d’aborder la question des dynamiques évolutives qui accompagnenl’émergence des premiers Homo sapiens dans la Corne de l’Afrique. Alors que les traditions techniques montrent une forte stabilité au cours du temps, notamment parl’emploi majoritaire d’une grande diversité de méthodes Levallois de débitage pour la production d’éclats et delames, se dégagent des caractéristiques techniques spécifiques qui se révèlent être des marqueurs régionaux echronologiques. Un changement majeur s’opère sur le plan conceptuel et se caractérise par une augmentation dela prédétermination des morphologies d’outils au débitage, notamment des outils phares du Middle Stone Age les outils à bords convergents (pointes). Ce changement s’accompagne d’une diminution du recours aufaçonnage et du développement de méthodes Levallois dévolues à la production d’éclats triangulaires. Encorollaire, le recours au procédé technique du coup de tranchet latéral, fréquemment appliqué aux outilstriangulaires façonnés dans les phases anciennes, diminue puis disparait au profit d’outils aux bords peutransformés. L’étude met également en exergue la maîtrise de la production laminaire Levallois, dès les phasesanciennes, antérieures à 280 ka, ainsi que la production ubiquiste de petits éclats laissés brut comme un objectifdu débitage Levallois et non Levallois à part entière. Cette étude renseigne les changements comportementaux à l’œuvre aux lendemains de l’Acheuléen, àune période charnière de l’évolution humaine, qui demeure peu documentée. Cette phase initiale du MiddleStone Age est un jalon essentiel dans la Préhistoire africaine qui annonce les phases plus récentes de la périodedurant lesquelles se multiplient les manifestations de comportements symboliques dans certaines parties ducontinent, ainsi que l’emprunt de routes de sortie d’Afrique par l’Homo sapiens. / This thesis presents new technological insights concerning Middle Stone Age (MSA) lithic industries from the end of the Middle Pleistocene in Ethiopia. Based mainly on a reanalysis of three major occupation sites from Gademotta and Kulkuletti (Lake Ziway Area, Main Ethiopian Rift Valley) initially excavated by F. Wendorf, R. Schild and collaborators in 1972, a local-scale comparison of the technology from these three nearby sites enables the evolutionary dynamics accompanying the emergence of Homo sapiens in the Horn of Africa to be discussed. While most of the technical traditions are stable through time, particularly the use of a broad diversity of Levallois methods for producing flakes and blades, several technical idiosyncrasies are also evident and can be considered strong regional and chronological markers. A major conceptual change is characterised by an increase in the predetermination of tool shape during the core reduction process, especially for the major MSA tool group – tools with convergent edges (points). This shift is accompanied by a decrease in the use of shaping techniques (façonnage) and the development of Levallois methods for the production of triangular flakes. The use of the lateral tranchet blow technique, frequently applied to triangular tools during the oldest phases, also decreases and then disappears with tools bearing little transformation becoming dominant. Furthermore, this analysis documents well-developed technical skills evident in earliest occurrences (before 280 ka) of Levallois blade production coexisting with the ubiquitous and independent Levallois and non Levallois production of small flakes. This study highlights behavioural changes evident during the still poorly documented post-Acheulean period, a turning point in human evolution. These initial stages of the Middle Stone Age are crucial for African prehistory as they set the stage for subsequent periods which see not only an increase in symbolic behaviours, but the expansion of Homo sapiens out of Africa.

En Afrique Australe, plusieurs sites attribués au Middle Stone Age (MSA) ont livré de grandes quantités de blocs « d’ocre », suggérant une longue tradition d’exploitation, bien avant l’occurrence des premières peintures rupestres. Les indices sur la fonction de ce matériau et le but pour lequel il a été utilisé sont rares, ce qui a conduit à plusieurs hypothèses. Certains auteurs leur ont associé des comportements symboliques tandis que d’autres ont montré qu’une utilisation « utilitaire » était possible. La question de la fonction et du rôle qu’occupait l’ocre est par ailleurs centrale dans le contexte du MSA, étant donnée l’émergence de plusieurs innovations, production de perles, de motifs gravés et technologies de taille spécifiques. Le site de Diepkloof Rock Shelter apparait particulièrement propice pour tenter de comprendre les comportements associés à l’exploitation de l’ocre, du fait de sa longue séquence fouillée récemment. Ce travail propose d’aborder les différentes étapes de l’exploitation de l’ocre, de la collecte des matières premières à l’utilisation, à partir de l’étude des blocs. Plusieurs méthodes d’observations et d’analyse physico-chimique (MEB-EDS, DRX, ICP-MS, TL, TEM et PIXE) ont été mises en œuvre pour identifier les matières premières, leur provenance, et les transformations opérées. Des prospections et une comparaison avec un corpus géologique ont permis de déterminer l’origine géologique des objets. Des expérimentations et une étude des traces d’usure ont permis d’identifier les transformations. Les résultats obtenus indiquent que des distances supérieures à 20 km ont été parcourues pour l’acquisition de certaines matières premières, dont on constate qu’elles sont plus riches en fer que celles accessibles localement. Les matières premières ont été presque systématiquement abrasées pour produire de la poudre. Ces résultats sont compatibles avec une fonction comme agent siccatif, couvrant ou colorant. Enfin, la continuité avec laquelle l’ocre est exploitée à Diepkloof malgré les changements survenus dans les techno-complexes, ainsi qu’un usage différent par rapport à d’autres sites, suggère que l’ocre a pu jouer un rôle dans les relations sociales inter et intra-groupes. / During the Middle Stone Age hundreds of ochre pieces were discovered on numerous southern Africansites long before the first occurrences of rock paintings, suggesting an important tradition of ochreexploitation. How this material was used remains however uncertain: while symbolic uses are often assumed,archaeological evidence also suggest utilitarian functions. The function and the value attributed to ochrematerials are of high interest for an overall perspective of the Middle Stone Age context, associated with theemergence of different innovations such as new lithic technology, bead production and geometric engravings.The site of Diepkloof Rock Shelter offers a unique opportunity to discuss these questions over a long recentlyexcavated MSA sequence. In this work the modalities of selection and transformation were investigated bystudying the main witnesses of ochre exploitation, the raw and processed pieces. The nature of the rawmaterials, their geological origin and the processing steps were determined by using macroscopic observationand different analytical methods (SEM‐EDXS, XRD, ICP‐MS, PIXE, TL and TEM). Surveys were carried out andarchaeological pieces were compared with geological materials in order to define where they come from.Experimentations have been performed in order to identify mechanical and chemical transformation. Theresults obtained show that some raw materials come from relative long distance, and that they are richer iniron oxide than more local sources. Wear traces indicate that ochre were ground to produce powder, whichcould function as drying agent, protective coating, or pigment. The continuity of this material’s exploitation allover the sequence, and regional uses of this material suggested by the comparison of Diepkloof with othersites, led us to assume that ochre may have favoured intra and inter‐group socials relationships at this time.

A travers l'analyse de matériel macrobotanique (charbon et graines / fruits) issus de trois sites majeurs du Later Stone Age (LSA) d'Afrique australe, cette étude s'intéresse à reconstituer les conditions environnementales durant l'Holocène dans la région, en particulier au cours des deux à trois derniers millénaires. L'étude de ce matériel, accompagné de la constitution d'une collection moderne de références de la végétation du bassin Kgalagadi, vise à mieux cerner l'impact quel'environnement a pu avoir sur les sociétés humaines (subsistance, peuplements, etc.) à une période-clé du (LSA), qui marque l'émergence des pratiques pastorales dans la région. L'étude des environnements est ici primordiale pour interpréter les conditions qui ont pu favoriser l'arrivée de ces premiers éleveurs et leurs lieux d'installation. En complément, une approche ethnographique a été menée, en travaillant avec les communautés locales dans la région de l'Erongo en Namibie, qui peuvent aider à comprendre et reconstituer les pratiques passées d'utilisation de la végétation. / Through macrobotanical (wood charcoal and seeds / fruit) analysis from three major Later Stone Age (LSA) sites located in the Kgalagadi Basin in southern Africa, this study is interested in reconstructing the environmental conditions during the Holocene in the region, in particular in the last two to three millennia. Initially this work couples archaeological macrobotanical analysis with the construction of modern reference material in an effort to trace the environmental / vegetal evolution as well as to comprehend socio-ecological and socio-environmental dynamics in Southern Africa during the late Holocene. The scope of this study covers the period spanning the last 3000-2000 years, with the main objective of understanding what relationships humans had with their environment at a time linked with the arrival or the appearance of the first herding practices in that part of Africa. These herding practices are believed to be accompanied by significant human movement from eastern or central Africa southwards. Favourable environmental conditions may have influenced their routes as well as settlement choices, and these are aspects that this archaeobotanical study aims to address. This study also employed an ethnographic approach, working with local communities in the Erongo region of Namibia, so as to make inferences to past vegetation utilisation practices while at the same time discerning and reconstituting past human activities.

Our understanding of the Later Stone Age (LSA) on the Greater Mapungubwe Landscape has until now been fairly limited. However, it is a landscape upon which foragers witnessed and partook in agriculturalist state formation between AD 900 and 1300, altering their cultural behaviour to suit their changing social and political topography. Nowhere else in southern Africa were foragers part of such developments. For this project a landscape approach was used to study the various changes in the regional LSA record as well as the way in which foragers interacted with farmers. In order to address these issues, data were obtained from an archaeological survey followed by an excavation of seven sites in north-eastern Botswana, part of the Greater Mapungubwe Landscape. These finds indicate that the local forager record varies chronologically and spatially, which had not previously been recorded. Foragers also used a variety of site types and in each a different forager expression was deposited, providing indications of their changing settlement pattern. Notably, this included a gradual movement into agriculturalist homesteads beginning by at least AD 1000 and concluding by AD 1300, when the Mapungubwe capital was abandoned. Thus, interactions, at least in some cases, led to assimilation. There is also clear evidence of exchange with agriculturalists at many of the excavated sites, but this does not always seem to be related to their proximity with one another. Performing a landscape study has also made it possible to make two general conclusions with regard to LSA research. First, these data challenge ethnography, displaying its limitations particularly with linking modern Bushman practices, such as aggregation and dispersal patterns or hxaro gift exchange, to LSA foragers. Second, a full landscape understanding combines the archaeology of multiple cultural landscapes and in this case also crosses national borders, two themes often neglected in southern African archaeological studies.

This essay will study the cultural landscape in Falbygden during the Neolithic, focusing on the limestone plateau northeast of Mösseberg. The megalithic tombs have since long characterized the landscape and therefore been important to many cultures that have inhabited the area. By constructing the landscape the social actions can be interpreted and therefore a further understanding of why the environment is shaped the way it is. This will be achieved by comparing earlier interpretations of the megalithic landscape with possible settlement locations. Three possible settlements have been located in the landscape using this technique and by applying similar techniques more extensive mapping of the Neolithic settlements can be applied in the area.

A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Science, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Johannesburg, 2016 / The lower Sundays River Valley, within the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa, has featured in a range of papers over the last century. A large portion of these focuses on improving our understanding of a series of river terraces that border the present channel. Earlier Stone Age (ESA) artefacts were first noted to occur in these deposits in the 1950s, but since this initial research there has been no attempt to investigate these further. Our understanding of the Eastern Cape’s early archaeology is poor and this can be attributed to a lack of research. Only a single ESA site, Amanzi Springs, has been fully excavated for the entire province, and although the artefacts here provide some indication as to what characterises this region’s early archaeology, the significance of this site is limited by our inability to date it. Well-dated ESA sites are thus completely absent in the Eastern Cape. More recently, a study has provided a series of dates for the Sundays River terraces. Most importantly, this research confirmed the presence of these ESA – more specifically Acheulean – artefacts within three of these dated deposits, namely: Atmar Farm dated to 0.65 ± 0.12 Ma (millions of years ago), Bernol Farm dated to 1.14 ± 0.2 Ma, and Penhill Farm date to <1.37 ± 0.16 Ma and more recently constrained by this research to >0.485 ± 0.051 Ma. Accordingly, it has been the purpose of this research to investigate these deposits through both survey and excavation, and to provide details on this archaeology. This research thus provides the first ever comprehensively described and dated ESA sites for this region, and from this we can now begin to construct our understanding of the local Acheulean Tradition. This research also provides a contextual assessment for the formation of these deposits and what processes have influenced their formation and modification. Furthermore, from the detailed analysis of the artefacts, we can begin to understand the strategies employed in their production. Our investigations have shown that largely different contextual conditions are present at each of the three sites. This has had significant impacts on the integrity of these assemblages, and the preservation and retention of assemblage components are highly variable between them. All of the artefact assemblages show the following characteristics: simple strategies in core reduction, low levels of reduction in both cores and formal tools, simple and expedient production of retouched artefacts with little emphasis on careful edge modification, and large cutting tools (LCTs) that are flaked bifacially but have limited shaping overall. For the first time in half a century our research now provides comparative material from three dated sites that can be used to help understand variability in the local Acheulean Tradition. This has important implications for not only the Eastern Cape, but also to sites elsewhere in the interior. / MT2016

Pottery and livestock reached lithic using people in southern Africa some 2000 years ago. It has been suggested that early ceramics were introduced from further north then spread to the southernmost tip of Africa by an immigrant Khoekhoe herder population. How pottery and small livestock spread in southern Africa is debated. Some scholars believe that migrating Khoekhoe herders were responsible while others state that networks of local hunter-gatherer groups gained livestock and pottery by exchange and diffusion. Some think that both migration and diffusion played a part. The aim of this study is to contribute to this debate by comparing lithic technology in pre-pottery and pottery assemblages in the Central Limpopo Basin and northern Botswana. An abrupt change in lithic technology across the 2000 BP boundary would favour the migration model while gradual or no change would favour the diffusion model. This study focuses on two contemporary sites with Bambata pottery. Assemblages from Toteng 1 and Mphekwane Rock shelter in northern Botswana and the Central Limpopo Basin are analysed. For lithic analysis at both sites, the chaînes opératoires approach is employed. Although the method is not commonly applied to southern African Later Stone Age assemblages, it has broad appeal and potential in other parts of the world. The essential difference between this approach and the commonly applied typological approach in southern Africa is that it encompasses the whole life history of lithic material, from the basic nodule to finished tools. The study focuses much on the technological analysis and this dominates the analytical part. However, typological analysis was also performed in the study in classifying different categories of formal tools.

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. Johannesburg, November 2014. / My analysis of the lithics, shellfish and tortoise recovered from layers dating to between 11.8 and 9.7 ka at Klipdrift Cave (KDC), De Hoop Nature Reserve, southern Cape, provides new information on the Oakhurst technocomplex. A re-analysis of a sample of lithic artefacts from Matjes River Rock Shelter (MRS) indicates many technological similarities, but also unexpected differences, highlighting the need for detailed contextualised studies that could reveal the complexity of the Oakhurst Industry. The lithic artefacts were analysed following a typo-technological approach. The KDC Oakhurst shares many characteristics typical of this technocomplex from the southern Cape, for example in the dominance of quartzite, irregular and unstandardized flakes, the occurrence of irregular cores and typical large side and end scrapers. It differs from most coastal Oakhurst sites in the more intensive exploitation of quartz, and the presence of a morphological blade component, especially in the lowermost layers. Shellfish remains were identified to species level in terms of minimum number of individuals (MNI) and weight. The two main species are Dinoplax gigas, dominating in the lower part of the sequence, between 11.8 and 11.1 ka and Turbo sarmaticus that is more numerous thereafter. These species provide the highest energy yield in terms of kilojoules, estimated at 667 511 kilojoules for both species combined. The species composition at KDC reflects changing environmental conditions that may relate to the effect of the Younger Dryas event, changing from a sheltered sandy bay to a habitat with more exposed rocks and less sand after 11.1 ka. T. sarmaticus opercula, Cymbula oculus shells and tortoise medio-lateral humeri were measured to investigate whether human predation pressure could have affected their size. Although the sizes of T. sarmaticus opercula show some decrease through time suggesting human predation pressure on these molluscs, there is also a possibility that environmental factors may have affected Turbo growth. The tortoise sizes at KDC, and some other Oakhurst sites, are similar to that of the Middle Stone Age (MSA) but the KDC data are iv inconclusive on whether intensive harvesting had an effect on average tortoise size.

A dissertation submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in Archaeology of the University of Witwatersrand in 2017. / Over the past decade a new method of statistical shape analysis, geometric morphometrics, has been applied to the study of artefact shapes. Later Stone Age (LSA) tanged stone arrowheads, hypothesized to act as stylistic markers among prehistoric southern African hunter-gatherer groups, have been analysed with geometric morphometrics and reveal spatially coherent variations in their shape. After being tested against several variables that may have had an effect on arrowhead shape, these stylistic spatial variations could very well indicate large scale linguistic or other kinds of boundaries between different elements of prehistoric San populations. Understanding them can shed light on the social and economic organization of southern African hunter-gatherers during the later Holocene. / LG2017

Faculty of Science School of Geography,Archaeology and Enviromental Studies 0310392a smami2003@yahoo.co.uk / Points are often the most abundant retouched lithics in MSA collections yet very little research has been done on their functions, especially in southern Africa where it has always been assumed that points were spears. This paper reports on the results of a technological analysis of two types of points from Rose Cottage Cave, South Africa. The study aims at examining the possibility that thick, broad points from various post-Howiesons Poort layers dating between 50 000 and 28 000 years ago were used as spearheads that were thrust at prey, while the narrow, thin points from one of the final MSA layers, Dc, (between 31 000 and 29 000 years old), were used as arrowheads that may have transported poison to prey. The results indicate that the former type of points were more likely to have been used as spearheads while the latter type were more likely to have been arrowheads.