80th century BCE – 70th century BCE
Matopo Hills, Zimbabwe
The Pomongwan Industry was a scraper-dominated Later Stone Age assemblage from the Matopo Hills, represented especially at Pomongwe Cave. Its principal level consists of consolidated white ash dated to the eighth millennium BC and contains large circular scrapers forming more than nine-tenths of retouched implements. Bone points, needles, and ostrich-eggshell beads accompanied the assemblage, while backed microliths were absent from the ash layer.
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The Story
The Pomongwan Industry forms the earliest Later Stone Age component discussed in the Matopo Hills sequence. At Pomongwe Cave, it occurs in a consolidated white ash layer overlying a Tshangulan, or Magosian, aggregate associated with the final Middle Stone Age. The ash layer is dated to the eighth millennium BC and provides the main framework for understanding the local succession.
Large circular scrapers account for more than nine-tenths of the retouched implements in the Pomongwan level. Most of the remaining pieces are related scraper forms, while backed microliths, present in both the underlying and overlying layers, are completely absent from the ash deposit itself. Bone points, needles, and ostrich-eggshell beads occur alongside the stone tools and resemble objects found with the succeeding Matopan microlithic assemblages.
The assemblage may represent a specialized activity variant rather than a fully general occupation industry. Its exclusive occurrence in ash deposits, the concentration of scrapers around traces of a large central fire at Pomongwe, and the unusual typology all support caution. A comparable concentration of scrapers to the near exclusion of other artefact types was observed in parts of the Tshangula levels at the same cave.
80th century BCE – 70th century BCE
Matopo Hills, Zimbabwe
The Pomongwan Industry was a scraper-dominated Later Stone Age assemblage from the Matopo Hills, represented especially at Pomongwe Cave. Its principal level consists of consolidated white ash dated to the eighth millennium BC and contains large circular scrapers forming more than nine-tenths of retouched implements. Bone points, needles, and ostrich-eggshell beads accompanied the assemblage, while backed microliths were absent from the ash layer.
Continue exploring
The Story
The Pomongwan Industry forms the earliest Later Stone Age component discussed in the Matopo Hills sequence. At Pomongwe Cave, it occurs in a consolidated white ash layer overlying a Tshangulan, or Magosian, aggregate associated with the final Middle Stone Age. The ash layer is dated to the eighth millennium BC and provides the main framework for understanding the local succession.
Large circular scrapers account for more than nine-tenths of the retouched implements in the Pomongwan level. Most of the remaining pieces are related scraper forms, while backed microliths, present in both the underlying and overlying layers, are completely absent from the ash deposit itself. Bone points, needles, and ostrich-eggshell beads occur alongside the stone tools and resemble objects found with the succeeding Matopan microlithic assemblages.
The assemblage may represent a specialized activity variant rather than a fully general occupation industry. Its exclusive occurrence in ash deposits, the concentration of scrapers around traces of a large central fire at Pomongwe, and the unusual typology all support caution. A comparable concentration of scrapers to the near exclusion of other artefact types was observed in parts of the Tshangula levels at the same cave.
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