Cᵉ siècle av. J.-C.
North-eastern Uganda
Traduction non disponible · Original (anglais) · français indisponible
Magosi is a Middle Stone Age archaeological locality in semi-arid north-eastern Uganda whose interpretation changed after re-excavation. An early excavation treated its selected mixture of Middle and Later Stone Age artifacts as evidence for a transitional “Magosian” industry. Later work showed that the cistern had been dug by a Later Stone Age population into older deposits and that artifacts from separate occurrences had been mixed. The lower occurrence contains quartz and chert tools, bifacial points, scrapers, burins, and small Levallois cores.
Poursuivre l’exploration
Le récit
Magosi lies in semi-arid north-eastern Uganda, where an excavation in 1926 recovered artifacts from a silted-up rock cistern. The initial interpretation combined Middle Stone Age and Later Stone Age objects and treated the assemblage as transitional between the two technological periods. Similar assemblages elsewhere were subsequently grouped under the label “Magosian” and assigned to a proposed Second Intermediate period.
Re-excavation fundamentally altered that interpretation. The original assemblage was highly selected, and artifacts from two separate occurrences had been mixed. The cistern itself had been dug by a Later Stone Age population into older deposits that had become incompletely cemented by carbonates, separating the archaeological contexts that had previously been treated as a single industry.
The lower occurrence is clearly assigned in the passage to the Middle Stone Age, most probably its later part, although its age remains unknown. It contains quartz and chert artifacts, approximately a dozen small scrapers, twenty bifacial points and point fragments, a few burins, and small radially prepared Levallois cores. A small number of lunates and backed bladelets from the top of the deposit are more likely associated with the upper occurrence.
Cᵉ siècle av. J.-C.
North-eastern Uganda
Traduction non disponible · Original (anglais) · français indisponible
Magosi is a Middle Stone Age archaeological locality in semi-arid north-eastern Uganda whose interpretation changed after re-excavation. An early excavation treated its selected mixture of Middle and Later Stone Age artifacts as evidence for a transitional “Magosian” industry. Later work showed that the cistern had been dug by a Later Stone Age population into older deposits and that artifacts from separate occurrences had been mixed. The lower occurrence contains quartz and chert tools, bifacial points, scrapers, burins, and small Levallois cores.
Poursuivre l’exploration
Le récit
Magosi lies in semi-arid north-eastern Uganda, where an excavation in 1926 recovered artifacts from a silted-up rock cistern. The initial interpretation combined Middle Stone Age and Later Stone Age objects and treated the assemblage as transitional between the two technological periods. Similar assemblages elsewhere were subsequently grouped under the label “Magosian” and assigned to a proposed Second Intermediate period.
Re-excavation fundamentally altered that interpretation. The original assemblage was highly selected, and artifacts from two separate occurrences had been mixed. The cistern itself had been dug by a Later Stone Age population into older deposits that had become incompletely cemented by carbonates, separating the archaeological contexts that had previously been treated as a single industry.
The lower occurrence is clearly assigned in the passage to the Middle Stone Age, most probably its later part, although its age remains unknown. It contains quartz and chert artifacts, approximately a dozen small scrapers, twenty bifacial points and point fragments, a few burins, and small radially prepared Levallois cores. A small number of lunates and backed bladelets from the top of the deposit are more likely associated with the upper occurrence.