Benjamin J. Schoville’s research while affiliated with University of Queensland and other places

Archaeological sites in the southern Kalahari add key data for understanding the distribution of Pleistocene occupation, past environments, and early human environmental interactions in the interior of South Africa. One area of high potential is the Tswalu Kalahari Reserve in the Northern Cape, and the largest private game reserve in South Africa. Limited prior archaeological research has been completed at Tswalu, which has largely focused on the rock engraving sites located on the north end of the reserve. Our ongoing research program includes surface survey, geomorphological and palaeoenvironmental reconstruction, and excavations at two sites located near the Korranenberg Hills. The first is Witberg 1, a high-density open-air Middle Stone Age assemblage in a stratified context. The second is Sonstraal, an Earlier Stone Age assemblage in a diatomite quarry that we are just beginning to investigate. This research suggests water was an important component of Pleistocene land use in the region, and further study will test how water security strategies changed through the Pleistocene.

Creating and sharing 3D digital replicas of archaeological sites online has become increasingly common. They are being integrated in excavation workflows, used to foster public engagement with the site, and provide communication and outreach of research, which now happen on digital media platforms. However, there has been little introspection by the community involved in the 3D documentation field, which has resulted in problematic practices. We critique the western paradigm of archaeological visualisation and propose recommendations for inclusive, decolonised visualisations of living heritage and archaeological places. To begin, we define in broad terms what an archaeological site is, and then we describe how these sites have been recorded and represented using the latest technology for digital re-production, namely laser scanning and photogrammetry. Following that we provide a critical analysis of current 3D visualisations of archaeological sites and develop an approach to ensure that the significance, meaning, and potency of archaeological and living heritage places are transferred to their digital replicas. Our case study at Ga-Mohana Hill in South Africa then offers practical approaches and methodologies that the fields of cultural heritage documentation and archaeological visualisation can employ to address their recurring issues as identified in the critical analysis. We present an online, interactive 3D digital replica of a living heritage and archaeological place that we believe responds appropriately to its political, cultural, and social context along with communicating its archaeological significance.

The development of projectile technology was a fundamental step in the transition from scavenging to hunting, providing hunters with more reliable access to meat, enabling killing at greater distances and a potential broadening of the human niche. Understanding when and where projectile innovations occurred remains a challenge, as organic components of projectile technology seldom preserve. Consequently, archaeologists have explored tip fractures as a potential means of identifying the speed of projectile impacts and thus the likely weapon systems employed in the past. This paper introduces a novel approach to experimental projectile fractures, employing near-identical vitrified porcelain points to better understand the variables affecting formation, type and length of so-called ‘diagnostic impact fractures’ (DIFs). Using the largest sample of its kind to date (n = 570), we compare DIF type and length for thrusted spear, simple stone tipped projectiles (hand thrown) and complex projectile weapons (spearthrower/dart and bow/arrow) to identify the degree of overlap in the type and size of impact fractures created by each type of weapon. Through statistical comparison of porcelain and flint points, and controlled crossbow and hand delivery methods, we show that porcelain points are an ideal analogue for flint points in controlled ballistic experiments to assist in developing a more robust understanding of the formation of impact fractures and the use of past weapon systems.

Detailed, well-dated palaeoclimate and archaeological records are critical for understanding the impact of environmental change on human evolution. Ga-Mohana Hill, in the southern Kalahari, South Africa, preserves a Pleistocene archaeological sequence. Relict tufas at the site are evidence of past flowing streams, waterfalls, and shallow pools. Here, we use laser ablation screening to target material suitable for uranium-thorium dating. We obtained 33 ages covering the last 110 thousand years (ka) and identify five tufa formation episodes at 114–100 ka, 73–48 ka, 44–32 ka, 15–6 ka, and ~3 ka. Three tufa episodes are coincident with the archaeological units at Ga-Mohana Hill dating to ~105 ka, ~31 ka, and ~15 ka. Based on our data and the coincidence of dated layers from other local records, we argue that in the southern Kalahari, from ~240 ka to ~71 ka wet phases and human occupation are coupled, but by ~20 ka during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), they are decoupled.

Ostrich eggshell (OES) beads from southern African archaeological contexts shed light on past traditions of personal ornamentation, and they are also argued to provide a proxy for understanding past social networks. However, OES beads are often understudied and not reported on in detail. In particular, there has been little research on OES bead variation during Marine Isotope Stage 2 (29,000–12,000 years ago) which includes the Last Glacial Maximum when changing climatic conditions are hypothesized to have significant impact on forager social networks. Here, we present the first technological analysis of terminal Pleistocene OES beads and fragments in the Kalahari from the ~15 ka levels at Ga-Mohana Hill North Rockshelter. We contextualise these findings through comparison with coeval OES bead assemblages across southern Africa during MIS 2. Results indicate that OES beads were manufactured at Ga-Mohana Hill North during the terminal Pleistocene occupation, based on the presence of most stages of bead manufacture. The review shows that OES beads were present across southern Africa through MIS 2, suggesting that culturing of the body was an embodied and persistent practice during that time. While the importance of OES beads as decorative objects was shared by populations across southern Africa, variation in bead diameters indicate that there was stylistic variation.

Humans occupy a wide range of environments, including those that experience water stress. Our species has a long history of mitigating arid and semi-arid environmental risk through cultural and technological behaviors. Identifying Pleistocene foraging behaviors in water-stressed environments is particularly instructive for understanding the development of behavioral plasticity and the dispersal of modern humans. However, evidence for adaptability can be difficult to ascertain from archaeological deposits in marginal environments where occupation intensity may be light. In this study, landscape decision-making is inferred from expectations derived from the “whole assemblage behavioral indicator” approach to the formation of lithic assemblages. This model is tested against surface artifact density data from the Southern Kalahari to identify landscape provisioning structure in semi-arid environments. Our results indicate place provisioning strategies including logistic foraging, with evidence for increased occupation duration in areas closer to water. This pattern is contrasted with the published record at White Paintings Rockshelter in the Middle Kalahari, where a collector strategy is inferred. Variable means of achieving water security may have been key underlying behaviors for the dispersal of our species into marginal environments, and this study provides baseline evidence for some of the flexible land-use strategies used in the Kalahari Basin.

The invention of projectile technology had important ramifications for hominin evolution. However, the number of stone points that could have been used as projectiles fluctuates in archaeological assemblages, making it difficult to define when projectile technology was first widely adopted and how its usage changed over time. Here we use an agent-based model to simulate a hunter-gatherer foraging system where armatures are dropped according to their usage. We explore the impact of interactions between human behaviors and the environmental constraints of a data-informed landscape on the distribution and number of lithic armatures found in archaeological assemblages. We ran 2400 simulations modeling different population sizes, rates of hunting with projectiles, and tool curation levels. For each simulation, we recorded the location of dropped armatures and calculated the number and percentage of used armatures that were discarded at habitation camps vs. lost during hunting. We used linear regression to identify the demographic, behavioral, and environmental factor(s) that best explained changes in these numbers and percentages. The model results show that in a well-controlled environment, most armatures used as projectile weapons are lost or discarded at hunting sites; only ∼4.5% of used armatures (or ∼2 armatures per year of simulation) are discarded in habitation camps where they would likely be excavated. These findings suggest that even rare hafted armatures found in the Early and Middle Stone Age could indicate a well-established use of such tools. Our model shows that interactions between reoccupation of archaeological sites, population size, rate of hunting with projectile weapons, and tool curation levels strongly influence the count of lithic armatures found in archaeological assemblages. Therefore, we argue that fluctuations in the counts of armatures documented at archaeological sites should be evaluated within their demographic and environmental contexts to better understand if they reflect spatiotemporal changes in hunting behavior.