The social world of hunter-gatherers in early Holocene Lesotho: integrating method and theory

Abstract

This thesis presents new early Holocene excavations at Ntloana Tšoana in western Lesotho and makes the case for reintegrating method and theory in southern African Later Stone Age archaeology. It is argued that the distancing of method and theory relates to discipline-wide economic and material culture biases. An alternative is proposed which focuses on the everyday residues and temporal relations of hunter-gatherer life in order to build an understanding of attachment to place. This approach, which is more accepting of the multitemporal qualities of complex stratigraphies, is ideally suited to the abundant and wellstratified rockshelters of southern Africa. Importantly, tracing sequence in the construction of stratigraphic diagrams, the modelling of radiocarbon dates, as well as in studies of artefact production use and discard, remain central to the work presented here. At the same time, however, equal weight is placed on the durational and imbricated qualities of the archaeological record, which, it is argued, deserve to be repositioned as positive attributes. In this way of thinking sedimentation and erosion are vital to the human story and provide much of the movement and depth to the history-writing process. These insights are brought to bear on the 600-1700 calendar years of early Holocene stratigraphy at Ntloana Tšoana, during which time a complex history of social fragmentation and coalescence is traceable, sandwiched between, and partly overlapping with, two major flooding events. The site also becomes associated with a specific set of practices over many centuries involving the construction of large hearth features and the working of animal hides. Discussion revolves around the manner in which rockshelter residues may have acted as a stabilising force within the fluid socio-material world of hunter-gatherer groups and how this may have operated over an inter-generational timeframe. Also, a big thank you to Jess Meyer who took most of the site and landscape photos in this thesis. In Lesotho there are far too many people to mention individually, but to all of you, Kea leboha haholo! At home I had the constant support and love of Sarah and my two sons, Joseph and Rory, both born during the course of this project and who are a never-ending source of joy. I would also like to say a special thank you to my mum, who always loved unconditionally and never tried to make me do something more 'sensible'. I would like to dedicate this thesis to two women who made it all possible. Firstly, Annie Booth, and secondly, my mother, Hilary Bathurst, both of whom showed incredible strength at the end of their lives and will not be forgotten.

Moshebi's shelter at fifty: Reinvestigating the Later Stone Age of the Sehlabathebe Basin, Lesotho

“…Morphometric analysis of a large sample of Woodlot scrapers from Ntloana Tšoana in western Lesotho strongly supports Opperman's interpretation that these tools were indeed end-mounted. Microwear studies on the same assemblage combined with detailed analysis of their depositional context further indicate that hide-working was their primary association (Arthur, 2018). Similar artefacts have been described as 'duckbill scrapers' elsewhere in southern Africa, particularly in the Fynbos and Forest Biomes of the Cape (Goodwin and van Riet Lowe, 1929;Deacon, 1984).…”

“…To meet this challenge requires detailed excavation, involving the maximum possible stratigraphic control and careful attention to taphonomic processes, particularly how sediments have built up and subsequently been altered. Recent studies elsewhere in Lesotho, including at Melikane (Stewart et al, 2012) and Ntloana Tšoana (Arthur, 2018;Morley et al, in prep. ), confirm the value of this approach, which overcomes a strong disciplinary tendency to classifying sites into two kinds: problematic palimpsests or high-resolution sequences.…”

“…Often overlooked, this point is significant since the changing physical circumstances of any given rockshelter alter the possibilities that it offers to potential human residents. Sediments build up inside it, blocks of stone fall from the roof, graves, pits, and other features are dug into existing layers, non-human agents, such as water, rework the site's surface, and people develop and may long retain memories of how and when it was used and what activities were undertaken where (Arthur, 2018). Collectively, these processes relate to the distinction drawn by Parkington (1980Parkington ( , 1988 and Binford (1982) between a site's physical location and its 'place', i.e.…”

“…the set of opportunities that it offers for living there, opportunities thatunlike its geographical co-ordinates -change as the environment around it evolves. Given how much a rockshelter's physical form can change over time, place, and the potentiality that it entails, must always have been as much about how life unfurled inside its dripline and below its roof as about how those living there engaged with the wider landscape beyond (Bailey & Galanidou, 2009;Arthur, 2018). As Carter (1969a, 1970, 1978 realised, Moshebi's small size, large area of rock fall, and potentially wet conditions are as much a part of its history as the attractions of its spring, its commanding view, and its position within wider ecological and social systems that certainly encompassed the Sehlabathebe Basin, but may well also -at times -have extended downslope into the Midlands of KwaZulu-Natal or west to the Senqu River.…”

Record-Making, Research, and Removal: Mitigating Impacts on Rock Art in a CRM Context in Southern Africa—the Case of the Metolong Dam, Lesotho

“…Work on Metolong's living heritage by King and Nic Eoin (Phase 3) overlapped with this. Further, independently funded excavation work at the important site of Ntloana Tšoana was carried out in 2012 (Arthur, 2018(Arthur, , 2020Arthur et al, 2018). The catchment's rock paintings were comprehensively documented by Lara Mallen and David Pearce between August 2010 and January 2011.…”