The Later Stone Age in South Africa: Introduction

Cultural Period	Date	Geological Epoch	European Contemporary
LSA	Approx 25 000-100 years ago	Late Pleistocene -	Palaeolithic
		Holocene	Mesolithic

The Later Stone Age (LSA) refers to those human beings who lived in South Africa from approximately 30 000 years ago until about 100 years ago. Our discussion of the LSA will include reference to the climatic and environmental conditions under which LSA people lived, the technology which they developed, their lifestyles, subsistence strategies and art. You will see that we have far more information about the lifestyles and technological development of the LSA people than we have about Early Stone Age (ESA) and Middle Stone Age (MSA) people.

It is now accepted that the LSA is part of Prehistory of the historically known Bushmen (San) and of the Khoekhoen. The word Khoisan is a collective term for hunter-gatherers and herders and is generally used to designate these two groups. Note that this term was never used by the people themselves (Deacon & Deacon 1999:129-130) Archaeologists use historical and ethnographic data about these groups to interpret the archaeological remains of the LSA. This is because it is at about this time that the distinctive characteristics of these people (revealed in ethnographic studies) first appear in the LSA archaeological record.

The dating of the transitional period between the MSA and the early Later Stone Age has not yet been resolved. The change from the MSA to the LSA occurred in mosts parts of southern Africa more than 20 000 years ago. At a few sites in South Africa, late dates have been obtained for MSA assemblages and certain evidence suggests that MSA technology was still being used at some sites (eg Strathalan in the eastern Cape, Rose Cottage Cave in the Free State, Driekoppen in Seacow Valley, Sehonghong in Lesotho, etc) until 26 000 to 20 000 Before Present (BP) (Wadley 1993:263).

Relatively long phases of non-occupation between the MSA and LSA seem to have been the norm for most cave sites and rock shelters with long occupational deposits and reliable stratigraphic records. Sometimes there appears to be hiatus of a few thousand years between the final stages of the MSA and the first visible elements of the LSA. However, at some sites (eg Cave James and Jubilee Shelter in Gauteng) there is neither an occupational hiatus nor a geological division between the MSA and LSA.

Stone tools are the most abundant and visible archaeological artefacts found. The division of the last part of the South African Stone Age into MSA and LSA is, to a large extent, based on the different stone tool technology used during these two periods. The LSA is therefore regarded as a technological unit displaying, at any particular time, similar characteristics; LSA technology is dominated by a stone-flaking technique for the manufacture of a formal range of artefacts. Evidence indicates that LSA people changed their technology constantly in order to adapt to changing environments and other variables.

Recent research has moved away from the narrowly focussed typological studies of the past, and now tries to intergrate the palaeoenvironmental data with lithic materials studies. The terminology which was first used for the LSA originated at a time when absolute dating techniques were still being developed. We now know far more about the nature of the LSA; advancements in the techniques used by researchers to interpret archaeological finds have made it necessary to give names to the informal divisions created by stone tool typology and technology. These divisions will be discussed in detail in this series of posts.

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Archaeological research indicates that the history of hunter-gatherers, and subsequently that of the herders during the LSA, is marked by the following major changes

(Deacon & Deacon 1999:12)

• Artwork is suddenly much more sophisticated and much more widespread. LSA artwork reflects the expression of complex belief systems.
• Specialised LSA technology is increasingly evident.
• Population density gradually increases, particularly during the last 4000 years.
• A herding economy was introduced by Khoe speakers about 2000 years ago.
• There is evidence for trade and interaction with metal-working African farmers of the Early Iron Age from about 2000 years ago onwards
• European colonisation resulted in the loss of land and control of resources.

In the next Posts we will cover the Historical background and advances in LSA Research

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