Howiesons Poort

The Middle Stone Age
↑ Early Stone Age
Pre-Still Bay
Stillbay
Howiesons Poort
Post-Howiesons Poort
Late
Final MSA phases
↓ Later Stone Age

Howiesons Poort (also called HP) is a technological and cultural period characterized by material evidence with shared design features found in South Africa, Lesotho, and Namibia.[1] It was named after the Howieson's Poort Shelter archaeological site near Grahamstown in South Africa, where the first assemblage of these tools was discovered.[2] Howiesons Poort is believed, based on chronological comparisons between many sites, to have started around 64.8 thousand years ago and ended around 59.5 thousand years ago.[1] It is considered to be a technocomplex, or a cultural period in archaeology classified by distinct and specific technological materials. Howiesons Poort is notable for its relatively complex tools, technological innovations, and cultural objects evidencing symbolic expression. One site in particular, Sibudu Cave, provides one of the key reference sequences for Howiesons Poort.[3] Howiesons Poort assemblages are primarily found at sites south of the Limpopo River.[2]

While the emergence of this techno-complex is still highly debated, one leading hypothesis postulates that it emerged during a period of harsh environmental conditions and unpredictable landscapes,[4] which may have spurned inhabitants to develop more complex tools and social structures as an adaptive response. Humans of this period as in the earlier Stillbay period showed signs of having practiced symbolic behaviors and having engaged in between-group exchanges of backed tools for the proposed function of solidifying bonds and strengthening social networks.[5]

Many of the tools associated with Howiesons Poort resemble and seemingly anticipate many tool styles that do not appear again until far later in the archaeological record.[6] The succeeding period, the "post-Howiesons Poort", lacks many of the complex technologies that characterize Howiesons Poort. While there is no universally agreed-upon explanation as to why this happened, there are several leading proposed theories, some of which involve shifts in resource availability and foraging strategies.[4]

  1. ^ a b Jacobs, Zenobia; Roberts, Richard G. (June 2017). "Single-grain OSL chronologies for the Still Bay and Howieson's Poort industries and the transition between them: Further analyses and statistical modelling". Journal of Human Evolution. 107: 1–13. Bibcode:2017JHumE.107....1J. doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2017.02.004. ISSN 0047-2484. PMID 28526285.
  2. ^ a b Lombard, Marlize (2005). "The Howiesons Poort of South Africa: what we know, what we think we know, what we need to know". Southern African Humanities. 17 (1): 33–55 – via Sabinet.
  3. ^ Wadley, Lyn (2008). "The Howieson's poort industry of Sibudu cave". Goodwin Series: 122–133.
  4. ^ a b Dusseldorp, Gerrit L. (2014-07-03). "Explaining the Howiesons Poort to post-Howiesons Poort transition: a review of demographic and foraging adaptation models". Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa. 49 (3): 317–353. doi:10.1080/0067270x.2014.937080. ISSN 0067-270X. S2CID 162703580.
  5. ^ Soriano, Sylvain; Villa, Paola; Wadley, Lyn (May 2007). "Blade technology and tool forms in the Middle Stone Age of South Africa: the Howiesons Poort and post-Howiesons Poort at Rose Cottage Cave". Journal of Archaeological Science. 34 (5): 681–703. Bibcode:2007JArSc..34..681S. doi:10.1016/j.jas.2006.06.017. ISSN 0305-4403.
  6. ^ Vishnyatsky, L. B. (March 1994). "'Running ahead of time' in the development of Palaeolithic industries". Antiquity. 68 (258): 134–140. doi:10.1017/s0003598x00046287. ISSN 0003-598X. S2CID 163033882.