Using morphometrics to reappraise old collections: The study case of the Congo Basin Middle Stone Age bifacial industry

Abstract

Despite its strategic location within the continent, Central Africa is rarely integrated into the reconstruction of population dynamics during the Middle Stone Age (MSA) of Africa, especially in terms of the emergence, diffusion and behavioural patterns of Homo sapiens. However, hundreds of sites have been discovered in Central Africa during the 20th century and attributed to the Lupemban, one of the main MSA technological complexes of the region. This complex is mainly characterised by typological criteria based on the numerous bifacial pieces found in the Congo Basin and interpreted as an adaption to the rainforest environment. Most of these Lupemban assemblages have not been studied for decades and thus it is particularly difficult to assess their diversity. This paper presents a detailed combined morphometrical approach (linear measurements and indices, Log Shape Ratio, Elliptic Fourier Analysis) to take a fresh and rigorous look at the Lupemban bifacial tools. We discuss the comparison of different morphometrical approaches to deal with “old” collections for which contexts, particularly chronological ones, are partially missing. We present the results of this approach on three assemblages of bifacial pieces gathered in the 1930s and late 1960s. We quantify their variability and discuss not only their homogeneity but also the variation of a Lupemban hallmark, namely the “Lupemban point”.

Design Space Constraints and the Cultural Taxonomy of European Final Palaeolithic Large Tanged Points: A Comparison of Typological, Landmark-Based and Whole-Outline Geometric Morphometric Approaches

“…Many of these studies also address shape change trajectories and discuss classification issues in Palaeolithic stone tools (e.g. Iovita, 2009;Leplongeon et al, 2020;MacLeod, 2018;Mesfin et al, 2020).…”

The Middle Stone Age of Atlantic Africa: A critical review

“…In the last decades, the region received an increased attention, enriching the available dataset, updating previous information, and boosting the research competition in this region. Today the map of MSA sites consists of open-air, rock shelter and cave sites in Senegal, Mali (Chevrier et al, 2016;Douze et al, 2021;Lebrun et al, 2016;Lespez et al, 2011;Niang et al, 2020Niang et al, , 2018Rasse et al, 2020Rasse et al, , 2012Rasse et al, , 2004Schmid et al, 2022;Soriano, 2003;Soriano et al, 2010), Guinea (Davies, 1964), Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso (Allsworth- Jones, 2019;Frank et al, 2001;Kote, 2019), Ghana (Andah, 1979;Balhu, 2017), Niger, Benin (Allsworth-Jones, 2019; Bagodo, 2004;N'Dah, 2009), Nigeria (Allsworth-Jones, 2019; Bagodo, 2004), Cameroon Martı ´, 2003), Equatorial Guinea (Cruz-y-Cruz et al, 2022;Mercader and Martı ´, 2003;Rosas et al, 2022), Gabon (Mesfin et al, 2021), Congo basin (Mesfin et al, 2020a(Mesfin et al, , 2020bTaylor, 2016), Angola de Matos and Pereira, 2020;de Matos, 2022a;Ervedosa, 1980;Mesfin, 2018), and Namibia (Nicoll, 2009;Shackley, 1986).…”

“…In Gabon, Central African Republic, Republic of Congo several sites were found during the first half of the 20th century with highlights to Kango, Kafe ´le ´and in the Lope ´National Park in Gabon (Bayle des Hermens et al, 1987;Clist, 1989;Matoumba, 2013;Mesfin et al, 2021;Oslisly, 1993;Oslisly et al, 2006;Righou, 1996), NZako in Central African Republic (Angue Zogo, 2020), and Pointe-Noire, du Pool Malebo, M'Pila, M'Piaka, La Plaine, Bacongo or La Poste in Republic of Congo, many of them destroyed by urban expansion. Along with these, there is also a large quantity of potential sites classified as Middle Stone Age (Lanfranchi and Schwarz, 1990) but most with unclear provenance, displaced by many institutions across the world or lost due to unstable circumstances and lootings (Cruz-y-Cruz et al, 2022;Demayumba, 2021;Mesfin, 2018;Mesfin et al, 2020bMesfin et al, , 2020a.…”

Event review: Using multivariate analyses to interpret lithic variability: Contributions and limitations

“…Both these approaches provide similar results in that they identify an opposition between the more oval handaxes from Boxgrove and the more pointed handaxes from Swanscombe, while 3D GM complement the previous analysis by including information on the shape of the profile. Mesfin et al (2020) explore variability in bifacial tools from three sites in the Congo Basin attributed to the Middle Stone Age Lupemban industry (M'Piaka, N'Zako Kono and N'Zako Ambilo) by using three complementary morphometric approaches. These are (1) analysis of five morphometric indices based on linear measurements; (2) the Log Shape Ratio method; and (3) GM using Elliptical Fourier Analysis of 2D outline based on 100 equidistant semi-landmarks placed from one main landmark positioned on the distal extremity.…”