Collaborative Research: Ethnoarchaeology, Prehistory and Paleoenvironment in the Western Kalahari

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With National Science Foundation support, Drs. Lawrence Robbins and George Brook will conduct archaeological excavation and related geological research in the northwestern portion of Botswana. Previous work in the Tsodilo Hills region has revealed the presence of deeply stratified archaeological deposits in the White Paintings shelter (WPS). These included abundant faunal and lithic remains as well as floral materials which are extremely rare in prehistoric African sites. The team will conduct two seasons of excavation and hope to uncover deposits which exceed 40,000 years in age. Materials will be analyzed by a team of experts. In conjunction with the excavation, geological study will be conducted at Tsodilo and in surrounding regions. This will provide a broader context for interpreting the WPS and will enhance regional perspectives on Kalahari paleoenvironments. The Tsodilo Hills region is unique in Africa because hunting and gathering peoples still inhabit the region and it is highly probably that this cultural group is directly descended from the prehistoric inhabitants of the shelter. Because of this, it will be possible to combine ethnographic and archaeological data and to interpret the latter in ways not normally possible. Given the time depth of the site it should also be possible to gain insight into the prehistory of this |Kung San group. Preliminary evidence indicates that in the distant past, these Bushman hunter-gatherers employed different subsistence patterns. This research is important for several reasons. It will shed new light on a part of Africa where the prehistory is poorly known. Secondly, it will place the present |Kung San groups into broader chronological perspective. For several decades this group has been intensively studied by anthropologists and has been portrayed in textbooks as the "archetype" of a hunting and gathering society. This model has recently been challenged and arguments advanced that |Kung San culture was altered well over a millennia ago by contact with agricultural and pastoral groups. Excavation at WPS should shed new light on this issue. Finally, this research will examine the mechanisms which a technologically simple society employed to adapt successfully to a harsh and variable desert environment.