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34 Cultural Succession of South Africa Paper No. : 03 Archaeological Anthropology Module : 34 Cultural Succession of South Africa. Development Team Prof. Anup Kumar Kapoor Principal Investigator Department of Anthropology, University of Delhi Paper Coordinator Dr. M.K. Singh Department of Anthropology, University of Delhi Content Writer Dr. D.K. Bhattacharya (Retd.Prof.) Department of Anthropology, University of Delhi Content Reviewer Prof. Falguni Chakraborty Vidyasagar University, Medinipur, West Bengal 1 Archaeological Anthropology Anthropology Cultural Succession of South Africa Description of Module Subject Name Anthropology Paper Name 03 Archaeological Anthropology Module Name/Title Cultural Succession of South Africa Module Id 34 2 Archaeological Anthropology Anthropology Cultural Succession of South Africa Cultural Succession of South Africa. South Africa is the lower peninsular region of Africa which lies between 120 S to 350 S. It includes countries like Angola in the West to Mozambique in the east. In the south Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe other than the union of South Africa covers the region. The entire region of South Africa is an area of very ancient landmass and during the Quaternary remained remarkably free from any large scale faulting, rifts or volcanic eruptions. Extending on either side of the Tropic of Capricorn, this region differs as a whole in several respects from other regions of Africa. Zambia and Tanzania form a huge plateau that is drained by many rivers. Of these Kafue and Luangwa are two main ones that flow towards the Congo basin. Towards the South flows the Zambesi. J.D. Clark has established the Pleistocene chronology of South Africa by studying the Zambesi basin alluviums and the Kalahari Peneplain in the west. Three main climatic cycles have been identified in these studies. The river Vaal flowing in the Kimberley and Victoria West has also yielded several terraces connected with the erosion during dry climate and massive aggradation during Pluvials. These terraces yield rich cultural material along with several mammalian fauna. The chrono-cultural succession of the various Palaeolithic phases are established on the basis of these alluvial sites. The prehistoric industries of South Africa were for long designated by local names. Presently, however, one can see both local and European terms being used parallely. In the following table the stone age succession of South Africa is shown. 3 Archaeological Anthropology Anthropology Cultural Succession of South Africa Quaternary Pluvials Culture Broad Group Chronology Holocene Smithfield Neolithic 8000 B.C Wilton Late Stone Age Magosan Upper Gamblian Lower Terrace Stillbay or Evolved Fauresmith Middle 160 K Pleistocene Recent Gravels III Stillbay Stone Age II Proto-Stillbay Middle Kanjeran I Sangoan (Fauresmith) 781 K Pleistocene Old Gravel II Sangoan Stellenbosch-V Upper Acheulian Early Stone Age Stellenbosch-IV Acheulian Stellenbosch-III Lower Kamasian Old Gravel I Chellean 2.2 Ma Pleistocene Stellenbosch II Kageran Kafuan Stellenbosch I The table will show that the industries today are broadly divided into three stages. (a) Early Stone Age which is still called Stellenbosch by many. This can be roughly taken as equivalent of European Chellean and Acheulian. Since the extensive work on the Somme deposits Henry Abbe Breuil has suggested that the entire range of typo-technological stages designated by such terms as Pre- Chellean, Chellean and Acheulian should now be taken as merely three stages within Acheulian. Thus, Pre-Chellean should be called Lower Acheulian, Chellian as Middle Acheulian and what was called Acheulian should now be called Upper Acheulian. Thus, in a broad sense one can see that an archaic 4 Archaeological Anthropology Anthropology Cultural Succession of South Africa pebble industry called Kafuan or Stellenbosch I and Lower Acheulian or Stellenbosch II occur within Lower Pleistocene. During succeeding Middle Pleistocene period 4 distinct cultural traditions occur. These are, in chronological order Middle Acheulian or Stellenbosch III, Upper Acheulian or Stellenbosch-IV Sangoan or Stellenbosch V and finally Sangoan (Fauresmith). (b) Middle Stone Age which some authors believe to be equivalent to European Middle Palaeolithic. This includes 3 distinct litho-cultural traditions and occur during Upper Pleistocene. In chronological order these are termed Proto-Stillbay, and Evolved Fauresmith. Finally in early Holocene two different traditions are identified. These two traditions are termed Magosan and Wilton. Together these form the Late Stone Age of South Africa. The material used for these tools vary from place to place. Basalt, quartzite, sandstone and also vein chert are the commonly used raw material. Since Late Stone Age precedes Smithfield which is accepted as Neolithic, it would appear that Late Stone Age can be taken as similar to Mesolithic of Europe. Kafuan or Stellenbosch I Generally speaking, the pebble industries seem to be less predominant in South Africa in comparison to East Africa. Here, the stratigraphic position is often less obvious though an evolutionary sequence of seven stages has been described by some authors. On the other hand some scholars like Henry Abbe Breuil have expressed doubt about some of the tools suggesting them as not product of human workmanship. It may, however, be adequate for our purpose to remark that worked pebbles of both Kafuan and Oldwan types have been reported from South Africa. At times, however, these occur with rolled Chellean (Stellenbosch II) handaxes. Stellenbosch Stages. This type-site which is near the Cape of Good Hope, is a remarkable site with all the stages of Acheulian tradition preserved in sequence. These are further distinguished because of certain distinctive typo-technological features present in them. These are caused by choosing very hard rocks like dolorite as raw material. The working of these requires some special skills and also the resultant specimen appears different from those tools which are prepared on flint. Handaxes are prepared on hard lumps of cores or pebbles. Sometimes suitable flakes are also worked into handaxes or cleavers with minimum secondary working. This technique when executed on large lumps of cores has been referred to as Victoria West technique. Lowe in 1945 recognized five phases of technique development in the Stellenbosch culture of South Africa and these are briefly described in what follows. Stellenbosch I: It is synonymous with Kafuan of early Lower Pleistocene. The cores being not pebbles show no formal shape. Neither the flakes show any specific pattern. This is, in a sense, a very amorphous form of a formative stage of development. Stellenbosch II: The cores in this phase are more regular in shape. Primary scars have been removed from both the lateral borders. The butt-end is seldom given any shape. Rectangular thick flakes look like cleavers but specific working on it is rare. Flakes are not retouched into any specific types. Stellenbosch III: The cores continue to look crude but flakes develop proper levalloise technique. Many of these flakes show retouching along a border. 5 Archaeological Anthropology Anthropology Cultural Succession of South Africa Stellenbosch IV: The cores are smaller and less bulky, although they still appear very crudely prepared. Cleavers are prepared on side flakes and have rectangular to trapezoid section. Apparently dolorite is such a raw material that cylinder hammer technique does not produce desired chiselling effect. This must be the reason of the look of crude workmanship. Stellenbosch V: The cores in this phase tend to be flatter and better finished. The entire surface is covered with extensive secondary flaking. The working borders are given fine retouchings. In an international agreement it was suggested that stages II to V should be referred to as South African Acheulian. Hope Fountain: This represents a unique industry in South Africa and is reported so far from only one site of this name. This is, therefore, not included in the cultural succession table. The industry is composed of only flakes. These are made of jasper and similar other fine grained silicious rocks. Large number of side and end scrapers form the main bulk of this industry. Henry Abbe Breuil thought this industry to be the convergence of Stellenbosch with Middle Stone Age Culture. Fauresmith: The transition from evolved Stellenbosch to the Fauresmith industry is found well preserved in the alluviums of Vaal. The industry persists throughout the Gamblian period. It shows a characteristic change in the technique of finishing the core tools. There are more longitudinal scars removed from the surface of the core. This results in a chiselled look of the core tools. In some cases, a biface after finishing has been given this kind of longitudinal blow on one surface. This results one of the borders of the handaxe becoming a sharp knife edge. Francois Bordes had called this pattern of core shaping as Para Levalloise technique. Handaxes at this stage become smaller than those of Stellenbosch stage and takes a form which is more akin to lanceolate shape. The evolution of Fauresmith has been described as comprising of three stages. During this evolution cleavers and bifaces become progressively more uncommon. The flake implements become more prolific and slowly replaces the bifaces. All these changes indicate a transition to the Middle Stone Age. Sangoan: Like Fauresmith in Vaal, this industry represents the transition between Stellenbosch and Middle Stone Age
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