South Africa during Later Stone Age | Sacramento Archeological Society, Inc.

SAS Webinar
South Africa during Later Stone Age
Saturday May 13, 2023
2:00 p.m. – 3:00 PM PT
“Early Later Stone Age at Knysna Cave, South Africa: Analysis of lithic assemblages”
by
Sara Watson

The beginning of the Later Stone Age is argued to correspond to the introduction of subsistence, mobility, and land use patterns documented in the ethnographic record. However, the earliest technologies of this period, known as the Early Later Stone Age, or ELSA, are poorly defined. The ELSA can be found as early as 40 ka and as late as about 19 ka. There are very few sites with well-described ELSA assemblages, with some researchers suggesting that the apparent variability between assemblages would reflect a shift in occupation to the now submerged continental shelf to follow the receding coastline. In this presentation, Sara will discuss the ELSA from Knysna Eastern Heads Cave 1, a currently unpublished site located on the southern coast of South Africa. In this presentation Sara Watson will define the Stone Age periods, focus on lithic changes in the ELSA in South Africa, and provide a first look at the beginnings of the Later Stone Age along the southern coast

Sara Watson is a graduating PhD candidate at University of California Davis. She has a BA from University of Texas at Arlington, and an MA from University of California, Davis. She has been involved with extensive field work and research projects associated with South Africa including GeoArcheaology Working Group; Experimental investigation of costs and benefits of lithic heat treatment in the Middle Stone Age; Middle Stone Age technological organization at Nelson Bay Cave, South Africa; Doring River Archaeology Project; Center for Experimental Archaeology, at Davis;, Knysa Paleocape and Middle Stone Age Research Project; Experimental examination of structural changes in silcrete during heat treatment; small tool production at Montagu Cave, South Africa and McNair Scholars Summer Research Internship. She has two publications as a first author and a third one as co-author.