Transcript Terminology of the Stone Age

Terminology of the Stone Age
John Goodwin
C. Van Riet Lowe
Terminology of the Stone Age
• Earlier Stone Age=Handaxes
• Middle Stone Age= Prepared cores
• Later Stone Age= Microliths
Goodwin and Van Riet Lowe 1929
LSA Subdivisions
• Wilton = segments (coastal)
• Smithfield = big scrapers (interior)
– Nomenclature based on index sites
Smithfield subdivisions
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A oldest
B youngest
C in caves
N in Natal
P in Pondoland
Coastal in S and W Cape.
– Subdivisions were based on size and shape
of scrapers
Wilton widespread
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Recognized in
Zambia
Zimbabwe
Botswana
Namibia
W and S SA
Wilton and Smithfield
• Relationships not clear
• Initially thought contemporary, different
cultures and tribes
Wilton and Smithfield
• Matjies River excavation in 1930s
showed
• Smithfield B sometimes above and
sometimes below Wilton
Garth Sampson 1974
To solve inflated G & VRL terminology
• Divided the LSA into 4 successive
complexes
– Oakhurst (sometimes Albany) = Smithfield
A
– Wilton = Smithfield C and Wilton
– Smithfield = Smithfield B
– Strandloper = late coastal LSA
Garth Sampson 1974
• Later discovery of the very earliest
facies of the LSA = Robberg industry
• Predates the Oakhurst
Janette Deacon 1984
• Tried to make the
scheme more
rigorous
• Emphasized
chronology and
technology of stone
tools
Janette Deacon 1984
• Late Pleistocene Microlithic
assemblages (Robberg) 40-12 ka
• Terminal Pleisto / Early Holocene nonmicro assemblages (Oakhurst) 12-8 ka
• Holocene microlithic assemblages
(Wilton and Smithfield) 8 ka to contact
• Late Holocene assemblages with
pottery, 2 ka to contact