The Middle Stone Age of Northern Zimbabwe in a Southern African Perspective

Abstract

Research into the Stone Age in present-day Zimbabwe was highly intensive in the 1960s and 1970s. The results of studies during this period, combined with a new contributions in the late 1990s, have once again highlighted the significant geographical position of Zimbabwe for the study of the Middle Stone Age and the transition to the Later Stone Age in Southern Africa. Two sites, Zombampata in the north and Ruchera in the north-east, both with intensive settlement remains from the Middle Stone Age, are presented, The article deals primarily with the transition from the Middle to the Later Stone Age, which appears to have followed varied courses in different parts of Southern Africa in general and Zimbabwe in particular as regards both the change in material culture and the time when this occurred.