The central African Middle Stone Age in context: Comparisons of technological adaptations

Summary

The Late Pleistocene Middle Stone Age (MSA) records of southern and northern Africa increasingly provide evidence for diversity in technological systems, with both exhibiting early examples of standardized stone tool production achieved through complex manufacturing sequences. This superficially implies a long-term trend toward greater complexity in MSA technology at a continental scale. However, within both regions, various lithic elements received different emphases over time and space – potentially in response to dramatic shifts in climate. New data from the central African record add perspective to how regional expressions of the Late Pleistocene MSA can be understood. Stone artifact assemblages from Karonga, Malawi, persistently lack the variety and complexity demonstrated to occur elsewhere in Africa at the same times, in spite of similar lithic raw material availability. Because the region experienced considerable variability in Late Pleistocene precipitation and vegetation regimes, climate change was not a universal determinant of technological change in the MSA. These data from the central African record provide an essential avenue for exploring new hypotheses about the roles of environmental risk and demography in shaping the expression of MSA technology across the continent, not just at a local scale.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 81st Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL (2016)   •
• Global Perspectives on the Impact of Drastic Environmental Changes in Hunter-Gatherer Technologies

Keywords

Spatial Coverage