The Swabian Jura (Baden-WР“Сrttemberg, Germany) and particularly the Ach and Lone Valleys, contains cave sites with a rich archaeological record referred to Middle and Upper Palaeolithic. It aims to contribute to a better understanding and definition of the changes within the lithic technological systems of post-Howiesons Poort MSA and MSA/LSA transition and the underlying cultural mechanisms of these changes. My thesis will use a detailed lithic analysis approach of microliths from MSA and LSA layers of Umbeli Belli and Sibudu. With the rich sequences of Umbeli Belli Rockshelter and Sibudu Cave (both KwaZulu-Natal), where the former comprises layers from both the LSA and MSA and the latter forming one of the most detailed stratigraphy for the MSA after the Howiesons Poort, my projects focuses on microlithic artefacts from both sites, in order to answer the question whether or not microlithic technology in the MSA and LSA of eastern South Africa is a convergent phenomenon. In the case of South Africa this is a highly problematic conclusion, because especially the later MSA and the MSA/LSA transition are not very well defined in terms of lithic technology and typology РІР‚вЂњ even more so when it comes to the microlithic components within the technological systems. Based on the literature the (re-)appearances of microlithic technologies at different times seem to be a phenomenon of convergent evolution. One of these regions is South Africa where we can find microlithic technology during the Howiesons Poort (or even earlier), but evidence for microliths in later MSA seems to be scarce before they reappear in the Later Stone Age Robberg complex. Sometimes there appear to be two or even more techno-complexes that carry microliths in the same area, but at different times.

Over the past three decades it became obvious that microlithic technologies have been developed in various areas all over the world. Research on microliths was for a long time mainly associated with the Late Palaeolithic and Mesolithic of Europe and the Near East.

Resume on ecm tools