The Messum-Menongue Complex: Early Holocene stone tool assemblages in Namibia and Angola (2025)

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

Antiquity, 2016

Schmidt, I. 2011: A Middle Stone Age Assemblage with Discoid Lithic Technology from Etemba 14, Erongo Mountains, Northern Namibia. Journal of African Archaeology 9(1), 85-100.

"Etemba 14 was excavated in two seasons (1968 and 1984) and yielded a stratigraphic sequence with Later Stone Age (LSA) and Middle Stone Age (MSA) material. Human remains discovered among material of the first excavation had been assigned to the MSA complex. The diachronic analysis of material from the second excavation showed that 1) the transition correlates with the sedimentological change from Unit IV to V, contrary to previous interpretations; 2) the interface most probably reflects a considerable time span; 3) the human cranial fragments belong to the LSA complex; 4) an undisturbed MSA layer was identified at the base of the second excavation. A technological analysis of the MSA assemblage showed that discoidal reduction was the prevailing concept, independent of the raw material used. Cores made out of quartz show additionally a simple, unipolar reduction. Pointed flakes (pseudo-Levallois points) are frequent; blades are irregular and very scarce. The reconstruction of the chaîne opératoire allows some suggestions about the activities that took place on site.Early MSA assemblages from the south-western part of Namibia show similar technological features. Whether the discoid technology used at Etemba 14 is a chronological marker or a local expression of functional or economic needs requires further research."

Initial Observations and Patterns of Expedient Flake Use in a Wilton Industry Assemblage from Northeastern Namibia

Pushing the Envelope: Experimental Directions in the Archaeology of Stone Tools, 2011

Excavation of a late Holocene cave deposit in the southern Namib Desert, Namibia

Cimbebasia 18: 1-10, 2003

A late Pleistocene microlithic Later Stone Age assemblage from coastal Namaqualand, South Africa

Stone tools, beads and a river: two Holocene microlithic sites at Jakkalsberg in the northwestern Richtersveld, Northern Cape. South Africa

Late Holocene archaeology in Namaqualand, South Africa: hunter-gatherers and herders in a semi-arid environment.

This study examines mid- to late Holocene Later Stone Age archaeological residues – specifically flaked stone artefacts, ostrich eggshell beads and pottery – from Namaqualand, north-western South Africa. Through its implication in all models so far proposed, Namaqualand is crucial to understanding the introduction of herding to the southern African subcontinent. Despite numerous publications on early herding, many key debates remain unresolved. The study focuses on the northern and central Namaqualand coastline, but sites from other parts of Namaqualand are also described. The stone assemblages are grouped according to variation in materials and retouch and then, along with data from ostrich eggshell beads and pottery, analysed graphically for temporal and other patterning. A cultural sequence is then presented. Using this sequence, key debates on early herding are explored and a hypothesis on its origins is constructed. Indigenous hunter-gatherers occupied the region throughout the Holocene and made Group 1 lithic assemblages from quartz and cryptocrystalline silica with frequent retouched tools primarily in cryptocrystalline silica. A new population – likely Proto-Khoekhoe-speaking hunter-gatherers with limited numbers of livestock – entered the landscape approximately 2000 years ago. They made Group 3 assemblages from clear quartz focusing on backed bladelets. Diffusion of stock and pottery among the local population occurred during this period. Later, c. AD 500, a new wave of migrants appeared. These last were the ancestors of the historically observed Khoekhoe pastoralists; they made Group 2 lithic assemblages on milky quartz without retouched tools. Bead diameter generally increases with time and contributes nothing to the debate. The pottery sequence is still too patchy for meaningful interpretation but differs from that elsewhere. Overall, the differing cultural signatures in western South Africa suggest that, although many questions will likely remain unanswered, a better understanding of southern African early herding will only be possible with a study addressing all regions simultaneously.

A Middle Stone Age Assemblage with Discoid Lithic Technology from Etemba 14, Erongo Mountains, Northern Namibia

Journal of African Archaeology, 2011

Etemba 14 was excavated in two seasons (1968 and 1984) and yielded a stratigraphic sequence with Later Stone Age (LSA) and Middle Stone Age (MSA) material. Human remains discovered among material of the first excavation had been assigned to the MSA complex. The diachronic analysis of material from the second excavation showed that 1) the transition correlates with the sedimentological change from Unit IV to V, contrary to previous interpretations; 2) the interface most probably reflects a considerable time span; 3) the human cranial fragments belong to the LSA complex; 4) an undisturbed MSA layer was identified at the base of the second excavation. A technological analysis of the MSA assemblage showed that discoidal reduction was the prevailing concept, independent of the raw material used. Cores made out of quartz show additionally a simple, unipolar reduction. Pointed flakes (pseudo-Levallois points) are frequent; blades are irregular and very scarce. The reconstruction of the chaîne opératoire allows some suggestions about the activities that took place on site. Early MSA assemblages from the southwestern part of Namibia show similar technological features. Whether the discoid technology used at Etemba 14 is a chronological marker or a local expression of functional or economic needs requires further research. Résumé Etemba 14 a été fouillé pendant deux saisons (1968 et 1984) et a livré une séquence stratigraphique avec un niveau du Late Stone Age (LSA) et Middle Stone Age (MSA). Les restes humains, découverts ultérieurement dans le matériel de la première fouille, ont été attribués au complexe du MSA. L'analyse diachronique du matériel de la deuxième fouille a permis de montrer que : 1) contrairement aux interprétations précédentes, la transition (MSA-LSA) correspond au changement sédimentologique d'unité IV à unité V; 2) il paraît hautement probable que la surface de séparation représente un laps de temps remarquable; 3) les fragments du crâne humain appartiennent à la séquence du LSA; 4) une couche intacte du MSA a été identifiée à la base de la deuxième fouille. Une analyse technologique du complexe MSA a montré que la réduction discoïde était la méthode la plus courante, indépendament de lamatière première utilisée. En outre, quelques nucléus de quartz portent les stigmates d'une réduction simple et unipolaire. Les éclats-crêtes (Pointes pseudo-Levallois) sont fréquents; les lames, irrégulières, sont rares. La reconstruction de la chaîne opératoire a permis de formuler quelques hypothèses sur les activités pendant l´occupation. Les expressions technologiques dans des accumulations du Early MSA, trouvé au sudouest de Namibie, sont comparable avec celles trouvées à Etemba 14. Déterminer si la technique discoïde, utilisée à Etemba 14, peut constituer un marqueur chronologique ou une expression locale liée à de besoins fonctionnels ou économiques nécessitera de nouvelles analyses.

What is a Wilton scraper? Perspectives from the Late Holocene assemblage of Balerno Main Shelter, Limpopo Province, South Africa

Southern African Humanities, 2019

Microlithic Wilton scrapers are widespread stone tools of the southern African Holocene Later Stone Age. Though they have been studied and classified in various ways, there are still many uncertainties regarding their fabrication, function and hafting, which ultimately produce one question: are all these scrapers the same tool? The scraper variability in one site, Balerno Main Shelter in the Limpopo Province of South Africa, is investigated through a morpho-functional analysis of the Late Holocene (end-)scraper assemblage. The results of our analysis led us to individualise three types of tool that vary primarily with regard to the characteristics of their passive units (the assumed prehensile part). This classification is accompanied by hypotheses about the hafting and functioning of these scrapers, and carries implications for the categorisation of Wilton scrapers throughout southern Africa.

Under the mopane tree: Holocene settlement in northern Namibia

Azania:archaeological Research in Africa, 2012