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The results of the first accelerator mass spectrometry radiocarbon dates obtained directly on domestic livestock bones from Toteng sites in northern Botswana shed light on the debate about when & where livestock first entered southern Africa. Documenting the spread of domesticated livestock is important because it played a major role in the socioeconomic & ecological adaptations of African peoples. The finding of similar ages of the oldest cow & sheep bones at Toteng suggests that cattle & sheep both arrived approximately 2,000 years ago. This is consistent with studies indicating northern Botswana was a gateway for the dissemination of domesticated livestock in southern Africa. The findings also indicate that the arrival of livestock predates that of iron technology; the herding of sheep spread through the area before cattle; & cattle appeared about 300 years later in South Africa than at Toteng. The spread of livestock between eastern & southern Africa was inhibited by fatal cattle diseases that were less likely to occur in sheep or goats. Tables, Figures, References. J. Lindroth

The Lothagam harpoon site in north-west Kenya's Lake Turkana Basin provides a stratified Holocene sequence capturing changes in African fisher-hunter-gatherer strategies through a series of subtle and dramatic climate shifts (Figure 1). The site rose to archaeological prominence following Robbins's 1965–1966 excavations, which yielded sizeable lithic and ceramic assemblages and one of the largest collections of Early Holocene human remains from Eastern Africa (Robbins 1974; Angel et al. 1980).

Robbins talks about the specularite mines and considers specularite mining during the 19th century in South Africa where travelers and missionaries provide specific comments and descriptions about the nature of mining, as well as how specularite was used and who was using it. He compares aspects of the Tsodilo mines to information drawn from the 19th-century historical sources.

This paper presents new information on the antiquity of the bow and arrow in the Kalahari. Excavations at White Paintings Shelter (WPS) uncovered bone point fragments that appear to have been parts of reversible arrowheads that could have been used with poison. We present a sequence of nine new, internally consistent OSL ages that date specific soil horizons at WPS. These dates/soil horizons are related to the bone point finds. The oldest bone points are estimated to date between 35–37 ka, while worked bone technology extends to at least 45 ka. Several engraved points are also discussed in relation to ethnographic evidence regarding decorated bone link-shafts collected in the 1970s. Additional information includes the first description of a reversible bone arrow point, made by a person who used such points with poison in his youth.

Robbins et al examine ancient specularite mining in the Tsodilo Hills of Botswana ca. A.D. 800-1000.

This paper presents the first combined use of OSL and AMS dating to address the problem of the advent of livestock in southern Africa. Excavations at Toteng, at the eastern end of the Lake Ngami basin, have revealed bones of wetland and domesticated animals dating to around 2 ka. There is also Bambata pottery and microliths. Between 2.1–1.5 ka the lake level increased to ca 934 m asl but declined rapidly to less than 930 m asl by 1.2 ka. People lived close to the shore of Lake Ngami but as the lake waters receded occupation was probably seasonal in the winter months; during the summer low-flow months they may have moved west to be near a smaller Lake Ngami or northeast to the Okavango Delta.

Dating the Middle Stone Age (MSA) is a key problem in southern African archaeology because this is the critical period in human evolution when fossil and genetic evidence suggests that the first anatomically modern humans appeared in Africa (McBrearty and Brooks 2000; Henshilwood and Marean 2003; Mellars 2006; Grine et al. 2007). Currently, MSA dates range from earlier than 200 ka to as recent as c. 20 ka. Within this considerable range, stratified cave deposits show that most of the MSA is earlier than the period dateable by radiocarbon (beyond 50 ka). For this reason, a variety of other methods, including Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL), Thermoluminescence (TL), Electron Spin Resonance (ESR), Uraniumseries (U-series), and Amino Acid Racemization (AAR), have been used to date this important period ofhumandevelopment.

The Lake Ngami Basin is important for understanding the LSA record during the Holocene in theKalahari. Weprovidean OSL and radiocarbon dated sequence that relates changing lake levels to the stratigraphy and archaeology of Mogapelwa 1 . At intervals during the last 16 ka the site offered easy access to the resources of a flowing Nchabe River and an expanded Lake Ngami. From 6.4-3.3 ka, except for a brief interval of lake levels at c. 4.3 ka, Lake Ngami was a permanent, extensive water body with an elevation near 936 m, at least seasonally. At Mogapelwa this was the time of the main LSA occupation during what was the longest period of high lake levels of the Holocene. This little-known period at Lake Ngami is of great interest because it pre-dates the arrival of Bambata pottery and livestock. Artefacts are highlighted by microhms such as segments, distally backed points, double backed drills and small scrapers Bone points similar to arrow points or link shafts used by Kalahari San were found as were ostrich eggshell beads including unique clusters of ochre-stained beads. A wild fauna is associated that indude sanimals found in the area at presentorhistor-ically. Fish remains include the first discovery ofotoliths ('earstones') of cichhds from the region where the adaptive radiation of cichlids is thought to have occurred. Mollusc species indicate the long-term presence hosts of bilharzia. The lake level dropped from 3.3-2.5 ka but rose to about 934 m in the period 2.5-1 ka. At c. 0.3-0.2 ka the lake level rose to historical levels of 930-929 m as observed by early Europeans who the region in the 1850s. Oral traditions reveal a recent history multi-ethnic use of the area by San, Bakgalagadi and other groups. The most recent archaeological deposits containing fishbones and rem-nants of a possible hut floor are discussed in relation to oral traditions and documentary evidence.