With National Science Foundation support Paola Villa and her colleagues will conduct detailed technological analyses of several lithic assemblages in South Africa and France dated to the period of transition from the Middle to the Later Stone Age (MSA/LSA) and from the Middle to the Upper Paleolithic (MP/UP) between 90 and 26 ka. This is an international collaborative effort; two South African and five French archaeologists are project associates. The MSA assemblages to be studied are from Sibudu (a new site under current excavation by Lyn Wadley) Rose Cottage Cave and Klasies River Main. The French assemblages include five Middle Paleolithic, two Chatelperronian (made by the last Neanderthals) and two Aurignacian (UP) assemblages.
It is widely believed that the transition from archaic to modern behavior occurred first in sub-Saharan Africa and that many behavioral and technological innovations facilitated the expansion of modern humans out of Africa. However the period of transition from MSA to LSA in Southern Africa is not very well known and there is wide disagreement about the timing and process of transition. The early appearance in South Africa of many innovations, such as sophisticated knapping techniques, composite tools, microliths and bladelet technologies, remains to be verified by technological analyses supported by experimental replication. The project will address the following questions: 1. Do these innovative technologies appear earlier in South Africa than in France? 2. Do they show persistence through time and were they part of a behavioral package later exported to Europe? 3. Was the MSA/LSA transition in South Africa a slow process that was not completed until at least 25 ka or was it a rapid change that took place at about 50-40 ka? 4. Were time-restricted patterning and regional variations present in the MSA but not in Western Europe before 50-40 ka? 5. Are these patterns comparable to the LSA and Upper Paleolithic patterns or are they of a different nature? 6. Are similarities between the two regions stronger after 50-40 ka? (this is to be expected if modern behavior spread to Europe as a result of migration out of Africa). 7. How strong are technological discontinuities at the MP/UP transition in France and are there antecedents to Aurignacian technical behaviors?
The evolution of human technologies is one aspect of the debate about the origins of modern behavior and more empirical data are needed to resolve these issues. The goal of this project is to model changes in lithic technology that may be associated with changes in cognition and symbolizing abilities.
A major reason for this project is to promote a stronger connection between Western European and Africanist approaches by focusing on a concrete program of research that will enable a productive interchange between the two scientific communities. The meeting and blending of approaches and interpretative principles of different research traditions and the resulting publications and presentations at international meetings will have a strong impact on the way Paleolithic research is conducted. Both European and Africanist archeologists stand to gain from this cooperative effort.
