Abstract:
Since its inception in academia in 1929 by John Goodwin and Clarence
van Riet Lowe, the Later Stone Age (LSA) in southern Africa has seen
considerable growth and heated academic debate. Recently, some
academics have lamented that LSA research has stagnated, and even
reached the brink of marginalisation. According to Mitchell (2005),
one reason for reviving LSA research is the field’s global importance
and potential to empower and represent previously disenfranchised
communities. The aim of this paper is to examine how San communities and southern African hunter-gatherers have been historically
perceived by reviewing LSA research approaches. Several key
themes of LSA research are presented which capture major shifts in
methodological and theoretical frameworks and research interests
within the field. These examples signal fundamental shifts in research
discourse, archaeologists’ perspectives, and the dominant views of
‘Bushman’. Although providing an historical summary of LSA
research, the paper also considers decolonisation within the field,
aligning with the current socio-political milieu in southern Africa. It
is suggested that while using ethnography and indigenous knowledge
systems is helping us decolonise our approach to the archaeological
record, this is not without its problems.
