Periodic Reporting for period 1 - TANKwA (Technological Adaptations of Nubian cores in the Karoo: neW geometric morphometric Approaches)
Reporting period: 2020-06-01 to 2022-05-31
The project ‘TANKwA’ uses innovative digital tools to investigate past human technological adaptations to arid regions during the Middle Stone Age, a critical period of human anatomical and behavioural development. Specifically, this focuses on a new variant of stone tool technology found in the Tankwa Karoo region of South Africa which uses a distinctive method of point production more commonly seen in Northeast Africa, the Levant and Arabia, known as Nubian technology. Nubian technology describes a specific Levallois reduction strategy whereby the surfaces and angles of a core are prepared in a way that leads to an end-product of a predetermined shape. Nubian reduction is currently at the centre of debates surrounding human dispersals out of Africa, with this research contributing a new perspective from the southern tip of the continent where the technology was invented independently. Using 3D scanning and cutting-edge digital Geometric Morphometric techniques, this project establishes a new method for studying Nubian technology and lithic points, asking whether it posed any adaptive advantage to hunter gatherers in a desert environment. The open-air site of Tweefontein offers the ideal case study, complemented by museum study of comparative sites. The TANKwA project generates replicable quantitative data that contextualises Nubian technology both in southern Africa and globally, establishing the first inter-regional comparison between Nubian technology in South Africa, Northeast Africa and Israel.
The project’s specific objectives involved:
(1) Asking whether Nubian technology was a technological adaptation of hunter-gatherers living in arid environments.
(2) Establishing a new methodological protocol for using 3D artefact data to answer archaeological questions about Nubian core and point technology.
(3) Understanding the lithic assemblage from the site of Tweefontein within the context of the southern African MSA.
(4) Understanding Nubian technology as we observe it in South Africa in the context of its wider occurrence in Africa and beyond.
The project’s specific objectives involved:
(1) Asking whether Nubian technology was a technological adaptation of hunter-gatherers living in arid environments.
(2) Establishing a new methodological protocol for using 3D artefact data to answer archaeological questions about Nubian core and point technology.
(3) Understanding the lithic assemblage from the site of Tweefontein within the context of the southern African MSA.
(4) Understanding Nubian technology as we observe it in South Africa in the context of its wider occurrence in Africa and beyond.
The project was structured by three types of task: (1) data collection, (2) training in computational methods, and (3) sharing the research with the scientific and wider community.
(1) Data collection involved 3D scanning lithic artefacts with a structured light scanner to create digital models from which archaeological data could be extracted. The main focus of this was the assemblage from the open-air site Tweefontein in South Africa, with new fieldwork carried out to scan and record artefacts that were subsequently left in situ. Technologically similar artefacts from another site in South Africa’s arid Karoo region, Orangia 1, were also studied for comparison.
It was important to understand the South African Nubian characteristics in relation to other regions where Nubian technology occurs. The Nubian Levallois technique and the notion of a Nubian Techno-complex were first defined based on artefacts from Northeast Africa, therefore key museum assemblages to study were Wadi Halfa in Sudan and Nazlet Khater in Egypt. Another significant region in debates surrounding modern human dispersals out of Africa is the Levant, with assemblages from the Negev Desert providing further comparative data. These samples not only represent the first inter-regional study of Nubian Levallois technology, but also form a robust basis for testing the hotly debated scenarios of its origins and spread, through population dispersal, cultural diffusion or – in the case of South Africa – technological convergence.
(2) The project developed a new approach to studying Nubian technology which involved training in the use of various digital tools to capture and analyse 3D artefact data, specifically Geometric Morphometrics (GM). GM provides a statistical framework for analysing shape, independent of size, offering an ideal method for assessing variability in artefact form and how this relates to technology. While GM methods are used in lithics research, they have not previously been applied to Levallois point cores or products, and further, not to Nubian Levallois technology. The methods developed during the project focused on using 3D data to quantify the attributes widely accepted to define Nubian technology and distinguish it from other Levallois methods: preparation from the core distal and/or laterals, a steep median ridge at the distal end of the core, and a pointed core and preferential end-product morphology. These attributes are traditionally captured with manual measurements or qualitative descriptors, but my new methodological protocol provides a robust framework for producing quantifiable and reproducible results. Beyond the application of these tools to the project’s own research questions, this method contributes more widely to advancing inter-regional comparability between assemblages – currently a central concern to lithic analysts.
(3) The results of the project have been disseminated to the scientific community through peer-reviewed publications, with three manuscripts completed and at least two more in preparation. Additionally, a workshop for 22 international participants who specialise in Nubian technology was held as part of the project, providing a platform for presentations, discussions and building collaborations to advance research in this important field.
Engagement with the non-scientific community has also been a priority throughout the project, with a number of different measures taken to reach the wider public. The project website, Facebook page and Instagram account reaches a global audience, presenting key stages such as fieldwork and museum study visits. Participation in a Portuguese science festival and a UK-based podcast interview provided public engagement opportunities in Europe. A central output of the project has been using 3D printed artefacts in public outreach, as well as academic teaching and communication. In conjunction with the South Africa-based not-for-profit organisation, ‘Children’s Book Network’, the project has been developing a ‘Tankwa Toolbox’, aimed at communicating the research and wider themes in archaeology to South African children. Specifically, this focuses on the remote local communities of the Tankwa Karoo where the project’s fieldwork takes place. The toolbox is an innovative educational outreach package that contains 3D printed artefacts with specially written and illustrated children’s stories that narrate two parallel stories about these artefacts, one set in the past, and one about the work of archaeologists in the present.
(1) Data collection involved 3D scanning lithic artefacts with a structured light scanner to create digital models from which archaeological data could be extracted. The main focus of this was the assemblage from the open-air site Tweefontein in South Africa, with new fieldwork carried out to scan and record artefacts that were subsequently left in situ. Technologically similar artefacts from another site in South Africa’s arid Karoo region, Orangia 1, were also studied for comparison.
It was important to understand the South African Nubian characteristics in relation to other regions where Nubian technology occurs. The Nubian Levallois technique and the notion of a Nubian Techno-complex were first defined based on artefacts from Northeast Africa, therefore key museum assemblages to study were Wadi Halfa in Sudan and Nazlet Khater in Egypt. Another significant region in debates surrounding modern human dispersals out of Africa is the Levant, with assemblages from the Negev Desert providing further comparative data. These samples not only represent the first inter-regional study of Nubian Levallois technology, but also form a robust basis for testing the hotly debated scenarios of its origins and spread, through population dispersal, cultural diffusion or – in the case of South Africa – technological convergence.
(2) The project developed a new approach to studying Nubian technology which involved training in the use of various digital tools to capture and analyse 3D artefact data, specifically Geometric Morphometrics (GM). GM provides a statistical framework for analysing shape, independent of size, offering an ideal method for assessing variability in artefact form and how this relates to technology. While GM methods are used in lithics research, they have not previously been applied to Levallois point cores or products, and further, not to Nubian Levallois technology. The methods developed during the project focused on using 3D data to quantify the attributes widely accepted to define Nubian technology and distinguish it from other Levallois methods: preparation from the core distal and/or laterals, a steep median ridge at the distal end of the core, and a pointed core and preferential end-product morphology. These attributes are traditionally captured with manual measurements or qualitative descriptors, but my new methodological protocol provides a robust framework for producing quantifiable and reproducible results. Beyond the application of these tools to the project’s own research questions, this method contributes more widely to advancing inter-regional comparability between assemblages – currently a central concern to lithic analysts.
(3) The results of the project have been disseminated to the scientific community through peer-reviewed publications, with three manuscripts completed and at least two more in preparation. Additionally, a workshop for 22 international participants who specialise in Nubian technology was held as part of the project, providing a platform for presentations, discussions and building collaborations to advance research in this important field.
Engagement with the non-scientific community has also been a priority throughout the project, with a number of different measures taken to reach the wider public. The project website, Facebook page and Instagram account reaches a global audience, presenting key stages such as fieldwork and museum study visits. Participation in a Portuguese science festival and a UK-based podcast interview provided public engagement opportunities in Europe. A central output of the project has been using 3D printed artefacts in public outreach, as well as academic teaching and communication. In conjunction with the South Africa-based not-for-profit organisation, ‘Children’s Book Network’, the project has been developing a ‘Tankwa Toolbox’, aimed at communicating the research and wider themes in archaeology to South African children. Specifically, this focuses on the remote local communities of the Tankwa Karoo where the project’s fieldwork takes place. The toolbox is an innovative educational outreach package that contains 3D printed artefacts with specially written and illustrated children’s stories that narrate two parallel stories about these artefacts, one set in the past, and one about the work of archaeologists in the present.
The project has not only fulfilled its research objectives, but also has formed the foundation for a new project ‘NuBIAN: Nubian technology, Behavioural Innovation and Adaptation. New perspectives on Middle Stone Age technological variability and population dynamics’ which elevates the research from South Africa to a global scale.
The project has invested in public engagement with the creation of the ‘Tankwa Toolboxes’ which will have impact reaching audiences both in South Africa and Europe. An important contribution to the scientific community is storing the project's 3D artefact data in an open-access repository, making over 1500 artefacts from 11 archaeological sites in North Africa, South Africa and Israel available for future study, teaching and outreach.
The project has invested in public engagement with the creation of the ‘Tankwa Toolboxes’ which will have impact reaching audiences both in South Africa and Europe. An important contribution to the scientific community is storing the project's 3D artefact data in an open-access repository, making over 1500 artefacts from 11 archaeological sites in North Africa, South Africa and Israel available for future study, teaching and outreach.