The dating and interpretation of a Mode 1 site in the Luangwa Valley, Zambia

Barham, Larry and Phillips, William and Maher, Barbara and Karloukovski, Vassil and Duller, Geoff and Jain, Mayank and Wintle, Ann (2011) The dating and interpretation of a Mode 1 site in the Luangwa Valley, Zambia. Journal of Human Evolution, 60 (5). pp. 549-570. ISSN 1095-8606

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Abstract

Flake based assemblages (Mode 1) comprise the earliest stone technologies known, with well-dated Oldowan sites occurring in eastern Africa between w 2.6-1.7 Ma, and in less securely dated contexts in central, southern and northern Africa. Our understanding of the spread and local development of this technology outside East Africa remains hampered by the lack of reliable numerical dating techniques applicable to non-volcanic deposits. This study applied the still relatively new technique of cosmogenic nuclide burial dating (10Be/26Al) to calculate burial ages for fluvial gravels containing Mode 1 artefacts in the Luangwa Valley, Zambia. The Manzi River, a tributary of the Luangwa River, has exposed a 4.7 m deep section of fluvial sands with discontinuous but stratified gravel layers bearing Mode 1, possibly Oldowan, artefacts in the basal layers. An unconformity divides the Manzi section, separating Mode 1 deposits from overlying gravels containing Mode 3 (Middle Stone Age) artefacts. No diagnostic Mode 2 (Acheulean) artefacts were found. Cosmogenic nuclide burial dating was attempted for the basal gravels as well as exposure ages for the upper Mode 3 gravels, but was unsuccessful. The complex depositional history of the site prevented the calculation of reliable age models. A relative chronology for the full Manzi sequence was constructed, however, from the magnetostratigraphy of the deposit (N>R>N sequence). Isothermal thermoluminescence (ITL) dating of the upper Mode 3 layers also provided consistent results (w78 ka). A coarse but chronologically coherent sequence now exists for the Manzi section with the unconformity separating probable mid- or early Pleistocene deposits below from late Pleistocene deposits above. The results suggest Mode 1 technology in the Luangwa Valley may post-date the Oldowan in eastern and southern Africa. The dating programme has contributed to a clearer understanding of thegeomorphological processes that have shaped the valley and structured its archaeological record.

Item Type:
Journal Article
Journal or Publication Title:
Journal of Human Evolution
Uncontrolled Keywords:
/dk/atira/pure/core/keywords/environmentalscience
Subjects:
?? south-central africacosmogenic nuclide dating palaeomagnetism isothermal thermoluminescenceenvironmental scienceecology, evolution, behavior and systematicsge environmental sciences ??
ID Code:
53639
Deposited By:
Deposited On:
23 Apr 2012 08:21
Refereed?:
Yes
Published?:
Published
Last Modified:
17 Sep 2024 08:20