NORTH AMERICAN AND SUB-SAHARAN PROJECTILES AND STONE POINTS
By: 
Yonatan Sahle
Date: 
Tue, 08/11/2022 - 18:30 to 19:30
Venue: 
SA Astronomical Observatory auditorium
Branch: 
Western Cape
Title: NORTH AMERICAN AND SUB-SAHARAN PROJECTILES AND STONE POINTS
By: Yonatan Sahle, Senior Lecturer in Archaeology at UCT
Date: Tuesday 8 November 2022 from 18:30 to 19:30 - please arrive from 18:00 onwards.

Abstract:

The tip cross-sectional data of North American ethnographic projectiles are widely used as references against which the relevant probable functions of archaeological stone points are assessed. The suitability of these standards to Afro-Eurasian assemblages has, however, been questioned.Using iron-tipped ethno-historical javelins, Lombard (2021, 2022; also Lombard et al. 2022) has recently suggested recalibrated ranges for the tip cross-sectional area (TCSA) of sub-Saharan weapon tips. I expand on these efforts by incorporating data on directly observed javelin use among the last indigenous hunters in SW Ethiopia. Results show that both overall javelin size and tip cross-sectional geometry are governed by more factors than simply optimizing penetrative qualities. I argue that such dynamics may explain the great variation in sub-Saharan archaeological stone point assemblages.


Bio:
Yonatan Sahle is a Senior Lecturer of archaeology at the University of Cape Town. He received a PhD in archaeology from the same institution in 2013 and was a postdoctoral fellow at The University of California, Berkeley. He then worked as a research-group leader at the University of Tübingen (Germany) before taking up his current UCT position in 2020.
 
Yonatan’s research interests span the analysis of stone tools, hominin carnivory, Stone Age weaponry, and ethnoarchaeology. His current research primarily seeks to understand the patterns and contexts of hominin behavioural change across the Middle Pleistocene, a period that saw the emergence of our species, Homo sapiens.
 
Dr. Sahle has extensive field research experience, including in Ethiopia, Kenya, South Africa, Greece, and Germany. He is currently conducting exploratory survey in the Western Cape to launch a long-term field research programme where students can be trained on archaeological field methods and the community can be involved in the study as well as conservation of our shared human heritage.