Archaeology, palaeoenvironment, and chronology of the Tsodilo Hills White Paintings Rock Shelter, northwest Kalahari Desert, Botswana

Excavations conducted at the White Paintings Rock Shelter (WPS) have uncovered 7 m of deposits ranging in age from the historic period to at least 100,000 years at the base. Eleven stratigraphic units are described in relation to palaeoenvironmental conditions inferred from sediments and other data. These units contain seven major divisions in the cultural sequence highlighted by a lengthy record of Later and Middle Stone Age deposits. A wide variety of mammals as well as other animals were found in the upper 3 m. Numerous fish bones, wetland mammals and barbed bone points make this site especially interesting because of its desert location. The highest frequencies of fish bones are found between c. 80/90-130 cm (Upper Fish deposits) and between 210-280 cm below the surface (Lower Fish deposits). Most of the barbed bone points were recovered in the Upper Fish deposits. The Lower Fish deposits contain extinct Equus capensis and a microlithic industry as well as some bone points. A large blade industry is found beneath the Lower Fish deposits. This blade industry shows continuity with the underlying Middle Stone Age. (C) 2000 Academic Press.