Talk by Gerrit Dusseldorp Faculty of Archaeology, Leiden University, the Netherlands. Centre for Anthropological Research, University of Johannesburg, South Africa.

Between the Middle to Later Stone Age (~40 000 – 20 000 years ago), a major technological change occurs. A lithic industry dominated by prepared core technology and macrolithic tools is replaced by a bladelet-based toolkit often produced with bipolar percussion. This change receives little attention compared to earlier indications of modern human behaviour in the Middle Stone Age. Nevertheless earlier modern phenomena like bead production, and engraved ochre and ostrich eggshell disappear again. The Later Stone Age miniaturization of the toolkit appears more permanent however. KwaZulu-Natal occupies an important place in this issue. The province yielded most of the few sites known from this period and with Border Cave, the earliest date for the earlier Later Stone Age.

I am interested in the reasons for this behavioural transition. This change occurs during the second half of the last Ice Age, characterised by unstable global climates. I will sketch the technological developments and try to connect them with changes in the way of life of earliest Later Stone Age people in KwaZulu-Natal and adjacent areas.

• Date: 14 July 2018 at 10h30
• Venue: Phansi Museum, 500 Esther Roberts Road (cnr Cedar Road), Glenwood, Durban
• Coffee and tea will be available at the Phansi at own cost.
• For more information and to book contact Barbara Dunn – KZN Branch Secretary – 083 472 5566 or Maxine Davies – Assistant Secretary - 072 461 3628.
• Hosted by the South African Archaeological Society Kwazulu-Natal Branch.