Lithic raw material procurement through time at Swartkrans: earlier to Middle Stone Age
Date
2014-01-08
Authors
Sherwood, Nicole Leoni
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Abstract
Tool manufacturing played a major role in the development and evolution of our species, and
by studying the tools left behind by our ancestors we gain valuable insight into their
development and behaviours through time. This study was conducted on the Swartkrans
Oldowan (2.2 - 1.7 Ma), early Acheulean (1.5 - 1 Ma), and Middle Stone Age (<110 ka)
assemblages to determine the degree of lithic raw material selectivity for making stone tools,
and if they practiced ever increasing selection towards better quality stone over time. The
presence of quality selection was determined by comparing the various Swartkrans
assemblages with experimentally created lithic tools from rock types found in the study area.
Three main characteristics that determine selection of rock types were isolated: flaking
predictability, durability and sharpness. Analysis of the data provided further evidence that
our early stone tool making ancestors had the ability to understand how different rock types
behave when knapped and tended to select rocks that had a high flaking predictability, high
durability and could produce fairly sharp edges. It was also apparent that they could identify
features that diminish the above mentioned characteristics. Variables such as the impurity
encounter rate, fracture encounter rate, weathering, grain size and homogeneity were semiquantitatively
recorded for the three techno-complexes at Swartkrans and compared to each
other to help identify the degree of selectivity that was practiced over time. The data revealed
that selection for quality of lithic raw materials was practiced to some extent during the
Oldowan and improved slightly in the early Acheulean. The most marked selection for
quality was seen for the Middle Stone Age when modern humans used the site. These results
indicate that as time progressed in the Sterkfontein valley, and the stone tool technologies
became more complex, so too did the selective pressures and thus an increase in selection for
quality lithic raw materials over the course of time.
Description
A dissertation submitted to the School of Geography, Archaeology and Environmental
Studies, Faculty of Science University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg for the degree of Master of Science.
Johannesburg 2013.