Fig 1.
Map showing the study area and details of Ga-Mohana Hill North Rockshelter.
A—The location of GHN relative to the boundaries of the Kalahari Desert and Basin. B–Map of GHN rockshelter with excavated areas. Red line marks profile shown in C. C -Schematic of stratigraphic boundaries, stratigraphic aggregate assignments, and optically stimulated luminescence sample locations and results. Grey-shaded areas are rock.
Table 1.
Colouring of OES beads, preforms and fragments from the MIS 2 level at GHN.
Colour was assessed following protocol outlined by Collins and Steele [50]. Counts and percentages are recorded.
Fig 2.
OES beads and preforms from Layer DBGS at Ga-Mohana Hill North Rockshelter.
Find 4082 was potentially manufactured following Pathway 2. Scale divisions are 5mm.
Table 2.
Technological features for the OES beads and preforms from the MIS 2 deposit at Ga-Mohana Hill North Rockshelter.
Complete beads are those identified as stage VI and VII following Orton [54]. Standard deviations are included in brackets where applicable.
Fig 3.
Relative risk surface for OES artefacts (fragments and beads) compared to all other plotted artefacts in DBGS layer at GHN.
Non-OES artefacts are shown as black circles while OES artefacts are shown as white squares. The darker orange indicates areas where OES artefacts and other artefacts have a higher probability of co-occurring, while lighter areas are indicative of areas where OES artefacts and other artefacts are not likely to co-occur. A- lateral view of DBGS layer looking west. B- Aerial view of DBGS layer. C- lateral view of DBGS looking north.
Table 3.
MIS 2 dated sites in southern Africa with OES assemblages.
Modern ostrich prevalence has been calculated from SABAP 2 [60].Ostrich sighting data was interpolated across southern Africa and the values included here are the mean of a 5km radius around each site location. More detailed information on the sites and OES assemblages are available in S1 Table.
Fig 4.
Map of southern Africa showing archaeological sites dated to MIS 2 that have OES bead assemblages.
Pie charts show the proportion of preforms to finished beads at each site, overlaid on a map of modern ostrich prevalence based on South African Bird Atlas Project 2 data [60]. SPZ–Spitzkloof A, BP–Boomplaas, BK–Buffelskloof, NBC–Nelson Bay Cave, MHB–Melkhoutboon, GRS—Grassridge Rockshelter, NT–Ntloana Tsoana, RCC–Rose Cottage Cave, SHH–Sehonghong, HM–Ha Makotoko, UMH–Umhlatuzana, BRS–Bushmans Rockshelter, HNK—Heuningneskrans, TXI—Txina Txina, GHN–Ga-Mohana Hill North, DB—Dikbosch, DC—Drotsky’s Cave (Gcwihaba Cave).
Fig 5.
Map of southern Africa showing archaeological sites dated to MIS 2 that have OES bead assemblages.
Pie charts show the proportion of finished beads to preforms and OES fragments at each site, overlaid on a map of modern ostrich prevalence based on South African Bird Atlas Project 2 data [60]. BK–Buffelskloof, BP–Boomplaas, NBC–Nelson Bay Cave, MHB- Melkhoutboom, GRS—Grassridge Rockshelter, NT–Ntloana Tsoana, RCC–Rose Cottage Cave, HM—Ha Makotoko, SHH–Sehonghong, UMH–Umhlatuzana, BRS–Bushmans Rockshelter, HNK—Heuningneskrans, TXI—Txina Txina, GHN–Ga-Mohana Hill North, DB—Dikbosch, DC—Drotsky’s Cave (Gcwihaba Cave), APL—Apollo 11, SPZ—Spitzkloof.
Fig 6.
Map of southern Africa showing archaeological sites dated to MIS 2 that have OES bead assemblages.
OES bead counts for sites, overlaid on a map of modern ostrich prevalence based on South African Bird Atlas Project 2 data [60]. BK–Buffelskloof, BP–Boomplaas, NBC–Nelson Bay Cave, MHB- Melkhoutboom, GRS—Grassridge Rockshelter, NT–Ntloana Tsoana, RCC–Rose Cottage Cave, HM—Ha Makotoko, SHH–Sehonghong, UMH–Umhlatuzana, BRS–Bushmans Rockshelter, HNK—Heuningneskrans, TXI—Txina Txina, GHN–Ga-Mohana Hill North, DB—Dikbosch, DC—Drotsky’s Cave (Gcwihaba Cave), APL—Apollo 11, SPZ—Spitzkloof.
Fig 7.
Map of southern Africa showing archaeological sites dated to MIS 2 that have OES bead assemblages.
OES fragment counts for sites, overlaid on a map of modern ostrich prevalence based on South African Bird Atlas Project 2 data [60]. BK–Buffelskloof, BP–Boomplaas, NBC–Nelson Bay Cave, MHB- Melkhoutboom, GRS—Grassridge Rockshelter, NT–Ntloana Tsoana, RCC–Rose Cottage Cave, HM—Ha Makotoko, SHH–Sehonghong, UMH–Umhlatuzana, BRS–Bushmans Rockshelter, HNK—Heuningneskrans, TXI—Txina Txina, GHN–Ga-Mohana Hill North, DB—Dikbosch, DC—Drotsky’s Cave (Gcwihaba Cave), APL—Apollo 11, SPZ—Spitzkloof.
Fig 8.
Map of southern Africa showing archaeological sites dated to MIS 2 that have OES bead assemblages.
Mean OES bead diameters for sites, overlaid on a map of modern ostrich prevalence based on South African Bird Atlas Project 2 data [60]. BK–Buffelskloof, GHN–Ga-Mohana Hill North, DB—Dikbosch, GRS—Grassridge Rockshelter, HM-Ha Makotoko, BRS–Bushmans Rockshelter.