Faculty of Science School of Geography Archaeology and Enviromental Science 0406606f wglenny@nmsa.org.za / The analysis of micromammal remains from the MSA deposits at Sibudu Cave, KwaZulu-Natal, constitutes the first in-depth study of the micromammal assemblage at this site. This study highlights the usefulness of taphonomic analyses and micromammal assemblages in the reconstruction of past environments. Little digestive etching suggests that Tyto alba, Tyto capensis and Asio capensis, are the most likely nocturnal raptors responsible for the accumulation of the assemblage. The environmental information from the Sibudu micromammal assemblage showed similarities with other proxy site data from charcoal, seed and macrofaunal analyses. These studies indicate that the immediate environment around Sibudu Cave was very similar at 53.4 ± 3.2 kyr (OSL) and 35.2 ± 1.8 kyr (OSL), consisting of a complex mosaic environment, dominated by open savannah grassland with a small woodland and riverine element.

PhD - Science / Analysis of charcoal from Middle Stone Age layers at Sibudu Cave, KwaZulu-Natal, shows evidence of environmental change during the Last Glacial. Layers analysed encompass the end of the cold stadial, Oxygen Isotope Stage (OIS) 4, and the warmer interstadial, OIS 3. Layers are divided – on the basis of lithic industry associations and taxonomic content – into the Howiesons Poort (HP) (dated to ca. 61 000 years ago), and the early, middle and late post-HP assemblages (ca. 60-55 000, 55-50 000 and 50-33 000 years ago respectively). This project aims to identify evidence for environmental change, characterise this change using qualitative and quantitative analyses, and compare the results to evidence from other proxies at Sibudu Cave and elsewhere in South Africa. HP layers (GS, GR, GR2) are dominated by evergreen forest taxa, including Podocarpus spp., Buxus sp., Brachylaena sp., Sapium/Spirostachys and Ptaeroxylon obliquum. Kirkia sp. suggests a warm, woodland savanna habitat grew beyond the forest vegetation. Early post-HP layers (Eb, SPCA, BSp) contain taxa from evergreen, riverine forest communities, including Erica spp., Leucosidea sericea, and Rapanea melanophloeos. Some of the taxa in these layers suggest a shift in vegetation, possibly related to the marine regression of the Last Glacial, bringing taxa currently found further inland towards the site. Fewer evergreen forest components, and more bushveld taxa, are present in the middle post-HP (RSp, OMOD, MOD) than in the previous layers. Some of the taxa are only found in northern South Africa in regions that are significantly drier than modern KwaZulu-Natal. These layers also contain more Acacia spp. and other Fabaceae taxa and fewer Erica spp. than the samples from the early post-HP. This may be a result of environmental change, a change in wood selection, charcoal fragmentation, or sampling bias. Layer Bu, within the late post-HP, contains evergreen and deciduous taxa many of which are found in KwaZulu-Natal today. Kirkia sp. again provides evidence for a dry habitat not iv currently found in the region. Many Types were defined in Bu, which may indicate a vegetation community for which there is currently no reference material. Temperature and moisture indices produced using the Factor Analysis suggest warm and moist conditions during the HP layers. During the early post-HP conditions became cooler with intermediate moisture levels. Subsequently, conditions were warm and dry (middle post-HP) and then warm with a little more moisture indicated (late post-HP). Good fuelwoods were routinely collected during the post-HP. In contrast, the HP layers are dominated by Podocarpus spp. and many of the good fuelwoods, such as Acacia spp. and Erica spp., are absent. This pattern may be a result of changes in the environment, sample bias or a development of awareness of wood properties between the HP and post-HP occupations. The charcoal results corroborate palaeoenvironmental interpretations provided by seeds and macrofauna from Sibudu Cave. When the Sibudu Cave data are combined with data from other sites it is apparent that, although conditions in the summer rainfall region during the Last Glacial were generally dry, there is evidence for localised variation in vegetation and climate.

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, 2014. / The Middle Stone Age rock shelter site Sibudu contains abundant evidence of pyrotechnology (the controlled use of fire) such as combustion features, ashy layers and lenses and burned bone. I study the use, reuse and discard of fire at Sibudu and the layers Brown/Grey mix and Brown under Yellow Ash 2(i) from the post-Howiesons Poort (post-HP) industry (c. 58 000 years BP) and the layers Pinkish Grey Sand and Pinkish Grey Sand 2 from the Howiesons Poort (HP) techno-tradition (c. 65 000 years BP) are selected for detailed studies. I describe properties of selected combustion features, such as size, form, number of hearth strata, contents (bone, charcoal and stone) and pH values. The post-HP combustion features generally contain a higher proportion of charcoal and are more acidic than the HP combustion features, suggesting post-depositional differences. Twenty actualistic experiments including 39 experimental fires constitute the largest component and contribution of this thesis. The experiments were conducted in two cycles; the first cycle of experiments burned (in different fires) one each of the wood taxa Casuarina equisetifolia, Dichrostachys cinerea, Eucalyptus globulus or Acacia erioloba and the second cycle of experiments burned Dichrostachys cinerea exclusively. Variables such as wood mass, topsoil horizon and number of sequential fires were carefully controlled. The surface and subsurface temperatures of the experimental fires were recorded. The experimental hearths were excavated using similar techniques as those used at Sibudu. Surface temperatures vary greatly even under similar environmental conditions, but subsurface temperatures are more predictable. Five kilograms of wood is sufficient to produce high temperatures for several hours, and slowly adding logs to a fire ensures even temperatures. Sibudu's hearths have a basal black layer with charcoal, but experimental fires do not. Instead they produced 2 – 5 distinct strata, and long-burning fires produced more strata than short-burning ones. Experimental ash dumps lack strata. Areal extent of a hearth is dependent on the wood mass burned, but its depth is dependent on the wood taxon burned. I present spatial analysis of charcoal, bone and knapped stone from the selected Sibudu layers using Kernel density estimation. Higher densities of bone, charcoal and stone are present in the post-HP layers than in the HP. Specialist studies of wood taxa, micromorphology and organic petrology are also included. No specific firewood taxa were preferred, but herbaceous plants were burned at 65 000 years ago, suggesting short fires. This thesis provides a foundation for future research on fire-related behaviour at Sibudu and other Middle Stone Age sites. For example, higher acidity was recorded in the post-HP than in the HP combustion features; this could be caused by different diagenesis and geoarchaeological studies need to be conducted to resolve the issue.. In addition, all the primarily deposited archaeological combustion features in this study were underlain by a basal black layer rich in charcoal, but such layers did not develop in the experimental combustion features and I cannot explain this difference. Thus it is necessary to conduct more studies of the variables affecting the formation and preservation of combustion features. One aspect to study experimentally is the range of attributes controlling surface temperatures of campfires. Amongst the experiments described here, experimental fires burning five kg wood produced maximum surface temperatures in the range of 132 - 848°C, which demonstrates that surface temperatures are unpredictable. The implication is that producing particular temperatures of a fire is not straight-forward and that prehistoric fire users needed planning abilities and a thorough knowledge of pyrotechnology. Both these skills require mental abilities like those of modern people and they also require a sophisticated understanding of environmental conditions.

Ochre is found at many Middle Stone Age (MSA) sites and its use is often attributed by archaeologists to enhanced mental abilities and symbolism. However, the links between the visible uses of ochre, cognition and symbolism have not been clearly demonstrated. Here it is argued that by understanding ochre processing technology and some of the stages involved in using ochre, one can determine the skill, knowledge and cognitive abilities required to execute those activities. In order to understand the usetraces found on ochre, and to enable the identification of them, as well as the types of ochre used, experiments were first performed with geological ochre specimens. Ochre pieces collected from the Sibudu surrounds were used experimentally for a variety of grinding, scoring and rubbing activities. All use-traces created on the ochre piece during an activity were macro- and microscopically examined, recorded and compared. Experimental ochre pieces ground against a coarse or fine-grained slab develop parallel striations. Grinding results in significant changes to the surface shape of the ochre, and often results in faceted edges. Scoring can be performed with the intention to create powder, or to create a design. The incisions created from scoring often do not reach all the edges of the used surface and they regularly have frayed terminations. A frayed incision termination shows that the incision was created by multiple scoring strokes. When ochre is scored to manufacture powder the incisions that are generated are parallel groups of grooves with erratically oriented grooves as well. Grooves created through both grinding and scoring have microstriations within them and they show a range of profile shapes. The most common use-wear from rubbing ochre on soft materials is smoothing, edge rounding and polish. Microstriations and metallic lustre occasionally form during rubbing. The collection of utilised experimental ochre formed a comparative collection for the examination of the Sibudu ochre. The main body of this research comprises a study of the Middle Stone Age ochre assemblage from Sibudu, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Sibudu has a large Middle Stone Age ochre assemblage of over 9000 pieces of ochre from layers dating between ~77 ka and ~37.6 ka. All pieces were examined to determine the types of ochre used and to inspect all use-traces present on the pieces. The assemblage comprises 5449 ochre pieces iv >8 mm, including 682 pieces with markings from use. The pre-Still Bay (~77 ka) and Howiesons Poort (~65–62 ka) layers have the highest percentage of utilised pieces. Bright-red ochre was preferentially selected for use throughout most of sequence. There is evidence of the preferential selection of specific types of ochre for use in the Sibudu assemblage. Shale and pieces with medium hardness values are common throughout the sequence. Grain sizes change through time – pieces with clayey grain sizes are favoured during the Still Bay and Howiesons Poort, whereas silty grain sizes are preferred in the younger Middle Stone Age occupations. High frequencies of bright-red amongst the utilised pieces, coupled with high frequencies of yellow or orange pieces with no evidence of use, suggest that colour choices were deliberate and not a product of postdepositional heating. Chemical analysis of a sample of utilised pieces indicates that they all contain iron, silicon, aluminium and calcium; many pieces contain hematite and some contain maghemite. Use-traces were divided into activity categories, based on experimental results. Combined grinding and rubbing is the most frequent activity for which ochre pieces were used. Grinding and rubbing use-wear also occurs independently on many pieces. Scored pieces are rare, but are more frequent in the pre-Still Bay (~77 ka) industry than elsewhere in the sequence. Some of the incisions appear to be deliberate engravings, and parallel lines and fan-like marks are the most often repeated patterns. Use-traces acquired during powder-producing activities predominate, implying a desire to create ochre powder. Powder-producing activities were mainly performed with bright-red pieces, while minimal scoring is mainly present on brown-red pieces. Pieces with mica inclusions are not common, but were frequently used for powder-producing activities. Once the activities performed with ochre were established, thought-and-action sequences, or cognigrams, were constructed. This helped establish the steps involved in each activity and the temporal and physical distance between the commencement of a task to its completion. Inferential sequences were constructed to establish the procedures and knowledge needed to complete an activity, thereby establishing the cognitive prerequisites. Cognitive interpretations are made using the concept of enhanced executive functions of the brain. The construction of the inferential thoughtv and-action sequences showed that the various ways that ochre was used have different cognitive requirements. Powder-production alone is not an indicator of complex cognitive processes, although some planning, foresight and knowledge of materials is required. Some of the powder was used in the creation of hafting adhesives, which is a cognitively demanding process requiring attention-switching ability, response inhibition and abstract thought. Grinding ochre and then rubbing the piece on a soft material for the direct transfer of powder does require some complex mental abilities, such as multi-tasking and switching attention. Scoring a piece of ochre with a sharp tool does not necessitate enhanced executive functions, but some engravings demonstrate foresight, intentionality and an awareness of space and symmetry that may demonstrate abstract thought. This research provides a complete description of the Middle Stone Age ochre assemblage at Sibudu, and establishes the way that ochre was used at the site. This contributes to the debate on the advent of enhanced behaviours in the past by providing insight into the cognitive abilities required by the ochre users. It offers a method of analysing ochre use in the past by drawing on cognitive theory and the visible applications of ochre. Both simple and complex cognitive abilities were required for ochre activities at Sibudu. The requirement for cognitively complex abilities in some of the ochre-related activities at Sibudu suggests that the people living there during the MSA had advanced mental capabilities like modern humans living today. This research shows how ochre use can be employed as a proxy for cognitive capabilities, and can therefore shed light on the evolution of the modern mind.

Analytical methods for extracting detailed functional and technological information from Middle Stone Age stone tools were refined and developed. This was achieved within a theoretical framework that insists on multiple-stranded evidence for behavioural interpretation. The methods include micro-residue analysis, macrofracture analysis and usewear analysis. Stone tool assemblages – spanning the period between about 100 000 and 50 000 years ago – from Sibudu Cave, Umhlatuzana Rock Shelter, Klasies River Cave 2 and Blombos Cave were analysed. Results derived from macrofracture analyses, that are often conducted as an initial study to assess whether tool classes could have been used in hunting weapons, are used to formulate the following working hypotheses for Stone Age hunting technologies in South Africa: a) some pre-Howiesons Poort pointed tools were used as hafted butchery knives, while others could have been used to tip hunting weapons; b) Howiesons Poort backed tools were probably used as interchangeable pieces in hafted hunting weapons; c) post-Howiesons Poort points were used to tip hunting weapons; d) Later Stone Age hunting technologies were different from those practiced during the Middle Stone Age. The macrofracture results also provided interesting comparable data showing distinct time-related clustering of the results. Although more tools that could have functioned as hunting weapons must be analysed to evaluate the authenticity of these observations, the results suggest that macrofracture studies are important for the study of change in Stone Age hunting behaviours. The main methodological contribution of this thesis is micro-residue analysis. Advances in this method developed from blind tests on replicated flakes with residues derived from the processing of plant and animal products. Lessons learned from previous blind tests shaped the new research reported here and lead to improved methodology and interpretative skills. The last test in the series of four resulted in the most accurate interpretations because, prior to Test 4, iv identification difficulties experienced during the first three blind tests were addressed through replication. The new work reported here highlights some of the difficulties that can be experienced in the morphological identification of microscopic organic residues, particularly the distinction between animal and plant residues. It is specifically recommended that multi-stranded evidence be used for the identification of animal and plant residues. Micro-residue analysis of archaeological samples provided direct evidence for functional and hafting interpretations. These can be used to evaluate the hypotheses based on the results of macrofracture analyses and to provide data for further detailed interpretations. For example, it is shown that: a) retouched points from the Still Bay were used as knives hafted to wooden handles; b) segments from the Howiesons Poort were probably hafted in bone and wood shafts in different hafting configurations that varied during the span of the technocomplex; c) Howiesons Poort segments were mostly used on animal material; d) ochre was mixed into the adhesive recipes during the post-Howiesons Poort, the Howiesons Poort and possibly during the Still Bay technocomplexes at Sibudu Cave. Thus, the multi-analytical approach followed throughout the study contributes evidence for the early development of sophisticated and variable hunting and hafting technologies used by anatomically modern humans in South Africa. Our current knowledge of behavioural trends during the Middle Stone Age has been expanded, allowing rare glimpses into the everyday activities of people living in the deep past. Perceptions of a static, pre-modern technology and unvaried faunal exploitation during the Middle Stone Age in southern Africa are unfounded.

A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Science, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science. Johannesburg, 2014. / This dissertation provides an analysis of the faunal remains excavated from the BSV and BSS layers from Sibudu Cave, Kwa Zulu-Natal. Based on ceramics, presence of daga floors and glass beads found within the layers the BSV and BSS were classified as dating to the Iron Age period (AD 900-1660) . The met hod of analysis follows Driver (2005). The presence of taxa shows that na tural occupants, non-human predators and human occupants accumulated the faunal material in Sibudu Cave. The taxa identified provide strong indication that at this time the site was predominantly occupied by farmers, who hunted wild ungulates and gathered marine taxa. The occupants may have used the site as a temporary shelter between camps or settlements and coastal sites. There is also some indication that the cave was utilised for religious purposes .

Glass beads comprise the most frequently found evidence of trade between southern Africa and the greater Indian Oceanbetween the 7th and 16th centuries AD.  In this thesis beads recovered from southern African archaeological sites are organized into series, based on morphology and chemical composition determined by LA-ICP-MS analysis.  The results are used to interpret the trade patterns and partners that linked eastern Africa to the rest of the Indian Ocean world, as well as interconnections between southern Africa andEast Africa.   Comprehensive reports on bead assemblages from several archaeological sites are presented, including: Mapungubwe, K2 and Schroda in the Shashe-Limpopo Basin; Chibuene in southern Mozambique; Hlamba Mlonga in eastern Zimbabwe; Sibudu Cave in KwaZulu-Natal, Kaole Ruins in Tanzania and Mahilaka in northwest Madagascar.  The conclusions reached show that trade relationships and socio-political development in the south were different from those on the East Coast and that changes in bead series in the south demonstrate it was fully integrated into the cycles of the Eurasian and African world-system.