Technological change in the Earlier and Middle Stone Age of Kalambo Falls (Zambia)

New investigations at Kalambo Falls, Zambia: Luminescence chronology, site formation, and archaeological significance

“…Although enrichment of these samples provided radiocarbon measurements that were above instrumental background, the techniques are not able to overcome contamination arising during burial. Less than 0.1% of contamination by modern carbon would result in a sample that is hundreds of thousands of years old, giving an apparent radiocarbon age of 60 ka BP (Taylor, 1987), and the radiocarbon ages obtained for material from Kalambo are all thought to underestimate the true age of the site (Sheppard and Kleindienst, 1996;Clark, 2001). …”

“…Samples of organic-rich clays and some scattered charcoal were collected for radiocarbon dating during Clark's excavations in the 1950s and 1960s. By applying enrichment techniques at the Groningen Radiocarbon Laboratory, finite ages up to 60 ka BP were obtained from Acheulean levels in site A (Sheppard and Kleindienst, 1996;Clark, 2001). Although enrichment of these samples provided radiocarbon measurements that were above instrumental background, the techniques are not able to overcome contamination arising during burial.…”

“…Owing to the rich record of artefacts recovered from the site and the limited number of other stratified sequences covering the Mode 2 to Mode 3 transition in this part of Africa, Kalambo Falls could potentially play an important role in discussions about the timing and importance of the characteristic technological changes of this transition (Barham et al, 2009). The significance of the Kalambo Falls record, however, has been diminished by uncertainties about the geomorphological and sedimentological processes involved in site generation and preservation (Sheppard and Kleindienst, 1996;Schick, 2001) and by a very limited chronology (Clark, 2001), thereby contributing to the marginalisation of the site in such discussions. All four of Clark's (1969Clark's ( , 2001 excavations (designated sites A, B, C, and D) are immediately adjacent to the Kalambo River, and while fluvial processes are known to have played a key role in site formation (e.g., Schick, 2001), many uncertainties surround the nature, timing, and controls of river and floodplain activity.…”

On Naming Things

“…The differences are seen especially in the different choices of raw materials, and different patterning in minimally working many or most of the larger pieces, although some pretty bifaces continued to be made. Similar change in patterning occurs in the shift to the Central and East African Sangoan Complex (Sheppard and Kleindienst 1996;Kleindienst 1999).…”

“…In Kharga we know that predominant usage of Levallois and other specialized or more regulated techniques began at least 200,000 years ago, but we are still in the process of defining units and establishing time placements (Kleindienst et al 1996Churcher et al 1999;Hawkins et al 2001Hawkins et al , 2002Smith et al 2004). Older, "larger-sized" generalized MSA units at Dakhleh (Kleindienst 1999) are now termed the Gifata Unit and the Teneida unit (Kleindienst 2003).…”