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  • About
  • The Global ETD Search service is a free service for researchers to find electronic theses and dissertations. This service is provided by the Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations.
    Our metadata is collected from universities around the world. If you manage a university/consortium/country archive and want to be added, details can be found on the NDLTD website.
1

Late earlier stone age sites in the Mapungubwe National Park, South Africa: a technological study

Kempson, Helen 25 April 2008 (has links)
Dr K. Kuman initiated the Limpopo research programme that at present is based on excavations conducted at three sites, Hackthorne, Kudu Koppie and Keratic Koppie. They are situated atop a remnant of an ancient Miocene terrace, approximately 4km from the present day course of the Limpopo River in the Mapungubwe National Park. A broad range of stone tool types is represented in the area, with mostly Earlier and Middle Stone Age artefacts found on the higher ground and Later Stone Age pieces found primarily on the Limpopo’s floodplain. One of the obstacles to understanding the archaeology of the region is the widespread episodic deflation that occurred here during arid periods of the Pleistocene, which had an impact on stratified sequences in the Stone Age. While all three sites have been subject to deflation, Hackthorne and Keratic Koppie are single component sites. Kudu Koppie, however, preserves some stratigraphy and provides a means of comparing and assessing the single component assemblages which have undergone varying degrees of mixing. It was therefore vital to establish a pattern of change through time at Kudu Koppie, with a sequence of late Earlier, Middle and Later Stone Age deposits, using a combination of strategies including typology, technological analysis and a study of raw material exploitation. These data suggest that Hackthorne is primarily a late Earlier Stone Age (ESA) assemblage with some Middle Stone Age (MSA) mixing, while Keratic Koppie preserves an ESA assemblage with a more significant MSA component. The ESA component is further argued to be a final post-Acheulean industry with a major component of woodworking tools, suggesting it may be a local variant of the Sangoan Industrial Complex.

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