Middle Stone Age lithic assemblages from Leba Cave (Southwest Angola)

The Middle Stone Age of Atlantic Africa: A critical review

“…These patterns have been observed in regions of northern South Africa as early as 500 ka (Porat et al, 2010;Wilkins et al, 2012), and at the border between Namibia and Angola dated to 200 ka (Nicoll, 2018(Nicoll, , 2010. Preliminary age measurements using Uranium Thorium series on herbivore tooth associated to the generic MSA assemblages retrieved a minimum age of 75 ka (de Matos et al, 2014).…”

“…The country was researched by numerous teams over the past century. High concentrations of MSA artifacts were observed, particularly across the southwest, most of them open-air sites (Carvalho, 1955;Corvinus, 1983;de Matos et al, , 2021bde Matos, 2022b;Giresse, 2008;Klein, 1994;Pickford et al, 1992). Assemblages were associated to different Stone Age cultures recognized in Central and Southern Africa such as the Acheulean, Fauresmith, Still Bay, Smithfield and Wilton (Clark, 1966;de Matos et al, 2021a;Ervedosa, 1980;Gibson and Yellen, 1978;Ramos, 1982).…”

“…In the last decades, the region received an increased attention, enriching the available dataset, updating previous information, and boosting the research competition in this region. Today the map of MSA sites consists of open-air, rock shelter and cave sites in Senegal, Mali (Chevrier et al, 2016;Douze et al, 2021;Lebrun et al, 2016;Lespez et al, 2011;Niang et al, 2020Niang et al, , 2018Rasse et al, 2020Rasse et al, , 2012Rasse et al, , 2004Schmid et al, 2022;Soriano, 2003;Soriano et al, 2010), Guinea (Davies, 1964), Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso (Allsworth- Jones, 2019;Frank et al, 2001;Kote, 2019), Ghana (Andah, 1979;Balhu, 2017), Niger, Benin (Allsworth-Jones, 2019; Bagodo, 2004;N'Dah, 2009), Nigeria (Allsworth-Jones, 2019; Bagodo, 2004), Cameroon Martı ´, 2003), Equatorial Guinea (Cruz-y-Cruz et al, 2022;Mercader and Martı ´, 2003;Rosas et al, 2022), Gabon (Mesfin et al, 2021), Congo basin (Mesfin et al, 2020a(Mesfin et al, , 2020bTaylor, 2016), Angola de Matos and Pereira, 2020;de Matos, 2022a;Ervedosa, 1980;Mesfin, 2018), and Namibia (Nicoll, 2009;Shackley, 1986).…”

“…Numerous locations have atypical tools, mixed traits frequently associated to ''transitional industries'' (Allchin, 1964;Breuil and Almeida, 1964;Ramos, 1974), and mixed traits or overlapping tool typologies characteristic of both ESA and MSA classified as ''Sangoan'' or ''Fauresmith'' (Ramos, 1982(Ramos, , 1974(Ramos, , 1970. Earlier phase of Capangombe Velho (Ramos, 1982) and Leba Cave (Camarate-Franc ¸a, 1964) were interpreted as early MSA or MSA of Acheulean tradition, followed by a phase without large cutting tools and dominated by ''generic'' or ''undifferentiated MSA'' blanks (Clark, 1966;Gibson and Yellen, 1978) with low frequency of retouched pieces ( de Matos, 2013;de Matos and Pereira, 2020). These patterns have been observed in regions of northern South Africa as early as 500 ka (Porat et al, 2010;Wilkins et al, 2012), and at the border between Namibia and Angola dated to 200 ka (Nicoll, 2018(Nicoll, , 2010.…”

Review of Archaeological Research in Angola

“…The Baía Farta field school on the Benguela coast, directed by M. H. Benjamim (MNAB), continues the excavations at the Dungo complex, in collaboration with M. Gutierrez (Université I de Paris). Further inland, at the western edge of the Escarpment of Huíla, the reexcavation of the site Leba Cave has been directed by D. Matos since 2018, focusing on the reassessment of the stratigraphic record of the Middle Stone Age ( de Matos 2013, de Matos andPereira 2020). Currently, the PaleoLeba project has extended to the exploration, survey, and mapping of the karstic systems at the Leba dolomites/Chela series at Humpata, in collaboration with the local communities of Nyaneka-Humbi (de Matos et al 2020).…”