Characterizing the late MSA sequence at Sibudu Cave, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Nicholas J. Conard
• Subject Area: Prehistory and World Archaeology
• Term: from 2013 to 2018
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 249148575

This research project aims at characterizing the late MSA sequence of Sibudu Cave, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. In the last decades, the MSA of southern Africa has become crucial for investigating the behavioral evolution of modern humans and their dispersals out of Africa. Most studies have concentrated on the Still Bay and Howieson´s Poort (HP), but neglected the periods before and after. This project intends to correct this research bias by focusing on lithic assemblages that follow the HP. The late MSA sequence at Sibudu Cave constitutes the perfect candidate for such an investigation. The site preserves a high-resolution, well-dated stratigraphic sequence, including an exceptionally thick "post-HP" sequence that comprises more than 30 individual layers. The site has also yielded high density of stone artifacts and contextual information. Therefore, Sibudu offers enormous potential to analyze this cultural unit on both an intra- and inter-assemblage basis. The lithic analyzes will employ multiple methods to expose the defining features of the "post-HP" and its temporal variability. We will characterize the lithic raw materials, investigate reduction sequences, evaluate the reduction methods and reconstruct techno-economic behavior. Our results will provide new data on the behavioral record of MIS 3 in southern Africa, a time of major changes in human history and behavior. We will also investigate technological and behavioral evolution on various geographic scales with these novel data. Finally, we aim to evaluate the evolutionary role of the late MSA with regard to the earliest dispersals of modern humans to Eurasia.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants