Item

Abstract

Varsche Rivier 003 (VR003) is located in the Knersvlakte region of southern Namaqualand, South Africa, an arid region characterized by low, undulating hills coated with quartz gravels and distinctive dwarf succulents. VR003 preserves an extended sequence of Middle Stone Age materials, which provides a view of early human adaptations to marginal environments in a previously undocumented region and allows us to reconstruct how ancient environments may have changed through time and differed from today. The sequence includes lithics primarily from the pre-Still Bay/early MSA and Howiesons Poort, but also occurrences of Still Bay and post-Howiesons Poort/late MSA (capped by late-Holocene LSA). These assemblages are found in association with pigments and faunal remains, including vertebrates, ostrich eggshells (OES), land snails, and occasional marine shells. Our results allow us to examine human behavioral and ecological variation (especially by environment) within well-reconstructed phenomena such as the Howiesons Poort. VR003 potentially also allows unique examinations of innovations, such as OES flasks and heat treatment of silcrete within the less well-resolved early MSA. © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023.