SAS Webinar
South Africa during Later Stone Age
Saturday May 13, 2023
2:00 p.m. – 4:00 PM PT
“Ostrich eggshell beads: a trade item in Knersvlakte, South Africa”
by
Patricia McNeill
and
“Early Later Stone Age at Knysna Cave, South Africa: Analysis of lithic assemblages”
by
Sara Watson
2:00 PM “Ostrich eggshell beads: a trade item in Knersvlakte, South Africa”
Ostrich eggshell beads are a common artifact in South Africa and were widely traded. To reconstruct trading networks Strontium isotopes (⁸⁷SR/⁸⁶SR) can be used as a tracing tool for biogenic materials, such as teeth, bone, and egg shell. Strontium from the local geology gets incorporated into biological tissues as they grow, but the ratio of strontium isotopes varies across the landscape. This regional signature becomes permanently embedded in these tissues and when a bead for example is traded from one region to another, archaeologists can trace the bead back to place of origin; hence the reconstruction of trading networks. Patricia McNeill in her dissertation research has been investigating hunter-gatherer mobility and resource catchment area in the arid Knersvlakte of Namaqualand, Western Cape, South Africa. In this presentation she will introduce the region, discuss archaeological finds and present her analysis of ostrich beads discovered there. One of the tools she used to analysis mobility of Stone Age people in the region was radiogenic strontium isotopes.
Patricia McNeill is a PhD candidate at University of California, Davis. She received her BA and MA at University of California, Davis. She has conducted extensive research at the Center for Experimental Archaeology at Davis. Her field experience includes Varsche Rivier 003, Namaqualand, South Africa, Ranis, Saale-Orla Kreis, Thüringen, Germany and Bureau of Land Management, Eagle Lake Field Office, California.
3:00 PM “Knysna Eastern Heads Cave 1 and the beginnings of the Later Stone Age”
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.
