MSA complexity - subsistence and long-distance networks

Marine resource exploitation → Pinnacle point

• 164 kya

• Systematic shellfish collection

• (Lombard 2013, Brown 2009)

Marine resource exploitation → Klasies River Mouth

• 120 kya

• Systematic shellfish collection

Marine resource exploitation → Blombos

• Fish bones suggesting fishing technologies

• Henshilwood

What does Sibudu cave show about hunting strategies?

• Exploitation of multiple prey species including dangerous game — suggesting sophisticated hunting methods.

• Evidence for snaring and trapping, implying considerable knowledge of animal behaviour and forethought

Implications of long-distance raw material transfer

• Raw materials at many MSA sites show movement of 100+ km.

• Implies planning and social organisation; exchange networks; territorial and landscape knowledge; and possibly symbolic value attached to certain materials.

Sehonghong evidence

• Blade miniaturisation from MSA to LSA suggests gradual, environmentally driven microlithisation — not a sudden break.

• Marine shells from ~170 km away imply exchange networks

Sehonghong interpretation

• Specialised hunting site during the Last Glacial Maximum. Demonstrates regional variation in LSA technology shaped by raw material availability.

• Carter et al (1988).

Border Caves organic artefacts

• D’Errico (2012)

• Organic artefacts from upper levels — grass bedding, beads, hafting adhesives, poison applicators, notched bones, digging sticks — resemble San material culture.

• Appear abruptly around 44 kya, supporting non-linear cultural change.