Re-examining the South African Middle-to-Later Stone Age transition: Multivariate analysis of the Umhlatuzana and Rose Cottage Cave stone tool assemblages

This paper explores the nature and timing of the Middle Stone Age/Later Stone Age transition in South Africa and considers some of the potential causes of this technological reorganisation. It uses multivariate statistical methods to re-examine two important case studies: Umhlatuzana in KwaZulu-Natal, described by Kaplan (1989), and Rose Cottage Cave in the Free State, described by Clark (1997). Consistent with these previous analyses, it concludes that the Middle Stone Age/Later Stone Age transition at the sites occurred around 28 kya, involved a pre-Robberg transitional early Later Stone Age (ELSA) industry lasting until around 20 kya, and is defined by a series of secular changes demonstrating broad continuity over time. The paper also seeks to articulate these case studies with other explanations of the MSA/LSA transition, from the perspective of technological organisation and models of forager behaviourial ecology