Fig 1.
Map and chronology of coastal ESA localities and localization of sites considered in the paper.
For details see S1 Table. Reprinted from Natural Earth under a CC BY license, with permission from Natural Earth, original copyright 2022.
Fig 2.
Locality of the ESA surface sites and Dungo IV on the +100 m raised beaches between Benguela and Dombe Grande, based on Museu Nacional de Arqueologia de Benguela records, surveys and test-pits (157,158), and hydrographical settings of the areas.
The photo letters refer to the letters on the map and show Morro do Sombreiro Red Sand deposits on the +100 m raised beach (A), the cobble/pebble outcrops of the +100 m raised beaches at Mormolo (B), a quartz lithic workshop on a deflated surface within the base of the Red Sand deposit of the +100 m raised beach at Ponta das Vacas (C) and the End Rift Unconformity landscapes (D and E)–Hydrographical settings have been mapped by J. Matos and photos are from I. Mesfin. Reprinted from Nasa Open Portal under a CC BY license, with permission from Nasa Open Portal, original copyright 2022.
Fig 3.
A: Stratigraphy of Dungo IV from 2018–2022 fieldwork; B: overview of the geological features of the +100m raised beach at Dungo IV; C: a layer of quartz artifacts on the top of the layer « red gravel to microconglomerate » of the Red Sand unit, identified in 2022 within the profile of a test-pit from 1994.
Fig 4.
A: View of the +100 m terrace from the estuary of the Dungo river. B: Dungo IV’s sampling locations, stratigraphic log and modeled burial durations [modified from 149].
Table 1.
Artifact inventory per layer and per techno-typological category.
Table 2.
Metric data (minimal, mean, maximal for length, width and thickness in centimeters) for each techno-typological category, per layer.
Standard deviation is provided for all layers.
Table 3.
Details and bibliography used for the lithic collections from Middle Pleistocene transition Earlier Stone Age sites from the southern African coastal plain: Namib IV, Gemsbok, Elandsfontein, Cape Hangklip and Penhill Farm.
Table 4.
Raw material distribution per techno-typological category of Dungo IV.
Fig 5.
Lithic refit units R1, R3, R11 and R16 and planimetric mapping of the refittings of the sector M10 Layer 3 and Layer 4.
Fig 6.
Sketches of the four main flake production strategies at Dungo IV and the techno-morphological patterns of the resulting flakes.
Fig 7.
A, B, D, E, F are quartz while C is chert.
Fig 8.
Quartz flakes from Dungo IV and their association with specific core reduction strategies.
Table 5.
Distribution of retouch types (location, extent and orientation) at Dungo IV.
Fig 9.
Examples of flake tools from Dungo IV.
A: retouched flakes with lateral back interpreted as potentially prehensile part opposite to various retouched edges. B: plano-convex cortical flake blanks with abrupt retouch.
Fig 10.
Examples of pebble/cobble tools from Dungo IV.
A is a pick on a cobble presenting macro-wear patterns on the proximo-lateral cortical surface. B and C are micro-choppers whereas D is a micro-chopping-tool.
Fig 11.
Examples of shaped flakes from strategy number three (A) and a longitudinally split cobble from strategy number two (B).
The chronology of their production is explained under the photo, the colors of the box are related to the colors of the arrows or of the removals on the artifact.
Fig 12.
A: examples of polyhedra from Dungo IV showing the consistency between the production and techno-functional approaches. B and C are biplots of morphological length, width, thickness and elongation (Length/width) of the different tool techno-types.
Fig 13.
Examples of percussive macro-wear on quartz pebbles from Dungo IV.
Fig 14.
Comparative biplots of morphometric patterns for the shaped tools from Cape Hangklip, Elandsfontein, Gemsbok, Penhill Farm, Namib IV and Dungo IV.
Data are available in S3 Table.