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Michael L. Murphy

Michael L. Murphy

Doctor of Philosophy

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22
Publications
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Publications

Publications (22)
Chapter
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....
Article
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...
Article
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...
Chapter
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...
Article
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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...
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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...
Chapter
Full-text available
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...
Article
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...
Article
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...
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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...
Article
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
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Full-text available
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...

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