Time, the Middle Stone Age and lithic analyses following the Third Science Revolution

ABSTRACT

This paper is a response to the conference session ‘Generic MSA: fact or fiction?’ held as part of the PanAfrican Association Conference in 2022 in Unguja, Tanzania. It questions the validity of the concept of a ‘generic Middle Stone Age’ and goes beyond the simple debate of terminology that has persisted for nearly 75 years. Instead, it uses this as a starting point to discuss the past, present and future of lithic analyses, including the history of terminology in the African Stone Age, the current topics of lithic enquiry and the role of lithic analysis following the Third Science Revolution. It highlights the effect of tensions between science versus humanities approaches and provides suggestions for future lithic analysts. Lithic studies remain of great importance but are only one source of evidence in modern interdisciplinary human origins research. The paper contends that there is not a single approach suitable for all sites or regions since analyses are contingent upon the questions being asked. Instead, it emphasises opportunities for multivocality and suggests that despite the focus here on the Middle Stone Age the conclusions reached are more widely applicable to other times and places.

RÉSUMÉ

Cet article répond à la session ‘MSA générique: réalité ou fiction?’ tenue dans le cadre de la conférence de l’Association Panafricaine en 2022 à Unguja, en Tanzanie. Il remet en question la validité du concept de ‘Middle Stone Age générique’, et dépasse le simple débat de nomenclature qui dure depuis près de 75 ans. L’article utilise plutôt ce débat comme point de départ pour discuter du passé, du présent et de l’avenir des analyses lithiques, y compris une considération de l’histoire de la terminologie de l’Âge de Pierre africain, des sujets actuels dans les recherches liées au lithique, et du rôle des analyses lithiques après la ‘Troisième Révolution Scientifique’. Il met en évidence l’effet des tensions qui existent entre les approches basées dans les sciences dites ‘dures’ et celles qui touchent plutôt aux sciences humaines, et il fournit des suggestions aux analystes lithiques du futur. Les études lithiques restent d’une grande importance, mais elles ne constituent qu’une source de données parmi d’autres dans la recherche interdisciplinaire moderne portant sur les origines humaines. L’article soutient qu’il n'existe pas d’approche unique qui soit adaptée à tous les sites ou toutes les régions, puisque les analyses dépendent des questions posées. L’article insiste plutôt sur les opportunités de multivocalité et, bien que l’accent ait été mis ici sur le Middle Stone Age, il propose que ses conclusions s’appliquent plus largement à d’autres époques et lieux.

KEYWORDS:

• Eastern Africa
• Middle Stone Age
• lithic artefacts
• Palaeolithic
• human evolution

Acknowledgements

We should like to thank the conference organisers, the organisers of the session in which this paper was delivered and all the presenters and session discussants who took part in it for such a stimulating conference. Funding for the authors’ attendance was provided by the Quaternary Research Association (Basell) and Grandi Scavi Sapienza, MAE (Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs) and PRIN 2022 (Spinapolice). We are grateful for the informed and helpful feedback from three anonymous reviewers and for some helpful comments on an early draft from Marlize Lombard. The ideas presented here evolved via discussions about Spinapolice’s conference presentation in Unguja in 2022 with both authors conceiving and writing the paper in equal part.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Laura S. Basell

Laura Sophie Basell is a landscape geoarchaeologist who directs field and research projects in East Africa and Europe. Her interdisciplinary research integrates interpretations of behavioural landscapes with Quaternary climatic change to understand cultural and technological innovation. She is interested in population migration and how cultural heritage informs identity creation. Her practical skills are in excavation, geomatics and the methodological development of digital technologies in heritage contexts.

Enza E. Spinapolice

Enza Elena Spinapolice is a Palaeolithic archaeologist working in the field of Evolutionary Anthropology who directs field and research projects in East Africa and Europe. Her research focuses on the adaptations and extinctions of Neanderthals and the African record of Homo sapiens. She is fascinated by the cognitive aspects of tool construction from primates to the present, variability within the MSA and the pan-African connection of people and technologies.