Cᵉ siècle av. J.-C. – Vᵉ siècle
Africa
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The Later Stone Age is a broad archaeological designation for predominantly microlithic stone industries distributed across much of sub-Saharan Africa. The category is technologically defined by small blades, backed retouch, and microlithic components of composite tools, but it does not correspond to a single period, population, or cultural tradition. Its chronology varies substantially by region: microlithic industries appeared in some areas by the tenth millennium BC or earlier, while related technologies persisted into the last few centuries in other regions. The category’s conventional boundaries remain disputed.
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Later Stone Age settlements across sub-Saharan Africa were generally small and mobile. Thin surface scatters at many open-air sites suggest short-lived encampments, sometimes established for a single task such as butchering a kill. Even rock-shelters and other repeatedly occupied places may have been used for brief episodes rather than as permanent settlements, while natural shelters were preferred over the simple semicircular wind-breaks made from branches and stones.
The evidence increasingly points to seasonal habitation and exploitation of particular sites and environments. Activities carried out during these visits shaped the artifact assemblages left behind, making individual sites only partial reflections of wider subsistence systems. Average settlement sizes were considerably smaller than those of later food-producing societies, with estimates of roughly eight to twenty-five people, comparable to the size of recent hunter-gatherer bands in sub-Saharan Africa.
Microliths were frequently hafted, and evidence from hafting methods, edge damage, ethnographic observation, and rock paintings clarifies some of their uses. Certain microliths served as arrow-points and barbs, while a wooden bow was recovered from a third-millennium BC context at Gwisho Hotsprings in southern Zambia. Osteological evidence and painted scenes show that hunters could occasionally kill even the largest mammals, probably using poisoned arrows; plant pods associated with poison production were preserved at Gwisho.
Other stone tools were used for cutting, scraping, skinning, butchering, and working wood or bone. Fishing equipment is less visible in stone assemblages because fish-spears, nets, and traps often relied on perishable materials; specialized bone harpoon-heads provide clearer archaeological evidence. Plant gathering is likewise underrepresented, although digging-sticks may have been used to obtain roots, tubers, and water, and bored stones were probably used as weights for such implements. The scarcity of preserved equipment and plant remains may therefore underestimate the importance of gathered foods.
Personal adornment forms another prominent component of Later Stone Age assemblages. Bone and shell beads and pendants were widely distributed, worn on the body or in the hair, and sewn onto skins and other clothing. In eastern Zambia, changing fashions produced rapid stylistic developments, while ochre and other pigments may have served to decorate clothing or bodies as well as to produce imagery on rock surfaces.
Rock paintings and engravings occur in many parts of sub-Saharan Africa where protected rock surfaces survive. Naturalistic and schematic representations were produced in both techniques, although most schematic imagery appears relatively recent. Local stylistic sequences are recognized in several regions, but absolute dating and secure correlations with particular prehistoric industries remain rare. The evidence supports rock art as a largely local African development rather than a securely demonstrated import from the western Mediterranean or another external culture.
Southern Africa provides the clearest evidence for early rock art. Paintings from Apollo 11 cave in Namibia were found in contexts associated with the Oakhurst Complex and earlier horizons, while comparable material on the south Cape coast occurs with Wilton Complex deposits dated between the sixth and fourth millennia BC at Matjes River and Klasies River Mouth. Nevertheless, most surviving paintings and probably most engravings across the continent may belong to relatively recent periods.
Human figures are the most frequent subjects in many areas, followed by animals, while inanimate objects are comparatively uncommon. Much earlier naturalistic art was probably decorative in intent, despite elaborate interpretations of its mystical or religious meaning. Southern African art is notable for its artistic quality, with a peak perhaps reached in the shaded polychrome paintings of Natal and Lesotho, attributed to final Later Stone Age communities around the middle of the present millennium.
The Later Stone Age succession developed gradually from local predecessors, and in some regions it represents an essentially autochthonous process largely independent of external stimulus. Microlithic industries often emerged directly from Middle Stone Age traditions based on flakes struck from prepared cores, without an intervening adoption of Upper Palaeolithic blade technology. Mode 5 technology was locally developed in central Africa significantly earlier than its counterpart entered Europe, suggesting adaptation to local economic needs rather than cultural isolation.
Cᵉ siècle av. J.-C. – Vᵉ siècle
Africa
Traduction non disponible · Original (anglais) · français indisponible
The Later Stone Age is a broad archaeological designation for predominantly microlithic stone industries distributed across much of sub-Saharan Africa. The category is technologically defined by small blades, backed retouch, and microlithic components of composite tools, but it does not correspond to a single period, population, or cultural tradition. Its chronology varies substantially by region: microlithic industries appeared in some areas by the tenth millennium BC or earlier, while related technologies persisted into the last few centuries in other regions. The category’s conventional boundaries remain disputed.
Poursuivre l’exploration
Le récit
Later Stone Age settlements across sub-Saharan Africa were generally small and mobile. Thin surface scatters at many open-air sites suggest short-lived encampments, sometimes established for a single task such as butchering a kill. Even rock-shelters and other repeatedly occupied places may have been used for brief episodes rather than as permanent settlements, while natural shelters were preferred over the simple semicircular wind-breaks made from branches and stones.
The evidence increasingly points to seasonal habitation and exploitation of particular sites and environments. Activities carried out during these visits shaped the artifact assemblages left behind, making individual sites only partial reflections of wider subsistence systems. Average settlement sizes were considerably smaller than those of later food-producing societies, with estimates of roughly eight to twenty-five people, comparable to the size of recent hunter-gatherer bands in sub-Saharan Africa.
Microliths were frequently hafted, and evidence from hafting methods, edge damage, ethnographic observation, and rock paintings clarifies some of their uses. Certain microliths served as arrow-points and barbs, while a wooden bow was recovered from a third-millennium BC context at Gwisho Hotsprings in southern Zambia. Osteological evidence and painted scenes show that hunters could occasionally kill even the largest mammals, probably using poisoned arrows; plant pods associated with poison production were preserved at Gwisho.
Other stone tools were used for cutting, scraping, skinning, butchering, and working wood or bone. Fishing equipment is less visible in stone assemblages because fish-spears, nets, and traps often relied on perishable materials; specialized bone harpoon-heads provide clearer archaeological evidence. Plant gathering is likewise underrepresented, although digging-sticks may have been used to obtain roots, tubers, and water, and bored stones were probably used as weights for such implements. The scarcity of preserved equipment and plant remains may therefore underestimate the importance of gathered foods.
Personal adornment forms another prominent component of Later Stone Age assemblages. Bone and shell beads and pendants were widely distributed, worn on the body or in the hair, and sewn onto skins and other clothing. In eastern Zambia, changing fashions produced rapid stylistic developments, while ochre and other pigments may have served to decorate clothing or bodies as well as to produce imagery on rock surfaces.
Rock paintings and engravings occur in many parts of sub-Saharan Africa where protected rock surfaces survive. Naturalistic and schematic representations were produced in both techniques, although most schematic imagery appears relatively recent. Local stylistic sequences are recognized in several regions, but absolute dating and secure correlations with particular prehistoric industries remain rare. The evidence supports rock art as a largely local African development rather than a securely demonstrated import from the western Mediterranean or another external culture.
Southern Africa provides the clearest evidence for early rock art. Paintings from Apollo 11 cave in Namibia were found in contexts associated with the Oakhurst Complex and earlier horizons, while comparable material on the south Cape coast occurs with Wilton Complex deposits dated between the sixth and fourth millennia BC at Matjes River and Klasies River Mouth. Nevertheless, most surviving paintings and probably most engravings across the continent may belong to relatively recent periods.
Human figures are the most frequent subjects in many areas, followed by animals, while inanimate objects are comparatively uncommon. Much earlier naturalistic art was probably decorative in intent, despite elaborate interpretations of its mystical or religious meaning. Southern African art is notable for its artistic quality, with a peak perhaps reached in the shaded polychrome paintings of Natal and Lesotho, attributed to final Later Stone Age communities around the middle of the present millennium.
The Later Stone Age succession developed gradually from local predecessors, and in some regions it represents an essentially autochthonous process largely independent of external stimulus. Microlithic industries often emerged directly from Middle Stone Age traditions based on flakes struck from prepared cores, without an intervening adoption of Upper Palaeolithic blade technology. Mode 5 technology was locally developed in central Africa significantly earlier than its counterpart entered Europe, suggesting adaptation to local economic needs rather than cultural isolation.