A review of hunter-gatherers in Later Stone Age research in southern Africa

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.