New investigations at the Middle Stone Age site of Pockenbank Rockshelter, Namibia

Schmidt, Isabell; Ossendorf, Götz; Hensel, Elena A.; Bubenzer, Olaf; Eichhorn, Barbara; Gessert, Lothar; Gwasira, Goodman; Henselowsky, Felix; Imalwa, Emma; Kehl, Martin; Rethemeyer, Janet; Röpke, Astrid; Sealy, Judith; Stengel, Ingrid; Tusenius, Madelon

doi:10.15184/aqy.2016.165

Cited by 5 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 3 publications

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“…Evidence for exploitation of economic shell sh species occurs along the southern Cape coast as early as 164 ka (33), however transport of such species over >45 km is rare during the MSA and suggests movement of people between coastal and interior southern Namaqualand during MIS 5b. Long-distance shell sh transportation during the MSA has been noted from Apollo 11 and Pockenbank (34,35), both located in southern Namibia ~450 km north of VR003, suggesting that at least some of these behaviours were potentially widespread through arid regions of southern Africa.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Innovative technological and subsistence responses to marginal environments indicate complex cultural dynamics in southern Africa ~90 000 years ago

Mackay

Armitage

Niespolo

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Evidence for complex behaviours appears sporadically through the Middle Stone Age of Africa, leaving unclear the major factors shaping the evolution of human behaviour. Here we present evidence for a novel suite of adaptations in the arid Knersvlake region of southern Africa that were deployed during a specific set of environmental conditions dating 90-80 000 years before present, at the archaeological site Varsche Rivier 003 (VR003). This includes the earliest production of artefacts from ostrich eggshell, long-distance transportation of economic marine molluscs, and stone tool technologies focussed on manufacture of small flakes and blades from deliberately heat fractured blocks of silcrete. Similar evidence is absent from coeval assemblages at sites in less arid areas immediately to the south, and subsequently disappears from VR003 with the onset of more humid conditions. The results indicate complex cultural dynamics in southern Africa during the Middle Stone Age, and suggest that marginal subsistence conditions fostered distinctive technological and subsistence innovations.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Innovative technological and subsistence responses to marginal environments indicate complex cultural dynamics in southern Africa ~90 000 years ago

Mackay

Armitage

Niespolo

et al. 2021

Preprint

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“…At least in the younger MSA deposits, Diepkloof's sample is large enough that it suggests consistent consumption of shellfish, and therefore may reflect the ease of transportation along the flat landscape of the Verlorenvlei(128).More extreme is the evidence for long-distance transportation during the MSA of small samples of marine shellfish noted from Apollo 11 and Pockenbank Rock Shelter, which are ~140 km and ~120 km from the modern coast respectively. Apollo 11 preserves two granite limpet fragments and Pockenbank has provided granite limpet and black mussel fragments [T. Steele, personal observation](130,131). Transportation beyond 10-15 km is more typical of the LSA, including small samples of shells that were found in the LSA deposits of VR003 and three LSA sites on the same farm (1,[132][133][134].…”

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confidence: 99%

Environmental influences on human innovation and behavioural diversity in southern Africa 92–80 thousand years ago

et al. 2022

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VR003 has been excavated over five seasons between 2009 and 2016. The initial two seasons had the primary objective of assessing the potential of the deposit, and only selected finds were plotted. The final three seasons 2014-2016 involved plotting of all cultural items using different size cut-offs for different classes of material (≥20 mm for lithics, ≥25 mm for bone). Some classes of material, notably OES, were only plotted if modified. All plotted artefacts were assigned unique provenience ID's and individually bagged. Sedimentary aggregates were plotted with a single indicative point location, and volume was quantified as proportional bucket volume (FULL, ¾, ½, ¼). All aggregates were sieved on site through nested 3 mm and 1.5 mm mesh, and the residues from each bagged separately. All plotting was undertaken using a local grid, managed by control points emplaced around the site.We currently recognise nine archaeological horizons and eight geological horizons in the Main Area sequence (1); for the sake of simplicity in this paper we refer to the lower two archaeological horizons (I-08 and I-09) in aggregate as the Lower Deposits. All horizons in the Main Area are associated with the MSA. Inside the small extant shelter (known as Sector III) we identify 23 geological horizons (III-01 through III-23), with Late Holocene LSA comprising the upper 14 strata (0.6-0.9 m depth). In the Main Area, I-04 was assigned to the Howiesons Poort and Still Bay (1), though initially dated by OSL in the Main Area to 45.7 ±2.8 ka. Inside the shelter in Sector III, Howiesons Poort artefacts occur in strata III-18 through III-23, with initial OSL ages of 42.3 ±2.7 ka and 41.7 ±2.9 (1) (Still Bay has yet to be encountered in this part of the site). In both areas these ages are unusually young for the Howiesons Poort. We provide a redating here (SI Geochronology below) using OSL on quartz grains from III-18 to III-20 that places the Howiesons Poort between 71.6±6.2 and 60.8±5.2, consistent with ages elsewhere, with ages for the immediately overlying post-Howiesons Poort stratum III-17 of 55.7 ±4.4 and 66.1 ±5.3 ka (Figure S1).The fossiles directeur for the Howiesons Poort and Still Bay (backed artefacts and bifacial points respectively) occur as a discrete band across the entire site and include a single piece of engraved OES in the Link Trench (Figure S1). In the Main Area there is no recurrence of such artefacts in the underlying deposits, which we assign to the pre-Still Bay MSA.

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Pockenbank, Namibia

Schmidt,

Ossendorf,

Bubenzer

et al. 2023

Handbook of Pleistocene Archaeology of Africa

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New investigations at the Middle Stone Age site of Pockenbank Rockshelter, Namibia

Cited by 5 publications

References 3 publications

Innovative technological and subsistence responses to marginal environments indicate complex cultural dynamics in southern Africa ~90 000 years ago

Innovative technological and subsistence responses to marginal environments indicate complex cultural dynamics in southern Africa ~90 000 years ago

Environmental influences on human innovation and behavioural diversity in southern Africa 92–80 thousand years ago

Pockenbank, Namibia

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