For several millennia, coastal and near-coastal immediate-return foragers were the only humans in southern Africa. The evidence left behind is extensive, yet biased. Our challenge is to constructively merge information from modern population genetics, palaeo-linguistics, field archaeology and the study of human remains into a story that is both accurate and complete.

High levels of genetic similarity among LSA foragers make some archaeological hypotheses difficult to test. The idea that certain coastal spots functioned as cemeteries will be explored as an example. The present informs the past with regard to KhoeSan origins and population structure. Is the archaeological record sufficiently rich that the past can inform the present?

 
Susan Pfeiffer working in the laboratory at the Albany Museum.