Mesfin I., Oslisly Richard, Forestier H. (2021). Technological analysis of the quartz industry of Maboue 5 - Layer 3 (Lope National Park, Gabon) : implications for the Late Stone Age emergence in western Central Africa. Journal of Archaeological Science : Reports, 39, p. 103130 [20 p.]. ISSN 2352-409X.
Titre du document
Technological analysis of the quartz industry of Maboue 5 - Layer 3 (Lope National Park, Gabon) : implications for the Late Stone Age emergence in western Central Africa
Journal of Archaeological Science : Reports, 2021,
39, p. 103130 [20 p.] ISSN 2352-409X
In Central Africa, Late Stone Age (LSA) seems to emerge before the Late Glacial Maximum (LGM) usually associated to a fluctuating savanna expansion and forest cover reduction. However, few sites with a reliable chrono-stratigraphic context allow us to deal with the emergence, the diffusion and the specificities of the regional lithic assemblages associated to the Late Stone Age. The site of Maboue 5, located in the Lope National Park in Gabon provided useful lithic corpus to consider these questions. This paper provides a detailed technological analysis of the Layer 3 dated between 44 600 and 14 770 cal. BP. We consider both the production patterns of the entire assemblage and the morpho-structural characteristics of the tools. Our results exhibit a lithic assemblage associating both Middle and Late Stone Age technological patterns and argue for regional technological variability among early LSA quartz assemblages. Finally, we highlight the specificities of quartz lithic industry of a site in the poorly documented region of western Central Africa and we question the validity of the regional nomenclature, namely the Tshitolian and Lupemban facies, to classify this final Late Pleistocene lithic assemblage.
Plan de classement
Etudes, transformation, conservation du milieu naturel [082]
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Sociétés, développement culturel [112]
