Stone tools and resources: A case study from Southern Africa

Abstract

Abstract Taking the Clanwilliam District in the south‐western Cape as a case study, this paper examines the implications of differences in the composition of contemporary tool assemblages from a restricted area. A breakdown of the assemblages from eleven sites is presented, with analyses of the occurrences of adzes, bored stones, scrapers, and backed pieces at each of them. In some situations, the patterning of tool type variability from site to site can clearly be shown to be associated with resource distributions in the region. Should these resources change, the authors argue, tool type patterns may change as well, serving as a useful stratigraphical index of major environmental shifts.