100th century BCE
Zimbabwe, with a distribution from the eastern escarpment mountains to north-western Botswana
The Bambata Industry is a Middle Stone Age lithic tradition of Zimbabwe named after the first excavated cave sample from the Matopo Hills. Its assemblages contain retouched points, scrapers, burins, borers, backed and truncated flakes, blade fragments, grindstones, and pigment crayons or pencils. More than one hundred sites are reported across a broad region. In Zimbabwe, occupations at Zombepata, Redcliff, and Tshangula were sealed by roof falls dated between 21,000 and 25,000 years ago, while additional dates cited in a note place Bambatan contexts at older than 39,900 BP and about 40,720 BP.
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The Story
The Bambata Industry is described as a succeeding development from the earlier Middle Stone Age Charaman tradition. It takes its name from the first excavated cave sample at Bambata Cave in the Matopo Hills. The tradition is associated with a broad Zimbabwean archaeological landscape and with comparable retouched tool assemblages in the Transvaal, Free State, and Cape.
Its toolkits include unifacially and bifacially retouched points, end- and side-scrapers, burins, borers, backed and truncated flakes, blade fragments, and grindstones. Pigment crayons or pencils are another recurring feature, also reported in Charaman contexts. The excerpt records more than one hundred Bambata sites extending through the escarpment mountains in the east toward north-western Botswana.
Bambatan assemblages in Zimbabwe show no significant developmental trends and are generally considered contemporary with a long interval of increased rainfall. At Zombepata, Redcliff, and Tshangula, occupations were sealed by roof falls apparently dated between 21,000 and 25,000 years ago. A note additionally gives dates older than 39,900 BP at Zombepata and about 40,720 BP at Pomongwe, while the text links the tradition broadly with the antiquity of Pietersburg assemblages at Border Cave.
100th century BCE
Zimbabwe, with a distribution from the eastern escarpment mountains to north-western Botswana
The Bambata Industry is a Middle Stone Age lithic tradition of Zimbabwe named after the first excavated cave sample from the Matopo Hills. Its assemblages contain retouched points, scrapers, burins, borers, backed and truncated flakes, blade fragments, grindstones, and pigment crayons or pencils. More than one hundred sites are reported across a broad region. In Zimbabwe, occupations at Zombepata, Redcliff, and Tshangula were sealed by roof falls dated between 21,000 and 25,000 years ago, while additional dates cited in a note place Bambatan contexts at older than 39,900 BP and about 40,720 BP.
Continue exploring
The Story
The Bambata Industry is described as a succeeding development from the earlier Middle Stone Age Charaman tradition. It takes its name from the first excavated cave sample at Bambata Cave in the Matopo Hills. The tradition is associated with a broad Zimbabwean archaeological landscape and with comparable retouched tool assemblages in the Transvaal, Free State, and Cape.
Its toolkits include unifacially and bifacially retouched points, end- and side-scrapers, burins, borers, backed and truncated flakes, blade fragments, and grindstones. Pigment crayons or pencils are another recurring feature, also reported in Charaman contexts. The excerpt records more than one hundred Bambata sites extending through the escarpment mountains in the east toward north-western Botswana.
Bambatan assemblages in Zimbabwe show no significant developmental trends and are generally considered contemporary with a long interval of increased rainfall. At Zombepata, Redcliff, and Tshangula, occupations were sealed by roof falls apparently dated between 21,000 and 25,000 years ago. A note additionally gives dates older than 39,900 BP at Zombepata and about 40,720 BP at Pomongwe, while the text links the tradition broadly with the antiquity of Pietersburg assemblages at Border Cave.
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