Survey and Explorations of the Prehistoric Sites at the Highlands of Southwest Angola

Abstract

The area of the escarpment of Angola between Namib and Huíla Province, about 150 km from the Atlantic coast, yields abundant evidence for human activity throughout the Stone Age. There is a high concentration of open-air sites with stone tools classified as Early (ESA) and Middle Stone Age (MSA) by past explorers. At the top of the plateau, the Chela group rocks and particularly the Leba dolomites yield a series of caves and fissures infilled with deposits ranging from the Early Pleistocene to recent times. Considering, the background information, a new project was developed to establish new proxies, we set out to revise this cultural landscape and set the stage for archaeological testing of Stone Age sites. In 2018–2019, our survey documented 45 sites including caves, rock shelters, and open-air locations with evidence of fossil and cultural deposits, including Middle and Later Stone Age (LSA) stone artifacts, faunal remains, pottery, and human burials. A complete map of distribution of caves and their underground topography is presented. Active and fossil speleothems, important for paleoclimatic reconstructions and absolute dating, were found at the caves of Malola and Tchivinguiro. Fossil occurrences were relocated at Tchíua and Cangalongue. Our study shows there is intense recent activity, historical remains, and the use of at least of three caves as burial sites of past herding populations living at the Humpata plateau. Our field assessment shows there is potential to pursue several lines of evidence to reconstruct past human lifeways and environments in this region.