
Lawrence H RobbinsMichigan State University | MSU · Anth
Lawrence H Robbins
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Publications
Publications (36)
The Lothagam harpoon site in north-west Kenya's Lake Turkana Basin provides a stratified Holocene sequence capturing changes in African fisher-hunter-gatherer strategies through a series of subtle and dramatic climate shifts (Figure 1). The site rose to archaeological prominence following Robbins's 1965–1966 excavations, which yielded sizeable lith...
We present a synthesis of archaeological and paleoenvironmental information for the period MIS 6-2 in the Kalahari. Discussion centers on the implications of nine new, internally consistent OSL ages obtained from White Paintings Rock Shelter. These dates provide a better understanding of the Middle Stone Age (MSA) and Late Stone Age (LSA) sequence....
This paper presents new information on the antiquity of the bow and arrow in the Kalahari. Excavations at White Paintings Shelter (WPS) uncovered bone point fragments that appear to have been parts of reversible arrowheads that could have been used with poison. We present a sequence of nine new, internally consistent OSL ages that date specific soi...
Geophysical techniques have been widely employed for the noninvasive location of burial sites in archaeological and forensic investigations. This approach has met with varying degrees of success, depending on factors such as equipment choice, survey methodology, burial type, and geological setting. This paper reports the results of a multitechnique...
New optically stimulated luminescence ages, in combination with detailed analysis
of sediment from White Paintings rock shelter provide a basis for reconstructing palaeoenvironment
and site formation processes at the longest archaeological sequence in the Kalahari.
The new data resolve previous ambiguities related to the site’s chronology. A series...
The Lake Ngami Basin is important for understanding the LSA record during the Holocene in the Kalahari. We provide an OSL and radiocarbon dated sequence that relates changing lake levels to the stratigraphy and archaeology of Mogapelwa 1. At intervals during thelast 16 ka the site offered easy access to the resources of a flowing Nchabe River and a...
This paper presents the first combined use of OSL and AMS
dating to address the problem of the advent of livestock in
southern Africa. Excavations at Toteng, at the eastern end
of the Lake Ngami basin, have revealed bones of wetland
and domesticated animals dating to around 2 ka. There
is also Bambata pottery and microliths. Between 2.1
–
1.5
ka th...
SchmidtPeter R.. Historical Archaeology in Africa: Representation, Social Memory, and Oral Traditions. Lanham, Md.: AltaMira Press, 2006. xi + 316 pp. Photographs. Maps. Charts. Notes. Bibliography. Index. $80.00. Cloth. $32.95. Paper. - Volume 50 Issue 3 - Lawrence H. Robbins
Specular hematite, or speculante (Fe2O3), was a valued cosmetic in Southern Africa during the Late Stone Age (LSA) and Iron Age (IA), and there are ancient mines throughout the region. Early explorers reported that it was applied to the body and hair with animal fat and was traded extensively. We analyzed specularite samples from seven prehistoric...
Pioneering research in the Holocene archaeology of Lake Turkana contributed significantly to the development of broader issues in the prehistory of Africa, including the aquatic civilization model and the initial spread of domesticated livestock in East Africa. These topics are reviewed following retrospective discussion of the nature of pioneering...
Excavations conducted at the White Paintings rock shelter in the NW Kalahari Desert have uncovered seven meters of Later and Middle Stone Age deposits. Lithic microwear evidence was found on 15 artifacts representing five of the major archaeological subdivisions in the sequence and revealed work in wood, hide, and bone, as well as butchering and im...
Excavations conducted at the White Paintings Rock Shelter (WPS) have uncovered 7 m of deposits ranging in age from the historic period to at least 100,000 years at the base. Eleven stratigraphic units are described in relation to palaeoenvironmental conditions inferred from sediments and other data. These units contain seven major divisions in the...
Recent interdisciplinary research near Lake Ngami has revealed Later Stone Age occupation dated to between c. 3830 ± 100 BP and 2400 ± 80 BP. Detailed study of the sediments, dated by radiocarbon and thermoluminescence (TL) methods, as well as the identification of 19 species of diatoms provides new evidence about the water conditions and the past...
Description, datation au radiocarbone et contexte economique et archeologique des mines d'hematite (800-1000 apr. J.-C.) de Tsodilo (Male Hill, Female Hill). Une etude approfondie pourrait reveler que l'extraction d'hematite constituait probablement l'une des activites des populations de chasseurs-collecteurs du Kalahari
Test excavations conducted at Drotsky’s Cave have provided important new information on the paleoenvironment and archaeology of the western Kalahari desert during the late and terminal Pleistocene. An occupation layer dated to the terminal Pleistocene was rich in Late Stone Age artefacts, pieces of ostrich egg shell, the remains of carnivorous bull...
The Tsodilo Hills Depression site is the deepest archaeological site excavated in the Kalahari Desert. It reveals a new sequence of 14C dates extending from as recently as the 16th century AD to ~19 000 years ago. Deposits at the base of the site are estimated to be at least 25 000 years old. Microlithic late Stone Age technology is evident through...
Recent archaeological research conducted west of Lake Turkana, Kenya has shed new light on the prehistory of eastern Cushitic and Nilotic speakers in East Africa. The Namoratunga cemetery and rock art sites, dated to about 300 B.C., are clearly related to the prehistory of Eastern Cushitic speakers. The newly defined Turkwell cultural tradition, da...
Namoratunga, a megalithic site in northwestern Kenya, has an alignment of 19 basalt pillars that are nonrandomly oriented
toward certain stars and constellations. The same stars and constellations are used by modern eastern Cushitic peoples to
calculate an accurate calendar. The fact that Namoratunga dates to about 300 B.C. suggests that a prehisto...
Thesis--University of California. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 174-180). Microfilm of typescript.
In this article, Mr. Robbins of the University of California, Berkeley, gives an account of exciting finds of barbed harpoons, comparable to others found near Lake Edward to the west and far up the Nile to the north. The skeletal material is being studied at the Smithsonian Institution. The research work on which this article is founded was made po...