Stone Age People Lived By The Waters In The Namib Desert

31 Jul 2024

Namibia holidaymakers count the Sossusvlei in the middle of the world's highest dunes among the highlights of their round trip. But they are unlikely to dream of living on the banks of the salt pan in the middle of the Namib in the future.

Yet this is exactly what some of our ancestors did tens of thousands of years ago. Around 100 kilometres further north. However, the pans were filled with water back then. There was even a river: the forerunner of today's Tsondab dry river.

This became clear in the lecture given by the US archaeologist Dr George Leader at the Namibia Scientific Society in Windhoek. Leader has been researching in the area of the former lower Tsondab River since 2022.

This year, he and a team of experts from several disciplines examined the pans near Narabeb in more detail. They are located south of the Gobabeb Desert Research Station, which lies on the Kuiseb dry river.

No finds from the early Stone Age

 

There are layers of sediments from a lake or a very slow-flowing river. One layer was formed around 220,000 years ago, another around 130,000 years ago. This roughly corresponds to phases of more humid climates known from research. According to the geologist in the team.

The archaeologist Leader realised that the stone tools found there fit very well into these periods. Based on the nature of these tools and their processing, they can be assigned to the Middle Stone Age (from around 280,000 years ago to around 25,000 years ago (see Wikipedia).

Ideally, such finds can be dated on the basis of the layer in which they were found. Unfortunately, this is not possible in the sand sea of the Namib Desert, one of the oldest deserts in the world at more than 50 million years old. Of course, our ancestors did not make and use their tools in the lake or river, but in suitable places near the banks.

Leader and his team dug six trenches to get an accurate picture of the sites near Narabeb. From site to site. The results of the hard labour were negligible.

What puzzled Leader was that he did not find any tools from the early Stone Age (from around 3.3 million years ago to around 250,000 years ago, see Wikipedia). Yet the Pre-Tsondab is considered to be much older. People should therefore have lived on its banks even earlier.

From Solitaire across the Namib Desert to the coast

Now the bigger picture was needed. Leader and his team of experts decided to hike along the former lower course of the Tsondab. From Solitaire to the former estuary south of Sandwich Harbour. Across the Namib sand sea.

Over millions of years, dunes had cut off the Pre-Tsondab's path to the sea. Just like the highest dunes in the world at Sossusvlei had done concerning the Tsauchab. This meant for Leader & Co: dune up, dune down. From valley to valley, from pan to pan. Once again it became clear that field research for the history of the earth and mankind is no walk in the park.

 

The researchers had deliberately timed their expedition for the Namibian winter. It took place in June this year - just a few weeks ago. It took the group 12 days to cover the 160 kilometre route.

The result: researchers now know a lot more about the area. Leader and his team recorded 55 archaeological sites and described 125 pans and other striking landscape formations.

The most exciting thing for Leader, however, was that he only found tools from the Middle Stone Age at all sites. According to him, finds from the Early Stone Age can only be found further north, at the Kuiseb dry river.

Is the Tsondab much younger than assumed?

This raises several questions for the researchers. Among them: Is the Tsondab perhaps much younger than previously assumed? And is there an older landscape formation that has so far escaped research?

Namibia holidaymakers who visit Sossusvlei and climb 'Big Mama' or even 'Big Daddy' are likely to be faced with a completely different question. Namely: How do you survive a 160 kilometre hike through the dunes?

 

Sven-Eric Stender