Happinos Marufu

This study investigates human behavior during the Late Stone Age (LSA) in northeastern Zimbabwe as indicated by organisation of lithic technology, settlement/ land-use patterns, and subsistence strategies. In an attempt to assess behavioral traits and adaptive strategies, it compares three zones with different ecological properties from the northeastern Zimbabwe, particularly the Murewa-Mutoko landscape. Similarities of behavioral traits in these three ecological zones would be evidence of similarities in adaptive strategies, while their differences would mean different strategies employed by LSA people. The study also establishes the cultural sequence of LSA by noting some variations exisistent in what has been thought to be single cultural entity. The project responds to limited research in the country, and LSA archaeology’s regional bias towards southwestern Zimbabwe.

It has been established that behavioural elements of the Late Stone Age (LSA) hunter-gatherers and their adaptive strategies on the Murewa-Mutoko landscape was influenced by the geo-ecological settings of the areas they inhabited and other socio-cultural considerations (Marufu, 2012). However, one of the geo-ecological zones studied yielded little amount of archaeological evidence which cannot be used for meaningful comparisons of foraging behaviour. Thus, the proposed study seeks to increase the study sample by excavating two Stone Age sites from the Murewa geo-ecological zone and analysing the recovered archaeological evidence. The study is expected to answer questions on the organisation of lithic technology, use of space, subsistence strategies and the transition from Middle Stone Age (MSA) to LSA in north-eastern Zimbabwe. These were the research gaps left by the previous study, which the current one seeks to address as the applicant develops his manuscript for publication.