The project was structured by three types of task: (1) data collection, (2) training in computational methods, and (3) sharing the research with the scientific and wider community.
(1) Data collection involved 3D scanning lithic artefacts with a structured light scanner to create digital models from which archaeological data could be extracted. The main focus of this was the assemblage from the open-air site Tweefontein in South Africa, with new fieldwork carried out to scan and record artefacts that were subsequently left in situ. Technologically similar artefacts from another site in South Africa’s arid Karoo region, Orangia 1, were also studied for comparison.
It was important to understand the South African Nubian characteristics in relation to other regions where Nubian technology occurs. The Nubian Levallois technique and the notion of a Nubian Techno-complex were first defined based on artefacts from Northeast Africa, therefore key museum assemblages to study were Wadi Halfa in Sudan and Nazlet Khater in Egypt. Another significant region in debates surrounding modern human dispersals out of Africa is the Levant, with assemblages from the Negev Desert providing further comparative data. These samples not only represent the first inter-regional study of Nubian Levallois technology, but also form a robust basis for testing the hotly debated scenarios of its origins and spread, through population dispersal, cultural diffusion or – in the case of South Africa – technological convergence.
(2) The project developed a new approach to studying Nubian technology which involved training in the use of various digital tools to capture and analyse 3D artefact data, specifically Geometric Morphometrics (GM). GM provides a statistical framework for analysing shape, independent of size, offering an ideal method for assessing variability in artefact form and how this relates to technology. While GM methods are used in lithics research, they have not previously been applied to Levallois point cores or products, and further, not to Nubian Levallois technology. The methods developed during the project focused on using 3D data to quantify the attributes widely accepted to define Nubian technology and distinguish it from other Levallois methods: preparation from the core distal and/or laterals, a steep median ridge at the distal end of the core, and a pointed core and preferential end-product morphology. These attributes are traditionally captured with manual measurements or qualitative descriptors, but my new methodological protocol provides a robust framework for producing quantifiable and reproducible results. Beyond the application of these tools to the project’s own research questions, this method contributes more widely to advancing inter-regional comparability between assemblages – currently a central concern to lithic analysts.
(3) The results of the project have been disseminated to the scientific community through peer-reviewed publications, with three manuscripts completed and at least two more in preparation. Additionally, a workshop for 22 international participants who specialise in Nubian technology was held as part of the project, providing a platform for presentations, discussions and building collaborations to advance research in this important field.
Engagement with the non-scientific community has also been a priority throughout the project, with a number of different measures taken to reach the wider public. The project website, Facebook page and Instagram account reaches a global audience, presenting key stages such as fieldwork and museum study visits. Participation in a Portuguese science festival and a UK-based podcast interview provided public engagement opportunities in Europe. A central output of the project has been using 3D printed artefacts in public outreach, as well as academic teaching and communication. In conjunction with the South Africa-based not-for-profit organisation, ‘Children’s Book Network’, the project has been developing a ‘Tankwa Toolbox’, aimed at communicating the research and wider themes in archaeology to South African children. Specifically, this focuses on the remote local communities of the Tankwa Karoo where the project’s fieldwork takes place. The toolbox is an innovative educational outreach package that contains 3D printed artefacts with specially written and illustrated children’s stories that narrate two parallel stories about these artefacts, one set in the past, and one about the work of archaeologists in the present.
