Michael L. Murphy

Lithic Microwear Analysis of Middle Stone Age Artifacts from White Paintings Rock Shelter, Botswana

Abstract Excavations conducted at the White Paintings rock shelter in the NW Kalahari Desert have uncovered seven meters of Later and Middle Stone Age deposits. Lithic microwear evidence was found on 15 artifacts representing five of the major archaeological subdivisions in the sequence and revealed work in wood, hide, and bone, as well as butchering and impact damage. Middle Stone Age points found in deposits bracketed by TL dates to between approximately 66,400 ± 6500 and 94,300 ± 9400 B.P. were of special interest because of the possible association of the Middle Stone Age with the origin of anatomically modern humans and because little, if any, micro-wear evidence has been published on Middle Stone Age points. Five out of 10 points examined revealed impact damage consistent with their use as projectiles, most likely as spear points. We present a model of the use of such points for hunting medium-sized mammals with spears, an interpretation that is largely consistent with faunal remains observed in South African cave sites.

Recent archaeological research at Toteng, Botswana: early domesticated livestock in the Kalahari

This paper presents the first combined use of OSL and AMS dating to address the problem of the advent of livestock in southern Africa. Excavations at Toteng, at the eastern end of the Lake Ngami basin, have revealed bones of wetland and domesticated animals dating to around 2 ka. There is also Bambata pottery and microliths. Between 2.1–1.5 ka the lake level increased to ca 934 m asl but declined rapidly to less than 930 m asl by 1.2 ka. People lived close to the shore of Lake Ngami but as the lake waters receded occupation was probably seasonal in the winter months; during the summer low-flow months they may have moved west to be near a smaller Lake Ngami or northeast to the Okavango Delta.

The Kalahari During MIS 6-2 (190–12 ka): Archaeology, Paleoenvironment, and Population Dynamics

We present a synthesis of archaeological and paleoenvironmental information for the period MIS 6-2 in the Kalahari. Discussion centers on the implications of nine new, internally consistent OSL ages obtained from White Paintings Rock Shelter. These dates provide a better understanding of the Middle Stone Age (MSA) and Late Stone Age (LSA) sequence. In addition, the revised chronology dates 11 buried soil A-horizons that were formed during wetter periods. The buried A-horizons, along with dated speleothems and high lake levels in the Kalahari correlate with Antarctic warming events (A) and North Atlantic Heinrich events (H). We also discuss the implications of the Kalahari megalake, paleolake Makgadikgadi, for human populations and compare dated changes in the archaeological sequence at WPS with dates established in Khoisan genetic evolutionary studies.