Creighton Gabel

The stone age archaeology of Southern Africa

General works on the Stone Age archaeology of southern Africa (not including those dealing with Africa as a whole) have been published at irregular intervals so that while seven were published between 1900 and 1930 only J. Desmond Clarks The Prehistory of Southern Africa (1959) and the book reviewed here have appeared since then, although data on the southern part of the continent have been included in general works on Africa by Leakey, Clark and Alimen. In comparison with the rest of subSaharan Africa, a great deal of archaeological research has been undertaken in southern Africa since the Second World War and this growing corpus of information has needed synthesis at regular intervals to integrate new data and revise terminology. Such syntheses are by their nature difficult to assemble because of the wide understanding and detailed specialist knowledge required, but I would consider that they should be judged as successful or not on the extent to which they reflect the current state of development of the subject and whether they can be used as a reliable source of data and viewpoints. These points are discussed in relation to Sampsons The Stone Age Archaeology of Southern Africa below. The book is divided into eleven chapters of varying length. The Introduction (pp. 1-15) sets out the aims and methods employed in the classification of sites and in nomenclature, together with maps summarizing the relief, river systems, vegetation, rainfall, temperature and political boundaries of southern Africa. Thereafter, the Stone Age record is dealt with in chronological order from the australopithecine sites (pp. 16-101) to the most recent Strandloper middens along the South African coast (pp. 403-438). A final chapter is entitled Doubts and Speculations (pp. 439-450) and discusses some of the more controversial interpretations aired in the earlier chapters. The Bibliography is extensive but is largely concerned with items published before 1970, and there is a fairly detailed index. As the page references indicate, the emphasis is on the details of the Stone Age rather than on a general overview and theoretical concepts. The chapter on the Earliest Hominid Sites is by far the longest. The subsections deal with a review of research, dolomite cave formation, details of the individual sites, dating and correlation, descriptions of the more important hominid finds and the interpretations that have been offered, a discussion of the osteodontokeratic theory and the evidence for stone artefact manufacture, as well as a review of the associated faunal remains. The eight following chapters deal in turn with the Acheulian and related industries, the Pietersburg Complex, the Bambata Complex, the Howiesonspoort and related sites, the Oakhurst, Wilton and Smithfield Complexes and the Strandloper sites. Each of these chapters follows a similar pattern, discussing first the historical background to the terminology and then dealing with the typology of the complex or industry, the distribution of the industries, a description of each of the industries recognized and then general discussions on the dating, associated human and faunal remains and any climatic or environmental data that are available. A short discussion summarizes the interpretation and problems. These chapters are all well illustrated with maps, diagrams, artefact drawings and tables redrawn from ther sources. Sampson sets out his aims as, firstly, to provide a service to archaeological scholars by collating information from sources that may not be readily available to students in countries outside southern Africa and, secondly, to attempt to revise the terminological framework of the Stone Age record in southern Africa, based on results acquired by himself and others up to 1971. Although published in 1974, it was written largely prior to 1970 and therefore does not include some significant recent advances in a research field that is rapidly expanding and changing. In his Preface he comments that:

Kalambo Falls Prehistoric Site III. The Earlier Cultures: Middle and Earlier Stone Age

1. Introduction History of research Geology and sedimentation Chronology J. D. Clark 2. The Stone Age cultural sequence: terminology, typology and raw material J. D. Clark and M. R. Kleindienst 3. A re-analysis and interpretation of palynological data from Kalambo Falls Prehistoric Site David Taylor, Robert Marchant and Alan Hamilton 4. The archaeology from the Mbwilo member, sands and rubble: the Siszya and Nakisasa industries of the Lupemban industrial complex J. D. Clark 5. The archaeology from the Mkamba member, ochreous sands bed. The Chipeta industry of the Sangoan industrial complex J. D. Clark 6. The Bwalya industry of the Acheulean industrial complex. Aggregates from the white sands and dark clay beds of the Mkamba member: Inuga phase (Final Acheulean) and Moola phase (Upper Acheulean) J. D. Clark 7. An examination of Kalambo Falls Acheulean site (B5) from a geoarchaeological perspective Kathy D. Schick 8. Modified, used and other wood specimens from Acheulean horizons J. D. Clark 9. The Kalambo Falls large cutting tools: A comparative metrical and statistical analysis Derek A. Roe 10. Experiments in quarrying large flakes at Kalambo Falls I Nicholas Toth 11. A modern knappers assessment of the technical skills of the late Acheulean biface workers at Kalambo Falls Stephen W. Edwards 12. An allometric comparison of Sangoan core-axes and Acheulean handaxes from Kalambo Falls John A. G. Gowlett 13. An overview of archaeological culture and context at Kalambo Falls J. D. Clark 14. A view of the Kalambo Falls Early and Middle Stone Age assemblages in the context of the old world Palaeolithic Derek A. Roe Appendix A. Plant foods in African prehistory J. D. Clark Appendix B. Geography and Kalambo Falls clays J. D. Clark Appendix C. Carbowax and other materials in the treatment of water-logged Paleolithic wood R. M. Organ Appendix D. Curtis McKinney Appendix E. The Kalambo Falls flakes and fragments study of a sample of Acheulean flakes and fragments from site A4 1963 river face extension at Kalambo Falls.

Papers in African prehistory

1. The prehistoric origins of African culture J. Desmond Clark 2. The spread of food production in sub-Saharan Africa J. Desmond Clark 3. Primary cradles of agriculture in the African continent Rolan Portres 4. Speculations on the economic prehistory of Africa Christopher Wrigley 5. Aspects of the evolution and ecology of tsetse flies and trypanosomiasis in the prehistoric African environment Frank L. Lambrecht 6. Concepts of race in the historiography of Northeast Africa Wyatt MacGaffey 7. Some questions on the economic prehistory of Ethiopia Frederick J. Simoons 8. Some developments in the prehistory of the Bantu languages Malcolm Guthrie 9. The problem of the Bantu expansion Roland Oliver 10. The Rhodesian Iron Age Roger Summers 11. The Greefswald sequence: Bambandyanalo and Mapungubwe Brian Fagan 12. The Iron Age sequence in the Southern Province of Zambia Brian Fagan 13. Notes on some early pottery cultures in northern Katanga Jaques Nenquin 14. Kilwa and the Arab settlement of the East African coast Neville Chittick 15. The Shirazl colonization of East Africa Neville Chittick 16. New light on Medieval Nubia P. L. and M. Shinnie 17. Old Kanuri capitals A. D. H. Bivar and P. L. Shinnie 18. Ife and its archaeology Frank Willett.

Archaeology of Gonja, Ghana : excavations at Daboya

This detailed report of archaeological research in a little-known part of northern Ghana includes illustrations & description of new artefact types ranging in date from the second millennium BC to the present day.

Africa South: The Last 30,000 Centuries

AbstractThis article is the first in a series devoted to discussions of recent archaeological research in various regions of the world.

Terminal Food-Collectors and Agricultural Initiative in East and Southern Africa

Most of the archaeological evidence accumulated thus far on. the eastern side of Africa, from Kenya and Uganda down to the Cape, suggests this to have been. a major world area in, which cultivation and stockbreeding were introduced from external sources rather than coming about through the manipulation of local food resources by resident hunter-gatherers. In this respect it appears to parallel more closely some temperate regions such as trans-Alpine Europe or eastern North America than it does some other parts of Africa, or portions of the Asian and American tropics, which were more intimately involved in the initial processes of domestication. As. in much of sub-Saharan Africa, the history of agricultural development is complicated by the fact that various crop and animal complexes contributed to, the final mix. One source of cultigens, quite possibly the earliest, was the Sudanic-Ethiopian belt, in which certain millets (Pernisetum and Eleusine) and sorghum may have been first domesticated and through which sheep, goat, and some types; of cattle found their way southward from North Africa and Southwest Asia. Further additions came, probably at different points of time and by still-unknown routes, from southern and Southeast Asia in the form of bananas, plantain, yams (D. esculenta and alata), taro, sugarcane, rice, chickens, and zebu-type cattle. Decisions regarding the timing of these arrivals and their impact on African culture history vary considerably, giving rise to major interpretative controversies. Finally, in the post-Columbian era, American crops such as maize, manioc, peanuts, tobacco, and the like became important economic assets.

A History of African archaeology

Archaeologists have been excavating in Africa for over 200 years. Contributors place the subject within the broader political, social and economic context. Not only have the attitudes and aspirations of both colonialism and nationalism been important influences on the development of African archaeology, but certain discoveries have also had considerable political impact. Contributors include J.D.Clark, Thurstan Shaw and Peter Shinnie, who have been at the forefront of African archaeology for 50 years.

The Search for Human Origins: Facts and Queries

AbstractUtilizing selected recent source materials, this article reviews some of the evidence, hypotheses, and questions arising from discoveries of early hominids in Sub-Saharan Africa.