Wooden Implements from Late Stone Age Sites at Gwisho Hot-springs, Lochinvar, Zambia

Abstract

Discoveries of organic remains are rare on Late Stone Age sites in southern Africa. However, it is known from numerous historical records that in the case of the Wilton people the perishable elements of the material culture were in many cases the most important aspects of the tool-kit of Late Stone Age man.The prehistoric settlements at Gwisho hot-springs, Lochinvar, Zambia, assume particular importance, for excellent circumstances of preservation have enabled us to make an exceptionally complete reconstruction of Late Stone Age economy and material culture in a savannah woodland and riverside environment. The object of this paper, in advance of a comprehensive study, is to describe some of the wooden implements found at the sites during recent excavations.

A Review of Ethnographic Use of Wooden Spears and Implications for Pleistocene Hominin Hunting

“…The site yielded 25 wooden artefacts dating to between 11,911 ± 356 to 10,071 ± 167 cal BP and included the earliest known boomerangs, two barbed spears that are also the oldest examples of their kind, digging sticks and a 'short simple spear' suggested to be made of she-oak (Casuarina stricta) (Dodson 1977;Flood 1999;Luebbers 1975;Luebbers 1978). The Late Stone Age site of Gwisho B in Zambia produced multiple types of wooden artefacts, most made of locally available hardwoods including Rhodesian Teak (Baikiaea plurijuga) (Fagan & van Noten 1971;Fagan, van Noten & Vynckier 1966). The wooden finds from Gwisho B include digging sticks, wooden arrowheads and a possible broken point of a wooden spear.…”

Wooden tools and fire technology in the early Neanderthal site of Poggetti Vecchi (Italy)

“…The sizes vary locally; for example, digging sticks of the Australian Bindibu are around a meter long or slightly longer (99-137 cm) (ref. 29, p. 407), whereas bushmen use shorter ones (25). The same applies to the Hadza, who manufacture artifacts that are around 136 cm long and some 1 kg in weight and become 7 cm shorter at every gathering trip; the sticks are finally discarded when they measure around 77 cm (16).…”

“…Much more recent, although still referable to an archeological context of Late Stone Age hunter-gatherers, are the numerous wooden implements found at Gwisho (Zambia). Five fragmentary tools have been identified as digging sticks and are morphologically similar to the Poggetti Vecchi artifacts, as well as to quite smaller ones that are still used by the local peoples (25).…”

“…Digging sticks are frequently included in Australian, African, and American ethnological collections (e.g., refs. 4,17,24,25). They have a blunt point at one extremity and a roughly rounded handle at the other (only rarely are both of their extremities pointed), and are usually made from the hardest wood available in the area.…”