100th century BCE – 80th century BCE
Southern Africa
The Oakhurst Complex was a scraper-dominated Later Stone Age tradition distributed widely across southern Africa. Its industries, generally dated between the twelfth and eighth millennia BC, were characterized by large flake scrapers and little or no representation of backed microliths. In many areas the complex preceded the Wilton microlithic tradition, although its definition and chronological relationship to earlier blade industries remain debated.
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The Story
The Oakhurst Complex designates a group of Later Stone Age industries dominated by large flake scrapers. In many regional sequences, these assemblages occur between earlier Middle Stone Age or blade industries and the later microlithic Wilton tradition. Backed microliths are absent or poorly represented, creating a marked technological contrast with the industries that followed in much of southern Africa.
In the middle Orange region, the earliest Later Stone Age phase after a Middle Stone Age blade industry was characterized by convex scrapers on large flakes. Comparable aggregates elsewhere were dated to before the seventh millennium BC. The sequence then includes a prolonged hiatus before the appearance of backed microlithic elements in the third millennium BC, illustrating the uneven and regionally discontinuous evidence used to define the complex.
Oakhurst industries are generally dated from the twelfth to the eighth millennia BC. Their economic setting included the final Pleistocene coastal plains, where large gregarious antelope were hunted when sea levels were lower. The later rise in sea level and associated environmental changes are presented as part of the wider background to the shift toward Wilton microlithic industries, although the relationship between the two traditions remains incompletely understood.
100th century BCE – 80th century BCE
Southern Africa
The Oakhurst Complex was a scraper-dominated Later Stone Age tradition distributed widely across southern Africa. Its industries, generally dated between the twelfth and eighth millennia BC, were characterized by large flake scrapers and little or no representation of backed microliths. In many areas the complex preceded the Wilton microlithic tradition, although its definition and chronological relationship to earlier blade industries remain debated.
Continue exploring
The Story
The Oakhurst Complex designates a group of Later Stone Age industries dominated by large flake scrapers. In many regional sequences, these assemblages occur between earlier Middle Stone Age or blade industries and the later microlithic Wilton tradition. Backed microliths are absent or poorly represented, creating a marked technological contrast with the industries that followed in much of southern Africa.
In the middle Orange region, the earliest Later Stone Age phase after a Middle Stone Age blade industry was characterized by convex scrapers on large flakes. Comparable aggregates elsewhere were dated to before the seventh millennium BC. The sequence then includes a prolonged hiatus before the appearance of backed microlithic elements in the third millennium BC, illustrating the uneven and regionally discontinuous evidence used to define the complex.
Oakhurst industries are generally dated from the twelfth to the eighth millennia BC. Their economic setting included the final Pleistocene coastal plains, where large gregarious antelope were hunted when sea levels were lower. The later rise in sea level and associated environmental changes are presented as part of the wider background to the shift toward Wilton microlithic industries, although the relationship between the two traditions remains incompletely understood.