Abstract
AbstractThis paper describes the lithic aggregates from Sitwe 23 (SW23), a Stone Age locality in a previously unstudied region of the northern Luangwa Valley, Zambia. This area yielded two surface lithic scatters containing abundant artifacts derived from Pleistocene sediments on uplifted terrain and exposed by recent erosion on two adjacent terraces. The scatters are time-averaged palimpsests formed by deflation, but most of the lithics lack evidence of significant fluvial transport or post-depositional damage, indicating minimal horizontal displacement. Typological and attribute analyses of samples from both spurs reveal predominantly simple and expedient core and flake technologies, as well as sophisticated biface manufacture and Levallois technique producing flakes and points that are differentially distributed between the terraces. The artifacts identified in this analysis include types conventionally considered diagnostic of the Acheulean, Sangoan, and Middle Stone Age, suggesting that the collections may document one or more temporal windows during the Chibanian age (770–126 ka). Whether artifacts in these samples were originally deposited sequentially or concurrently is not yet known and alternative hypotheses are presented and discussed. The collections are compared to sites in Zambia and the northern Lake Malawi basin and found to be similar technologically but typologically different. Given the paucity of previously known Ston Age archaeological sites in the region, our work now demonstrates that northern Luangwa has significant archaeological potential and deserves further study.
Funder
National Geographic Society
Fonds de Recherche du Québec-Société et Culture
McGill University
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Reference140 articles.
1. Aleman, J. C., Saint-Jean, A., Leys, B., Carcaillet, C., Favier, C., & Bremond, L. (2013). Estimating phytolith influx in lake sediments. Quaternary Research, 80(2), 341–347.
2. Bailey, G. (2007). Time perspectives, palimpsests and the archaeology of time. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, 26(2), 198–223.
3. Barham, L. (2000). The middle stone age of Zambia, South Central Africa. Centre for Human Evolutionary Research, University of Bristol.
4. Barham, L. (2002). Backed tools in Middle Pleistocene central Africa and their evolutionary significance. Journal of Human Evolution, 43(5), 585–603.
5. Barham, L. (2013). From hand to handle: The first industrial revolution. University Press.