Silcrete Heat Treatment Technology during the MIS 5/4 Transition at Pinnacle Point 5-6 and Vleesbaai, South Africa

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The heat treatment of silcrete is an important technological strategy during the Middle Stone Age (MSA) in South Africa. Heat-treating silcrete improves its quality for tool making and use. Although it is found as early as ~162,000 years ago (ka) at Pinnacle Point 13B, heat-treated silcrete does not become common in South African MSA assemblages until around 70 ka. This increase in silcrete use corresponds with the transition from the interglacial Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 5 to the moderate glacial period of MIS 4. Here, we aim to better understand silcrete heat treatment technology during the MIS 5/4 transition (~80-70ka) at two coastal MSA archaeological sites: Pinnacle Point 5-6 and Vleesbaai. We use a multi-proxy approach that includes qualitative observations, the surface roughness method, and quantitative color measurements to elucidate patterns in heat-treated silcrete over time. We then contextualize these data within the broader paleoenvironmental, paleoecological, and technological setting of the MIS 5/4 transition on the south coast of South Africa. More specifically, we investigate how the contraction and expansion of the now-submerged Paleo-Agulhas Plain may have influenced the use of heat-treated silcrete during this period of global climatic change.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts   •
• Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 35938.0