A Comparison of Middle Stone Age and Later Stone Age Blades from South Africa

The Middle Stone Age (MSA, ca. 250,000 to 25,000 B.P.) and the Later Stone Age (LSA, ca. 25,000 to 2000 B.P.) provide the cultural backdrops for the evolution of modern humans in Africa. The LSA has been long regarded as the period during which modern forms of behavior were widely adopted. Over the last decade evidence of modern behavior in the MSA has grown significantly, however, and some cultural distinctions between the MSA and LSA have become blurred. Perceived differences between MSA and LSA blade technologies warranted closer investigation. The South African site of Rose Cottage Cave (RCC) has a long cultural sequence incorporating several MSA and LSA industries. A controlled comparison of blades from the Howiesons Poort (ca. 65,000 to 55,000 B.P.) and Robberg (ca. 20,000 to 10,000 CAL B.P.) industries of RCC is presented. Robberg blade production appears to involve both a different theoretical approach and greater technical precision than Howiesons Poort production but it does not result in a greater level of dimensional standardization. Robberg blade technology could be described as more advanced, but its economic advantages are problematic. The skills involved may have been fostered within a particular social context, though it remains to be established whether these conditions were peculiar to the environmentally-stressed Robberg phase or to the broader LSA.