An archaeological investigation of the Koichab River region of the south-western Namib Desert centred on the activities of Holocene hunter-gatherers
The 1986-1988 archaeological investigations of the previously largely unresearched Koichab River region the south-western Namib Desert are described. The sites studied are those of Holocene hunter-gatherers. Included are the analyses of archaeological remains from two excavations and three surface collections. The investigations resulted in the recovery of the oldest dated archaeological material from the entire Namib coast, and the halving of the duration of the previously established Holocene hiatus for the southern Namib. It is suggested that the resources of the Koichab River reion were subjected to opportunistic utilization, a subsistence strategy which may have been more extensively resorted to in all of southern Africa than has so far suspected.
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