Experimentation preceding innovation in a MIS5 Pre-Still Bay layer from Diepkloof Rock Shelter (South Africa): emerging technologies and symbols
In southern Africa, key technologies and symbolic behaviors develop as early as the later Middle Stone Age in MIS5. These innovations arise independently in various places, contexts and forms, until their full expression during the Still Bay and the Howiesons Poort. The Middle Stone Age sequence fro...
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| Format: | Article |
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Peer Community In
2021-11-01
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| Series: | Peer Community Journal |
| Online Access: | https://peercommunityjournal.org/articles/10.24072/pcjournal.27/ |
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| author | Porraz, Guillaume Parkington, John E. Schmidt, Patrick Bereiziat, Gérald Brugal, Jean-Philippe Dayet, Laure Igreja, Marina Miller, Christopher E. Schmid, Viola C. Tribolo, Chantal Val, Aurore Verna, Christine Texier, Pierre-Jean |
| author_facet | Porraz, Guillaume Parkington, John E. Schmidt, Patrick Bereiziat, Gérald Brugal, Jean-Philippe Dayet, Laure Igreja, Marina Miller, Christopher E. Schmid, Viola C. Tribolo, Chantal Val, Aurore Verna, Christine Texier, Pierre-Jean |
| author_sort | Porraz, Guillaume |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | In southern Africa, key technologies and symbolic behaviors develop as early as the later Middle Stone Age in MIS5. These innovations arise independently in various places, contexts and forms, until their full expression during the Still Bay and the Howiesons Poort. The Middle Stone Age sequence from Diepkloof Rock Shelter, on the West Coast of the region, preserves archaeological proxies that help unravelling the cultural processes at work. This unit yields one of the oldest abstract engraving so far discovered in Africa, in the form of a rhomboid marking on the cortical surface of an ungulate long bone shaft. The comprehensive analysis of the lithic artefacts and ochre pieces found in association with the engraved bone documents the transport of rocks over long distance (>20km), the heat treatment of silcrete, the coexistence of seven lithic reduction strategies (including the production of bladelets and the manufacture of unifacial and bifacial points), the use of adhesives and the processing of ochre. At Diepkloof, the appearance of engraving practices take place in a context that demonstrates a shift in rock procurement and a diversification in lithic reduction strategies, suggesting that these behavioral practices acted as a cultural answer to cope with new environmental and/or socio-economic circumstances. We argue that the innovations later found during the Still Bay and the Howiesons Poort were already in the making during the MIS5 pre-Still Bay, though not all the benefits were yet taken advantage of by the populations. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-11T16:11:18Z |
| format | Article |
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| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2804-3871 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-11T16:11:18Z |
| publishDate | 2021-11-01 |
| publisher | Peer Community In |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Peer Community Journal |
| spelling | doaj.art-88bb66013a8d4f2e9ba83a576602e97c2023-10-24T14:38:25ZengPeer Community InPeer Community Journal2804-38712021-11-01110.24072/pcjournal.2710.24072/pcjournal.27Experimentation preceding innovation in a MIS5 Pre-Still Bay layer from Diepkloof Rock Shelter (South Africa): emerging technologies and symbolsPorraz, Guillaume0https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0103-9583Parkington, John E.1Schmidt, Patrick2https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8727-6127Bereiziat, Gérald3Brugal, Jean-Philippe4Dayet, Laure5Igreja, Marina6https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7959-6422Miller, Christopher E.7Schmid, Viola C.8Tribolo, Chantal9Val, Aurore10Verna, Christine11Texier, Pierre-Jean12Aix Marseille Université, CNRS, Ministère de la Culture, UMR 7269 Lampea, 5 rue du Château de l’Horloge, F-13094 Aix-en-Provence, France; Evolutionary Studies Institute, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South AfricaDepartment of Archaeology, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South AfricaEberhard Karls University of Tübingen, Department of Early Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology, Schloss Hohentübingen, 72070 Tübingen, Germany; Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, Department of Geosciences, Applied Mineralogy, Wilhelmstraße 56, 72074 Tübingen, Germany.UMR 5199 PACEA, Université Bordeaux 1, 33400 Talence, FranceAix Marseille Université, CNRS, Ministère de la Culture, UMR 7269 Lampea, 5 rue du Château de l’Horloge, F-13094 Aix-en-Provence, FranceCNRS-Université Toulouse Jean Jaurès, UMR5608 TRACES, F-31058 Toulouse, FranceLARC DGPC, Ministry of Culture (Portugal) / ENVARCH Cibio-InbioEberhard Karls University of Tübingen, Institute for Archaeological Sciences & Senckenberg Center for Human Evolution and Paleoenvironment, Rümelinstr. 23, 72070 Tübingen, Germany; SFF Centre for Early Sapiens Behavior (SapienCE), University of Bergen, Sydnesplasses 12/13, 5020 Bergen, NorwayEberhard Karls University of Tübingen, Department of Early Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology, Schloss Hohentübingen, 72070 Tübingen, Germany; UMR7041, Equipe AnTET, Université Paris Ouest Nanterre La Défense, Nanterre Cedex, FranceCNRS, Université Bordeaux Montaigne, IRAMAT-CRP2A, 33600 Pessac, FranceEberhard Karls University of Tübingen, Department of Early Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology, Schloss Hohentübingen, 72070 Tübingen, Germany; Evolutionary Studies Institute, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South AfricaCNRS, Muséum d’histoire naturelle, UMR 7194 HNHP, Musée de l’Homme, 75016, ParisAix Marseille Université, CNRS, Ministère de la Culture, UMR 7269 Lampea, 5 rue du Château de l’Horloge, F-13094 Aix-en-Provence, FranceIn southern Africa, key technologies and symbolic behaviors develop as early as the later Middle Stone Age in MIS5. These innovations arise independently in various places, contexts and forms, until their full expression during the Still Bay and the Howiesons Poort. The Middle Stone Age sequence from Diepkloof Rock Shelter, on the West Coast of the region, preserves archaeological proxies that help unravelling the cultural processes at work. This unit yields one of the oldest abstract engraving so far discovered in Africa, in the form of a rhomboid marking on the cortical surface of an ungulate long bone shaft. The comprehensive analysis of the lithic artefacts and ochre pieces found in association with the engraved bone documents the transport of rocks over long distance (>20km), the heat treatment of silcrete, the coexistence of seven lithic reduction strategies (including the production of bladelets and the manufacture of unifacial and bifacial points), the use of adhesives and the processing of ochre. At Diepkloof, the appearance of engraving practices take place in a context that demonstrates a shift in rock procurement and a diversification in lithic reduction strategies, suggesting that these behavioral practices acted as a cultural answer to cope with new environmental and/or socio-economic circumstances. We argue that the innovations later found during the Still Bay and the Howiesons Poort were already in the making during the MIS5 pre-Still Bay, though not all the benefits were yet taken advantage of by the populations.https://peercommunityjournal.org/articles/10.24072/pcjournal.27/ |
| spellingShingle | Porraz, Guillaume Parkington, John E. Schmidt, Patrick Bereiziat, Gérald Brugal, Jean-Philippe Dayet, Laure Igreja, Marina Miller, Christopher E. Schmid, Viola C. Tribolo, Chantal Val, Aurore Verna, Christine Texier, Pierre-Jean Experimentation preceding innovation in a MIS5 Pre-Still Bay layer from Diepkloof Rock Shelter (South Africa): emerging technologies and symbols Peer Community Journal |
| title | Experimentation preceding innovation in a MIS5 Pre-Still Bay layer from Diepkloof Rock Shelter (South Africa): emerging technologies and symbols |
| title_full | Experimentation preceding innovation in a MIS5 Pre-Still Bay layer from Diepkloof Rock Shelter (South Africa): emerging technologies and symbols |
| title_fullStr | Experimentation preceding innovation in a MIS5 Pre-Still Bay layer from Diepkloof Rock Shelter (South Africa): emerging technologies and symbols |
| title_full_unstemmed | Experimentation preceding innovation in a MIS5 Pre-Still Bay layer from Diepkloof Rock Shelter (South Africa): emerging technologies and symbols |
| title_short | Experimentation preceding innovation in a MIS5 Pre-Still Bay layer from Diepkloof Rock Shelter (South Africa): emerging technologies and symbols |
| title_sort | experimentation preceding innovation in a mis5 pre still bay layer from diepkloof rock shelter south africa emerging technologies and symbols |
| url | https://peercommunityjournal.org/articles/10.24072/pcjournal.27/ |
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