ABSTRACT
This chapter departs from traditional perspectives and approaches in examining Middle Stone Age (MSA) lithic technology from the organizational perspective using case studies from the sites of Gademotta, Kulkuletti, and the Omo Kibish formation in Ethiopia. It argues that MSA lithic assemblage characteristics stemmed from settlement systems based on the occupation of residential sites. The chapter intends to show the ways in which the early MSA was distinct from the Acheulean in terms of its patterns of technological organization. It makes the case that MSA hominins employed a residential foraging mobility strategy, making frequent residential moves and occupying residential sites for short periods of time relative to modern human foragers. The chapter proposes that these mobility and settlement patterns resulted from MSA hominins living in low population densities and focusing their subsistence strategies on highly ranked food resources. The chapter explores the implications of these patterns in terms of the significance of the transition from the Acheulean to the MSA.
