Patterns in Robberg Tool Manufacture and Discard at the Open-Air Locality of Uitspankraal 9 Western Cape, South Africa

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Robberg technology is found across southern Africa, but currently is known primarily from cave and rock shelter contexts. This study characterizes the nature of the assemblage from a discrete cluster of Robberg artifacts at the open-air locality of Uitspankraal 9 (UPK9) in the Doring River catchment of the Cederberg Mountains. UPK9 is situated on the banks of the Doring River and 4 km from a silcrete source at Swartvlei. Previous research on rock shelter sites in the catchment has noted that distance to the Doring River exerts considerable influence on the size, reduction intensity, and raw material composition of Robberg assemblages. From this, it has been proposed that groups in the area manufactured artifacts – notably cores and small blades – at the river before transporting them into other parts of the catchment. The UPK9 assemblage allows us to test aspects of this proposition by examining the character of at-source (hornfels) and near-source (silcrete) Robberg artifacts, as well as the raw material composition of the assemblage. We compare the results of our analysis with available data from the rock shelter sites Putslaagte 8, Klipfonteinrand and Mertenhof to explore local-scale technological organization before situating the assemblage within the broader Robberg technocomplex.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 24686