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From Sites to Systems: Scales of Behaviour from the Spatial Distribution of Lithics at Open-Air Sites in the Doring Catchment, South Africa

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posted on 2024-11-17, 14:31 authored by Matthew Shaw
The vast bulk of the evidence we have for the human past derives from open-air settings. This is true of both the archaeological record, which in landscapes like those of southern Africa often occurs as a continuous distribution of varying density, and of the hunter-gatherer ethnographic record, which generally comprises observations of activities undertaken in the open. And yet when reconstructing human behaviours in Palaeolithic we rely on data taken disproportionately from rock shelters. This incongruity reflects a long-standing distrust of data from open-air sites, and particularly those open-air sites composed of surface-exposed artefacts that are subject to cycles of erosion, redistribution, and redeposition. It is the contention of this thesis that that distrust stems from two sources: a failure to engage in depth with the patterns that are preserved in such open-air sites, and a failure to generate scale-appropriate questions when interpreting those patterns. The focus of the thesis is on the open-air archaeological record of the Doring River catchment in the south west of South Africa, a region which includes innumerable open-air sites along with well-resolved rock shelter sequences extending beyond 100 000 years. The thesis poses three central questions: What is the archaeological composition of open-air localities along the Doring River? Are there differences in technological compositions and/or organisational strategies between these open-air sites and rock shelters within the catchment? Is the spatial distribution of lithic material at these open-air localities governed solely by taphonomic processes, or can we observe behavioural patterning – and if so at what scales?

History

Year

2024

Thesis type

  • Doctoral thesis

Faculty/School

School of Earth, Atmospheric and Life Sciences

Language

English

Disclaimer

Unless otherwise indicated, the views expressed in this thesis are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of the University of Wollongong.

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