Low-Cost Centripetal Technology in the LSA of Southern Mozambique

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Expedient Technological Behavior: Global Perspectives and Future Directions" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Centripetal lithic technology, including various forms of Levallois technique, is very common in the African MSA. This technology is commonly identified by prepared core technology, where striking platforms are fully prepared to produce a variety of blanks. In Mozambique, both Levallois and prepared discoidal cores are very common throughout all MSA assemblages, and since there are very few excavated and dated sites, those cores are commonly used as type fossils. However, during survey and then testing of various sites across southern Mozambique, a simplified discoidal core was found associated only with LSA. These cores present a typical discoidal flaking surface, but they do not show any platform preparation and they seem preferentially made on smooth cortical pebbles and cobbles. The aim of this paper is to present the results of the study of these cores from the sites of Txina-Txina (Massingir, Limpopo basin) and of Zimuara (Save basin) and to understand the degree of expediency of this “fake” discoidal technology and to grasp the link, if any, between the traditional MSA centripetal technology and this LSA method.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Expedient Technological Behavior: Global Perspectives and Future Directions   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 38477.0