High Risk Exploratory: Test Excavations at Four Middle Stone Age Sites Near Mossel Bay, Western Cape Province, South Africa

Suny At Stony Brook, Stony Brook NY

Investigators

Abstract

With National Science Foundation support, Dr. Curtis Marean will conduct exploratory archaeological excavation in a series of rock shelter sites located near Mossel Bay in the Western Cape Province of South Africa. The Archaeology Program provides relatively modest high risk exploratory research grants and the project is funded under this competition. In a preliminary reconnaissance, Dr. Marean and his colleagues noted that the four sites under consideration all contain intact deposit. In most, artifacts dating to the Middle Stone Age (MSA) period are either visible in exposed sections or have been discovered on the ground surface in the immediate region. Thus there is good reason to expect, although it is far from certain, that in situ materials are present. Dr. Marean and his colleagues will produce detailed surface maps for each of the rock shelters and then conduct test excavations. The lithic, faunal and shell material recovered will be analyzed after the completion of fieldwork and on the basis of the results it will then be possible to design a full research program. The long term goal of this work is to understand the cultural transition from "archaic" to "modern" human behavior. While hominids a quarter of a million years ago could fashion well crafted symmetrical stone tools they lacked many of the traits such as art, religion, ethnicity and long distance trade which characterize all modern people. By 40,000 years ago these are evident in the archaeological record and it is clear that our ancestors from this latter period had modern human capabilities. Dr. Marean and many other researchers wish to understand the process which underlies this transition. Archaeological evidence indicates that this change first took place in Africa during the MSA and several sites along the South African coast provide early and tentative indications of new behaviors. However the information to date is severely limited and solid chronologies are yet to be established. The Mossel Bay sites assume importance in this context both because of their location and because of preliminary evidence that they contain datable materials. Dr. Marean's research will determine which of the sites contains the most abundant, best preserved and longest sequence and with this information it will be possible to design a long term research project.