Before Farming: the archaeology and anthropology of hunter-gatherers

ref: Before Farming 2008/1 article 1

Territories among hunter-gatherers & the ritual dimension of landscapes: the central Patagonian plateau, Argentina

Natalia Carden
Archaeology Division, Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo
Universidad Nacional de La Plata- CONICET, Museo de Ciencias Naturales
Paseo del Bosque s/nº, La Plata, Buenos Aires, Argentina
nataliacarden@yahoo.com

Keywords: Rock art, hunter gatherer territories, ritual landscapes, Patagonia

Abstract

This paper discusses rock art as a form of communication within hunter-gatherer social relationships. The recognition of what kinds of places were preferentially demarcated is essential to the comprehension of the social and symbolic dimensions of the landscape. The main argument developed in the article is that rock art played a fundamental role in territorial demarcations and that ritual practices were a key element in this process. Thus, one of the methodological issues that is addressed concerns the identification of sacred places linked to rituals, which can be understood as part of wider religious systems. In this context, the analysed rock art sites are treated as singular places which can be integrated as signifying systems deeply immersed within hunter-gatherer cosmological frameworks. For this objective, five archaeological sites with rock-carvings are compared. They belong to two archaeological localities from two different sectors (lower and upper course) of the same temporary basin in a volcanic and semiarid landscape from southern Patagonia, Argentina. The relationships discussed are framed in the social dynamics that characterise the late Holocene in Patagonia. The main analysed aspects are: the location of the motifs and their visibility patterns, the relationships of the rock art sites considering their similarities and differences, the intervisibility between these sites, the animal and human representations and the rituality of the landscapes.

ref: Before Farming 2008/1 article 2

Wilderness, wild foods, subsistence & identity for hunter-gatherers: an ethnographic report

Helga Vierich
27302 Township Road 513, Spruce Grove, Alberta, T7Y 1H8, Canada
helgav@mac.com

Keywords: Kua, BaKwena, BaKalagadi, BaSarwa, Central Kalahari Game Reserve, Botswana

ref: Before Farming 2008/1 article 3

A late Pleistocene microlithic Later Stone Age assemblage from coastal Namaqualand, South Africa

Jayson Orton
Department of Archaeology, University of Cape Town
Private Bag, Rondebosch, 7700, South Africa
Jayson.Orton@uct.ac.za

Keywords: Late Pleistocene microlithic, Later Stone Age, Namaqualand, South Africa

Abstract

This paper documents the first known Pleistocene Later Stone Age site (AK2006/001G) in coastal Namaqualand. Located just north of Kleinsee, the site presents as an open stone artefact scatter in a gravel lag deposit. The artefacts are almost exclusively of silcrete which was obtained from a nearby outcrop. The assemblage has characteristics typical of southern Africa’s late Pleistocene microlithic assemblages but unfortunately cannot be directly dated. Bladelets and bipolar cores are common, while retouched items are rare and unstandardised. Unfortunately artefact breakage is ubiquitous, undoubtedly due to the site’s context. Such assemblages have frequently been documented in the well-watered mountainous southern and eastern regions of South Africa, a zone to which they were long thought to be restricted. The open, semi-desert setting of this site in the far northwest is therefore unique and it is possible that many more such open sites may yet be found.

ref: Before Farming 2008/1 article 4

Response to Ben Watson: Dreaming phenomena and palaeoart
Before Farming 2007/4 article 1

JD Lewis-Williams
Rock Art Research Institute, University of the Witwatersrand
Johannesburg 2050, South Africa
david@rockart.wits.ac.za

ref: Before Farming 2008/1 article 5

Reply to JD Lewis-Williams

Ben Watson
Centre for Classics and Archaeology, University of Melbourne
Parkville, Victoria, 3010 Australia
b.watson@pgrad.unimelb.edu.au