Going the distance: Mapping mobility in the Kalahari Desert during the Middle Stone Age through multi-site geochemical provenancing of silcrete artefacts.

This study utilises geochemical provenancing of silcrete raw materials, in combination with chaîne opératoire analyses, to explore lithic procurement and behavioural patterns in the northern Kalahari Desert during the Middle Stone Age (MSA). New data from the sites of Rhino Cave, Corner Cave, and ≠Gi in northwest Botswana, combined with earlier results from White Paintings Shelter, reveal that the long distance transport of silcrete for stone tool manufacture was a repeated and extensively used behaviour in this region. Silcrete was imported over distances of up to 295 km to all four sites, from locations along the Boteti River and around Lake Ngami.

Sub-surface movement of stone artefacts at White Paintings Shelter, Tsodilo Hills, Botswana: implications for the Middle Stone Age chronology of central southern Africa.

White Paintings Shelter, Tsodilo Hills, Botswana plays a pivotal role in the archaeological chronology of the Middle Stone Age in the Kalahari. Results of refitting and the application of the chaîne opératoire on the Middle Stone Age lithic assemblage from this site suggest that the previously reported relatively undisturbed nature of the lower deposits should be refuted. Potential causes for this admixture include sloping deposits and post-depositional processes.

Provenancing of silcrete raw materials indicates long-distance transport to Tsodilo Hills, Botswana, during the Middle Stone Age.

Lithic artifacts from the African Middle Stone Age (MSA) offer an avenue to explore a range of human behaviors, including mobility, raw material acquisition, trade and exchange. However, to date, in southern Africa it has not been possible to provenance the locations from which commonly used stone materials were acquired prior to transport to archaeological sites. Here we present results of the first investigation to geochemically fingerprint silcrete, a material widely used for tool manufacture across the subcontinent.