Middle Stone Age occurrences in southwestern Tanzania: An assessment of technology and adaptation in the Songwe River region

This thesis presents a typological and technological assessment of stone age lithic assemblages collected from six open air localities surveyed in the Lake Rukwa region of southwestern Tanzania. In all, 2616 artifacts are analyzed and these are classified as Middle Stone Age (MSA) in character on the basis of a lithic typology devised by Michael Mehlman (1989). Further study of artifact attributes helped to identify patterns of flake production and raw material use. In addition, an analysis of Toth flake types (Toth, 1982) helped to identify possible stages of on-site core reduction. A greater than expected frequency of late stage core reduction flakes (those with little to no cortical material) suggests that cores were initially flaked off-site, with flakes brought on-site, perhaps as blanks or preforms. As well, data indicate that reduction methods varied in direct response to raw material type and form, perhaps as a means to maximize the use-life of specific raw materials, and these observations are presented within a core reduction model.;The interpretations presented here are tentative pending the location and analysis of stratified MSA sites, and the development of a Sonwe River culture-history. It is hoped that these data will be of use as an initial base for future study of MSA lithic technology for this region of Tanzania.