Wilton is a term archaeologists use to generalize archaeological sites and cultures that share similar stone and non-stone technology dating from 8,000 to 4,000 years ago. Archaeologists often refer to Wilton as a technocomplex (Archaeological culture), or Industry. Technological industries are defined by a common tradition of stone tool assemblages, but these technological industries extend to common cultural behaviors. As such, archaeologists use these industries to define a discrete cultural taxonomy. However, technological industries have the potential to generalize different cultures and communities at regional scales that, in more local settings, are distinguishable in both technology and cultural behaviors.
History
Originally defined from archaeological assemblages recovered from Wilton rock shelter in 1921, archaeologists use Wilton to refer to Stone Age foraging and pastoral communities in portions of east Africa and throughout South Africa that are associated with small stone tools and an increase in the number of formal stone tools like scrappers and backed tools.Hewitt J. (1921). On several implements and ornaments from Strandloper sites in the Eastern Province. S. Afr. J. Sci. 18: 454-467 Archaeological assemblages in Zambia contains evidence for non-stone technology that has led some archaeologists to hypothesize an increased importance of wooden tools Wilton tool sets.
Archaeologists initially recognized Wilton foraging communities from the Holocene beginning 8,000 years ago up through the Iron Age until 500 years ago, though recent studies separate Wilton from the final late Stone Age at 4,000 years ago. Despite Wilton as a term meant to generalize the behaviors of human populations, foraging communities that utilized Wilton-like technology and exhibited Wilton-like behaviors can be found in near-coastal, inland, and montane environments. These diverse landscapes contradict the specificity of Wilton culture that archaeologists had hoped to encompass with this term. In fact, archaeological deposits and isotopic data show that Wilton foragers used a wide range of technologies and exhibited diverse behaviors including diets, mobility, and exchange networks.
Early accounts of Wilton archaeological assemblages posit that similar technology equates to identical cultural identities, suggesting prehistoric communities represented a single culture that ranged from southernmost South Africa to as north as Zambia. Archaeologists characterize Wilton by a greater variety of stone tools and smaller, more formal, stone technology. Additional wooden and bone tools lead archaeologists to think that biological materials played an important role in communities that made Wilton technologies. This technology distinguishes Wilton technology from earlier technological industries such as the Oakhurst. Oakhurst technology dates from 12,000 to 8,000 years ago and is defined as a technological industry that contains few formal tools and large stone tools, especially large stone scrappers. Previous technological industries like the Oakhurst may have included biological tools like bone and wooden implements, but since biological remains do not survive in the archaeological record, archaeologists are not able to always use these biological tools to define technological industries. It is these changes in stone and non-stone technology that imply changes in cultural behaviors of foragers at these sites and thus, have caused some archaeologists to recognize Wilton technology as a single cultural entity.
Wilton is widely described as a shift from large to small stone technology with an emphasis on stone scrappers and backed tools, though not all sites associated with Wilton contain high numbers of backed tools. This discrepancy offers some evidence that broad categories like Wilton overgeneralize behaviors of people whom, though may have had some cultural activities in common, exhibit diverse tool sets. Many archaeologists acknowledge that Wilton is not a single culture or identity but, instead, solely reflects general trends over small regions in Zambia, Zimbabwe, Transvaal, and most of South Africa from 8,000 to 4,000 years ago.
Wilton rock shelter Wilton technology was first described by John Hewitt after he excavated with the collaboration of C. W. Wilmot a cave on the farm Wilton near Alicedale in the eastern Cape of South Africa. Later sites are found along the coastal and the interior of South Africa and as north as the countries Zambia and Zimbabwe. The Wilton site is adjacent to the Karoo region of South Africa and represents a diverse environment that could have easily supported forager groups living in this area. Three dates came from the Wilton rock shelter that ranged from 8,260 to 2,270. This date range allowed archaeologists to track changes in the size and type of stone technology through the Wilton site and initially defined Wilton technology. The observed environment and time constraints at this site, among others like the Oakhurst site and Matjes River, provide archaeologists with insight into a time range in which foragers produced Wilton technology and thus, exhibited shared technological industries.
At the Wilton site, Hewitt first noted that this site contained remnants from two distinct cultures, distinguishable by the size of the stone tools. The stone preceding Wilton technology appeared much larger at the Wilton site. Based on the large size of the stone tools, Hewitt supposed that this material pertained to a predecessor of Wilton technology, known today as Oakhurst. The significant component of Wilton sites is decreased tool size compared with Oakhurst and an increase frequency of stone scrapers. Furthermore, the stone material at the Wilton rock shelter is predominantly Chalcedony. This assemblage was dominated by stone scrapers and few backed tools. Scrapers were likely used for processing animal hides. Backed tools were created by blunting one margin of the stone tool at a near-90 degree angle. These backed tools were likely hafted to projectiles and served as barbs. Archaeologists have used the assemblage at the Wilton rock shelter to define other Wilton-like assemblages throughout South Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
Evolution of Wilton as a technological industry In 1929, Goodwin and Van Riet Lowe initially used Wilton as a term to describe Microlith archaeological assemblages that contained small stone scrapers and backed tools. During this early period of excavation, Goodwin and Van Riet Lowe broke up Wilton technology into two variations defined by the interior and coastal geography of South Africa. The technological industry they associate with interior sites was termed Smithfield, leaving Wilton to define coastal foragers. Forager communities that used Smithfield technology were thought to be contemporaneous with Wilton but contained much larger stone technologies. During the mid-1900s, archaeologists began recovering more Wilton-like objects from other locations in South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Zambia. The stone technology in each of these regions reflects similar characteristics of Wilton technology but each contained slight variations in the technology, likely reflecting local differences due to the variation between environments. For instance, the site of Gwisho in Zambia had predominantly more backed tools than scrapers, contradicting what was originally found at the Wilton rock shelter. Backed tools soon became a significant component of Wilton assemblages. Building on the increased frequency of Wilton sites, Deacon used radiocarbon dates and backed tool frequencies to show that Smithfield could not be contemporaneous with Wilton and thus, must be the preceding technological industry, now termed Oakhurst.
Today, Wilton technology covers much of the same geographical scale as the preceding industry, Oakhurst. Wilton was originally associated with the archaeological assemblage from Wilton farm, which included a high number of scrapers, though archaeological assemblages elsewhere showed additional evidence for backed technology. So, today, Wilton technology is associated with an increase in formal tools like scrapers and backed pieces as well as a significant reduction in size. Wilton technology represents an increase in homogeneity across much of South Africa, including some sites in Zambia and Zimbabwe. This pattern of standard, Wilton, tool kits breaks down after 4,000 years, entering into the final late Stone Age. Evidence for the introduction of ceramics, pastoralism, and ironworking post-dating 4,000 years ago has created a mosaic of final late Stone Age technological industries in Southern Africa. This mosaic of industries makes it difficult to make regional generalizations of technological industries like Wilton. So, the term Wilton is now limited from 8,000 to 4,000 years.
Technology Archaeologists associate Wilton assemblages with an assortment of different types of stone and non-stone technology. Stone materials are one of the longest-lasting artifacts and, as such, allow archaeologists to interpret the behaviors of past peoples. In rare instances, it is possible for archaeologists to recover non-stone technology, hereafter referred to as biological material. Biological materials like wooden shafts of spears or digging sticks give insight into the broader cultural pattern of past foraging communities that is usually only represented via stone materials. For the Wilton archaeological record, archaeologists have access to a wide variety of stone tools and cases where biological tools were recovered, allowing Wilton to be defined by not only stone but also non-stone technology.
Stone technology
Initially derived from the Wilton rock shelter in South Africa, Janette Deacon classified the Wilton assemblages into four phases that mark the beginning of Wilton (stage 0), a growth phase (stage 1), a mature phase (stage 2), and a decline phase (stage 3). Janette Deacon recognizes a pre-ancestral stone industry at Wilton rock shelter dating to 10,000 years ago by the presence of large stone scrapers made from Quartzite materials. Furthermore, these stone materials are associated with large fauna, suggesting pre-ancestral peoples foraged large animals. These large stone tools are attributable to what Goodwin and Lowe would term Smithfield, a contemporaneous but distinct culture from Wilton. At 8,000 years ago, scrapers at the Wilton site become much smaller, and very few tool types are represented at this time. Deacon claims that this forms the basis for a growth phase (stage 1) of Wilton, which turns towards a mature phase (stage 2) dating to around 4,800 years ago. Stage 2 is represented by the smallest variation in scraper size and shape as well as a faunal assemblage dominated by small animals, distinguishing the Wilton from its predecessor. Additionally, this period is correlated with an increase in backed tool manufacture at Wilton. Though Deacon does not bring attention to this increase, backed tools become a prevalent factor in Wilton assemblages with sites like Gwisho. Then, around 2,270 years ago, the stone scrapers at Wilton become more variable, and formal tools decrease, suggesting a decline phase (stage 3). Stage 3 at the Wilton site is also correlated with the occurrence of pottery. Deacon suggests that "The correlation between the appearance of pottery and the 'death' of the Wilton cultural system is perhaps significant." These observations at Wilton rock shelter formed the basis for how Wilton assemblages are colloquially recognized, but soon, archaeologists realized that Wilton assemblages do vary in technology depending on where they are located.