SAS Webinar

Saturday, August 14, 2021

2:00 p.m.

“The Robberg of Southern Africa: Late Glacial Lithic Technology”

by Sara Watson, PhD candidate UC Davis

The Robberg technocomplex is one of southern Africa’s most distinctive and cohesive technologies and found in cave and rock shelter sites across southern Africa at the end of Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 2 and the Last Glacial Maximum. Since its early description, the Robberg Industry has typically been considered a relatively stable technology across southern Africa. However, focus on broad-scale similarities has masked temporal and spatial variability in Robberg technological organization. Recent research has focused on examining differences in Robberg technology, the meaning of which is still poorly understood. In this presentation, I will review the current state of research on the Robberg and present new case studies of lithic technology from Robberg assemblages in western South Africa and the south coast.

Sara Watson is a PhD student in the Department of Anthropology at UC Davis. She received her BA (Summa cum Laude) in Anthropology at University of Texas and an Masters in Anthropology at UC Davis. Her research focuses on human decision-making surround stone tool production 50,000 to 20,000 years ago in southern Africa. Her work thus far has resulted in two publications (one as first author), two manuscripts in review(one as first author) and three manuscripts in preparation (all as first author).