ABSTRACT
The material culture of Middle Stone Age (MSA) people is believed to represent a significant step towards the development of modern human behaviour. Among the most important sites, which contain human remains and archaeological records of the MSA in Tanzania, is Mumba rock-shelter. Mumba contains a more or less continuous archaeological record spanning from the MSA to historic period. Therefore, it offers unique opportunities to test hypotheses regarding the behavioural capabilities of MSA people as reflected by lithic artefact technologies and types between about 130 ka and 70 ka. In addition, three isolated molar teeth of modern humans were found in Bed VI-B of Mumba rock-shelter sequence dating to about 130 ka. This suggests that early African modern humans existed in this region during the Last Interglacial Maximum when most of tropical Africa experienced short episodes of intense rainy seasons and prolonged series of dry as well as arid environment. This suggestion of human survival in an unfriendly environment is believed to influence the developments of lithic technology, in particular, the invention of projectile technologies in Sub-Saharan Africa around 100 ka. This paper presents preliminary results on geochronology of Mumba rock-shelter and microscopic studies of Mumba MSA points. Microscopic results and TCSA (Tip Cross-Section Area) value show that MSA points were likely used as hunting devices, but sometimes they were curated, retooled and used to perform other activities. A Kolmogorov-Smirnov (KS) test indicated a gradual and trivial change over time of MSA points, but more multidimensional studies are encouraged before making a meaningful conclusion.
