50th century BCE – 30th century BCE
Eastern Zambia
The Makwe Industry was a Later Stone Age microlithic tradition east of the Luangwa Valley. It was established by about 5000 BC and developed over the following two millennia, with crescents and geometric microliths increasingly replacing backed flakes and bladelets. Ground axes and bone points were common, while beads shifted from tubular bone forms to disc beads of bone and shell.
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The Story
East of the Luangwa Valley, Later Stone Age developments followed a course parallel to the Nachikufan sequence but with their own regional expression. By about 5000 BC, the Makwe Industry was firmly established and microlithic tools greatly outnumbered scrapers.
During the next two millennia, backed flakes and bladelets gradually gave way to crescents and geometric microliths. Deep triangular forms enjoyed a short-lived prominence, illustrating the distinctive regional variation that characterized the later East Zambian sequence.
Ground axes were frequent, whereas bored stones inherited from earlier Nachikufan I contexts disappeared except in the earliest Makwe phase. Bone points occurred in several forms, and ornament traditions changed from tubular bone beads to disc beads made first of bone and later of shell, alongside shell pendants.
50th century BCE – 30th century BCE
Eastern Zambia
The Makwe Industry was a Later Stone Age microlithic tradition east of the Luangwa Valley. It was established by about 5000 BC and developed over the following two millennia, with crescents and geometric microliths increasingly replacing backed flakes and bladelets. Ground axes and bone points were common, while beads shifted from tubular bone forms to disc beads of bone and shell.
Continue exploring
The Story
East of the Luangwa Valley, Later Stone Age developments followed a course parallel to the Nachikufan sequence but with their own regional expression. By about 5000 BC, the Makwe Industry was firmly established and microlithic tools greatly outnumbered scrapers.
During the next two millennia, backed flakes and bladelets gradually gave way to crescents and geometric microliths. Deep triangular forms enjoyed a short-lived prominence, illustrating the distinctive regional variation that characterized the later East Zambian sequence.
Ground axes were frequent, whereas bored stones inherited from earlier Nachikufan I contexts disappeared except in the earliest Makwe phase. Bone points occurred in several forms, and ornament traditions changed from tubular bone beads to disc beads made first of bone and later of shell, alongside shell pendants.
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