PIPUMPE – Pigment Procurement, Use and Meaning in Prehistoric Eswatini

• Applicant: Dr. Gregor Bader
• Subject Area: Prehistory and World Archaeology
• Term: since 2019
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 426307612

In the current project, we aim to build upon and extend the results of the previous project dealing with the investigation of Lion Cavern and provenance analysis of prehistoric ochre artifacts in Eswatini. The results of this project are outstanding. We were able to identify two chambers with intact archaeological deposits at the edge of Lion cavern, which we call Lion Cavern II and III (LCII and III). LCII bears a 4 m thick stratigraphic sequence while LCIII is slightly smaller with a 1.5 m thick sequence. We took six OSL samples, documenting a continuous stratigraphy dating between 3.000 and ~46.000 BP. Additionally, we found typical MSA stone tools in the sediments of LCII. However, the unanticipated massive sediment deposits and their difficult accessibility prevented new excavations in the frame of the project. Hence, our first goal of the current project is a test the archaeological deposits of LCII and III using geoarchaeological methods in order to gain an understanding of the stratigraphy, site formation processes as well as the expected type and amount of different archaeological materials in order to better plan future excavations. In addition, we will analyze a relevant sample of Beaumonts, yet unpublished assemblage from Lion Cavern I (LCI) in order to contextualize upcoming results from new excavations at LCII and III. The provenance tracing of ochre was also successful. We were able to generate distinctive geochemical fingerprints of several ochre sources in Eswatini and reveal that the ochre from the MSA/LSA site Sibebe was brought to the site almost exclusively from Lion Cavern, respectively Ngwenya located 30 km away. At the LSA site Siphiso, about 100 km east of Lion Cavern, people used at least three different sources, likely local to the area. Furthermore, a small proportion of the assemblage indicates long distance transport of ochre from Ngwenya to Siphiso.Thus, our third goal is to extend the provenance tracing of ochre to mineral pigments in general, including sources of black (manganese oxide) and white (kaolinite, barium sulfates) pigments used for producing polychrome rock paintings. We will include more comparative MSA and LSA sites from the archaeological collections of Eswatini and intensify geological surveys. In our fourth goal, we will include pigments from rock paintings in Eswatini. Using exclusively non-invasive methods (p-XRF, pRaman), we plan to sample motifs at twenty rock art sites and test if there are overlaps between paint mixtures and specific rock art styles. In the course of this project we will gain a deeper understanding of the provenance, use, distribution and finally the meaning of mineral pigments during the MSA and LSA in southern Africa.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• International Connection: Norway, USA
• Co-Investigator: Privatdozent Dr. Jörg Linstädter
• Cooperation Partners: Dr. Brandi Lee MacDonald; Dr. Elizabeth Velliky