The MIS5 Pietersburg at ‘28’ Bushman Rock Shelter, Limpopo Province, South Africa

Abstract

In the past few decades, a diverse array of research has emphasized the precocity of technically advanced and symbolic practices occurring during the southern African Middle Stone Age. However, uncertainties regarding the regional chrono-cultural framework constrain models and identification of the cultural and ecological mechanisms triggering the development of such early innovative behaviours. Here, we present new results and a refined chronology for the Pietersburg, a techno-complex initially defined in the late 1920’s, which has disappeared from the literature since the 1980’s. We base our revision of this techno-complex on ongoing excavations at Bushman Rock Shelter (BRS) in Limpopo Province, South Africa, where two Pietersburg phases (an upper phase called ‘21’ and a lower phase called ‘28’) are recognized. Our analysis focuses on the ‘28’ phase, characterized by a knapping strategy based on Levallois and semi-prismatic laminar reduction systems and typified by the presence of end-scrapers. Luminescence chronology provides two sets of ages for the upper and lower Pietersburg of BRS, dated respectively to 73±6ka and 75±6ka on quartz and to 91±10ka and 97±10ka on feldspar, firmly positioning this industry within MIS5. Comparisons with other published lithic assemblages show technological differences between the Pietersburg from BRS and other southern African MIS5 traditions, especially those from the Western and Eastern Cape. We argue that, at least for part of MIS5, human populations in South Africa were regionally differentiated, a process that most likely impacted the way groups were territorially and socially organized. Nonetheless, comparisons between MIS5 assemblages also indicate some typological similarities, suggesting some degree of connection between human groups, which shared similar innovations but manipulated them in different ways. We pay particular attention to the end-scrapers from BRS, which represent thus far the earliest documented wide adoption of such tool-type and provide further evidence for the innovative processes characterizing southern Africa from the MIS5 onwards.

Multi-proxy analyses of a mid-15th century Middle Iron Age Bantu-speaker palaeo-faecal specimen elucidates the configuration of the ‘ancestral’ sub-Saharan African intestinal microbiome

“…The palaeo-faecal specimen was recovered in situ from an exposed stratigraphic section at BRS [27] (Fig. 1a, Fig.…”

“…the Oakhurst and Robberg techno-complexes~10 kya and~20 kya, respectively) and Pleistocene (i.e. the Pietersburg techno-complex~70 kya) hunter-gatherers [27,29]. Following recovery of the specimen using latex gloves and stainless steel forceps, whilst wearing a biologically impervious bodysuit and surgical face mask, it was sealed in a sterile plastic ziplock bag and stored at~4°C…”

Fluctuations of vegetation and climate over the last 75 000 years in the Savanna Biome, South Africa: Tswaing Crater and Wonderkrater pollen sequences reviewed

“…Other sources of information for relatively long terrestrial records in the vicinity that contribute to the environmental history of this biome, include isotope data from caves like Wolkberg Cave (Holzk€ amper et al, 2009;Talma et al, 1974), Sudwala (Green et al, 2015), Bushman Rock Shelter (Abell and Pflug, 2000;Porraz et al, 2015), Lobatse Cave (Holmgren et al, 1995) and Cold Air Cave (or Makapansgat Valley) Scott et al, 2008). Although the two pollen sequences at Tswaing and Wonderkrater have limitations due to chronological constraints (discussed below), they provide evidence of changes in vegetation cover in the study area that is possibly more direct in terms of plant taxonomy than isotopic and geological proxies.…”

Multi-proxy analyses of a mid-15th century ‘Middle Iron Age’ Bantu-speaker palaeo-faecal specimen elucidates the configuration of the ‘ancestral’ sub-Saharan African intestinal microbiome

“…, the Oakhurst techno-complex at ∼10 kya), Terminal Pleistocene (the Robberg techno-complex at ∼20 kya) and Pleistocene ( i.e. , the Pietersburg techno-complex ∼80 kya) hunter-gatherers ( 27, 29 ).…”

“…Sediment control sample BRS1 (‘SC1’) was collected from the surface of the rock-shelter (∼25 cm above the specimen) and BRS5 (‘SC2’) from the levels preceding the Iron Age (∼25 cm below the specimen) in the Oakhurst occupation dated to c . 10 kya ( 27, 29 ). These were used as ‘controls’ to assess ecological and faecal community composition for biological plausibility and also the likelihood of sedimentary aDNA (sedaDNA) leaching.…”