Middle Stone Age Tools

The Middle Stone Age (MSA) in Namibia is characterised by a diverse range of stone tools, dating from approximately 300,000 to 30,000 years ago. These artefacts mark significant advances in human technology, cognition and hunting strategies, bridging the period between the Early Stone Age handaxe tradition and the Later Stone Age microlithic cultures.

MSA tools are found across Namibia, particularly in areas where ancient river systems, rock shelters, and open-air occupation sites once existed. Notable concentrations include:

• Ameib and the Erongo Mountains
• Brandberg and Messum Crater region
• Ugab and Huab river terraces
• ǁAi-ǀAis Richtersveld region
• Elevated plateaus and ridges overlooking water sources

These tools are often found both on open surfaces and within rock shelters, sometimes associated with preserved hearths, ochre fragments and faunal remains.

The MSA is defined by prepared-core technology, including Levallois and discoidal methods that allowed toolmakers to strike predictable blade and point shapes. Common tool types in Namibia include:

• Triangular and leaf-shaped points, often hafted onto wooden shafts
• Scrapers for hide-working and woodworking
• Blades and bladelets
• Backed pieces and notched tools
• Heavily retouched points showing signs of resharpening during long-term use

Unlike the heavy quartzite handaxes of the Early Stone Age, MSA tools were made from fine-grained materials such as quartz, chert, chalcedony and hornfels, indicating a shift toward precision and specialised toolkits.

MSA technology in Namibia is associated with early Homo sapiens, reflecting major advances such as:

• Long-distance hunting with hafted spear points
• Use of pigments (especially ochre) for symbolic or functional purposes
• More intensive food processing
• Small, mobile toolkits suitable for varied environments

Some Namibian MSA sites show evidence of early heat treatment of rock to improve knapping quality — one of the earliest known pyrotechnological innovations in southern Africa.

Tools from this period have been recorded at:

• Rock shelters in the Erongo and Brandberg
• Open-air sites along the Ugab River
• Caves and ridge-top shelters overlooking paleo-watercourses
• Excavated layers at Apollo 11 and other southern Namib shelters

These finds show that Middle Stone Age hunter-gatherers were highly adaptable, occupying desert margins, mountain ranges and river corridors across Namibia.

Most MSA tool localities are not formal tourist sites, and many lie on private or protected land. Visitors may see isolated tools in erosion areas, but removal of artefacts is illegal under heritage law.

Researchers and guided heritage tours occasionally visit known MSA sites, particularly in the Erongo and Brandberg regions.