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Peter Mitchell

University of Oxford, School of Archaeology, Faculty Member

University of the Witwatersrand, School of Geography, Archaeology ad Environmental Studies, Hon. Research Fellow

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My longest-standing research interest is the archaeology of Later Stone Age and Middle Stone Age hunter-gatherers in southern Africa, where I have directed several projects in Lesotho, most recently ahead of the construction of the Metolong Dam. In addition, I have strong interests in the wider global relevance of Africa's past and currently have a book in press with Oxford University Press examining the impact of the horse on Indigenous societies in southern Africa, the Americas and Australasia post-1492.
Phone: +44-1865-274951
Address: St Hugh's College, Oxford, OX2 6LE, United Kingdom

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Papers by Peter Mitchell

Antiquity Primordialism and the 'Pleistocene San' of southern Africa Primordialism and the 'Pleistocene San' of southern Africa

by Peter Mitchell and Justin Pargeter

Analogies are an important tool of archaeological reasoning. The Kalahari San are frequently depi... more Analogies are an important tool of archaeological reasoning. The Kalahari San are frequently depicted in introductory texts as archetypal, mobile hunter-gatherers, and they have influenced approaches to archaeological, genetic and linguistic research. But is this analogy fundamentally flawed? Recent arguments have linked the San populations of southern Africa with the late Pleistocene Later Stone Age (c. 44 kya) at Border Cave, South Africa. The authors argue that these and other claims for the Pleistocene antiquity of modern-day cultures arise from a fundamental misunderstanding of the nature of cultural and archaeological taxonomies, and that they are a misuse of analogical reasoning.

Discontinuities in hunter-gatherer prehistory in southern African drylands

The human history of southern Africa's drylands is a history of discontinuities. This paper ident... more The human history of southern Africa's drylands is a history of discontinuities. This paper identifies several instances where different kinds of discontinuity seem apparent and different kinds of approaches have been, or could be, taken to address them over the past 25,000 years (the approximate time-frame of the Later Stone Age). Fundamental to all the cases examined is a basic feature of southern Africa's geography , the distinction between summer-, winter-, and year-round-rainfall regimes that cuts across the sub-continent's arid and semi-arid zones. Drawing where possible on emerging genetic and linguistic, as well as archaeological, data the paper then discusses a series of spatial and/or temporal hiatuses in the region's cultural history from the Last Glacial Maximum to the introduction of domestic livestock. It concludes by considering two further discontinuities that underlie almost all studies of Later Stone Age hunter-gatherers and herders in southern Africa, regardless of environmental location: the relatively limited degree to which an archaeological record exists for the groups whose ethnographies are most heavily consulted, and the even more troubling disconnect arising from the extension across the whole of southern Africa of ethnographic analogies drawn from a very few populations living in its dryland biomes.

Pressure-Flaked Points in Lesotho: Dating, Distribution and Diversity

The South African Stone Age in the Collections of the British Museum: Content, History and Significance

Sehonghong: The Late Holocene Assemblages with Pottery

Revisiting the Robberg: New Results and a Revision of Old Ideas at Sehonghong Rock Shelter, Lesotho

Recent Holocene Archaeology in Western and Southern Lesotho

by Peter Mitchell and John Parkington

Ntloana Tsoana: A Middle Stone Age Sequence from Western Lesotho

Preliminary Report on the Later Stone Age Sequence from Tloutle Rock Shelter, Western Lesotho

DEVELOPING THE ARCHAEOLOGY OF MARINE ISOTOPE STAGE 3

Relative to the periods that immediately follow and precede it (which broadly encompass the Later... more Relative to the periods that immediately follow and precede it (which broadly encompass the Later Stone Age on the one hand and the Howieson's Poort and Still Bay Industries on the other), Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 3 remains archaeologically unexplored in southern Africa. This situation is all the more striking given its importance in Western Eurasia, where Neanderthals were replaced by anatomically modern humans, and in Sahul, which was colonized de novo at this time. One reason for the neglect of MIS 3 has been the longstanding difficulty of dating beyond the limits of the radiocarbon technique, another, the assumption that human numbers in southern Africa at this time were dramatically reduced. Drawing attention to new developments in dating and palaeoenvironmental research, this paper argues that the case for population decline and aridity has been massively overstated. It reviews the archaeological record for the period 60–25 000 years ago and then sets out a series of questions that warrant attention in future research. It also offers suggestions as to how that research might best be pursued.

The archaeology of the Phuthiatsana-ea-Thaba Bosiu Basin, Lesotho, southern Africa: changes in Later Stone Age regional demography

The late Quaternary landscape at Sehonghong in the Lesotho highlands, southern Africa

the rough and rugged country of the Lesotho highlands, rock-paintings and archaeological deposits... more the rough and rugged country of the Lesotho highlands, rock-paintings and archaeological deposits in the rock-shelters record hunter-gatherer life-ways; at Sehonghong, a long sequence runs from recent times to and through the Last Glacial Maximum. Survey of the region's Middle and Later Stone Age sites shows a pattern of concentrations that likely applies to other parts of the Lesotho highlands. ANTIQUITY 70 (1996): 623-38 624 PETER J. MITCHELL I

Archaeological research in Lesotho: a review of 120 years

Archaeological research in Lesotho over the last 120 years is reviewed. Particular emphasis is gi... more Archaeological research in Lesotho over the last 120 years is reviewed. Particular emphasis is given to P. Carter's excavation and survey project in eastern Lesotho and to contract archaeology projects in other parts of the country. Current research and projects involving the study of rock art are also considered. The archaeological potential of Lesotho for addressing a number of themes is discussed. These themes include the reconstruction of prehistoric seasonal mobility patterns, hunter-gatherer adaptations at the Last Glacial Maximum and relations between hunter-gatherer and farming populations. Lesotho's geographical situation lends itself to examining these questions across two distinct ecological gradients, but the richness of its rock art also demonstrates its potential for investigating Stone Age social relations. The importance of developing a more effective national archaeological infrastructure is stressed. R6sum6 Les recherches archdologiques des 120 derni~res anndes sont passdes en revue. L'accent est mis tout particulifirement sur les fouilles et le survey conduits dans l'est du Lesotho par P. Carter ainsi que sur les contrats de recherches archdologiques dans d'autres rdgions du pays. Les recherches en cours et les projets comprennant l'&ude de l'art rupestre sont aussi passds en revue. Le potentiel arch~ologique du Lesotho pour l'dtude d'un certain nombre de th~mes est discutC Ces th~mes comprennent la reconstruction des mouvements saisoniers et des adaptations des chasseurs/cueilleurs durant le dernier maximum glaciaire ainsi que les relations entre les chasseurs/cueilleurs et les populations fermi~res. Le Lesotho, de par sa situation gdographique, permet d'examiner ces questions au travers de deux niveaux dcologiques distincts, cependant que la richesse de son art rupestre ddmontre son potentiel pour &udier les relations sociales durant l'Age de la Pierre. L'importance du ddveloppe-ment d'une infrastructure archdologique nationale plus poussde est soulign~e. 4 P.J. Mitchell

Prehistoric Exchange and Interaction in Southeastern Southern Africa: Marine Shells and Ostrich Eggshell I

The spatiotemporal distribution of seashells and ostrich eggshell in the Later Stone Age of south... more The spatiotemporal distribution of seashells and ostrich eggshell in the Later Stone Age of southeastern southern Africa is used to infer several areas of social interaction. The inferred patterns are supported by comparisons with preferences for lithic raw materials and the distribution of bifacial stone arrows. Plusiers zones de l'interaction sociale sont dgduites des distributions chronolo-giques et spatiales de la coquillage et de la coquille de'autruche de l'Age de la Pierre Rdcent au sud-est de l'Afrique australe. Ces distributions sont soutenues des prgfgrences pour des matiOres premieres lithiques et de la distribution des fldches bifaciales de la pierre.

Africa from MIS 6-2: Where Do We Go from Here

This chapter seeks to identify directions along which future research into the population dynamic... more This chapter seeks to identify directions along which future research into the population dynamics of African hunter-gatherer communities and the paleoenviron-mental context in which they lived can be explored. These themes include: critically assessing existing datasets for their quality and chronological precision; transcending outdated stadial " block-like " thinking about the past in favor of more dynamic understandings of continuous processes of change; converting statements about broad climatic trends into more precise, quantitative statements about past temperature, and rainfall patterns in order to approximate more closely the impact of climatic change on the resources exploited by past hunter gatherers; examining the connectivity and isolation of human populations, concerting archaeological, and paleoen-vironmental evidence with data from genetics and human paleontology; and addressing the challenges posed for archaeologists' use of ethnographic analogy by the recognition of " modern " forms of human cognition and behavior at much greater time depths than was once thought plausible. The chapter concludes by reflecting upon the relevance of MIS 6-2 research for African societies today.

Going Back to Their Roots: Comanche Trade and Diet Revisited

Recent studies of eighteenth-and nineteenth-century Comanches have argued that their dependence o... more Recent studies of eighteenth-and nineteenth-century Comanches have argued that their dependence on bison posed a serious nutritional challenge in the form of a dangerously imbalanced high-protein diet. They contend that this specialization required Comanches to obtain carbohydrates in the form of maize from Spanish-ruled New Mexico and Texas or Native American horticulturalists. This in turn is claimed to have been crucial in structuring Comanche economic and political ties with their neighbors. This article argues instead that the documentary evidence used to support a trade in foodstuffs is weak and that Comanches employed alternative nutritional strategies, including consuming and storing a wide range of wild plants. Prestige and utilitarian goods such as metal tools and weapons, firearms, and items of personal adornment—not food—were the primary motivation for Comanche trade with Europeans.

Reply to Rocha: A note on erroneous ethnolinguistic affiliations in genetic studies of southern Africa

Journal of anthropological sciences

Book Review Late Pleistocene and Holocene Hunter-Gatherers of the Matopos: An Archaeological Study of Change and Continuity in Zimbabwe (Societas Archaeologica Upsaliensis, Studies in African Archaeology 10). By N. J. Walker. Uppsala, 1995 134 Figures, 24 Plates, 122 Tables. ISSN 0284-5040. ISBN ...

African Archaeological Review, 1997

Archaeological investigation of an open air hunter-gatherer site in the Lesotho highlands: Preliminary report on the 1995 season at Likoaieng

Archaeological fieldwork in the Lesotho highlands, July and August 1998: the second season of excava- tion at the Likoaeeng open-air site

Antiquity Primordialism and the 'Pleistocene San' of southern Africa Primordialism and the 'Pleistocene San' of southern Africa

by Peter Mitchell and Justin Pargeter

Analogies are an important tool of archaeological reasoning. The Kalahari San are frequently depi... more Analogies are an important tool of archaeological reasoning. The Kalahari San are frequently depicted in introductory texts as archetypal, mobile hunter-gatherers, and they have influenced approaches to archaeological, genetic and linguistic research. But is this analogy fundamentally flawed? Recent arguments have linked the San populations of southern Africa with the late Pleistocene Later Stone Age (c. 44 kya) at Border Cave, South Africa. The authors argue that these and other claims for the Pleistocene antiquity of modern-day cultures arise from a fundamental misunderstanding of the nature of cultural and archaeological taxonomies, and that they are a misuse of analogical reasoning.

Discontinuities in hunter-gatherer prehistory in southern African drylands

The human history of southern Africa's drylands is a history of discontinuities. This paper ident... more The human history of southern Africa's drylands is a history of discontinuities. This paper identifies several instances where different kinds of discontinuity seem apparent and different kinds of approaches have been, or could be, taken to address them over the past 25,000 years (the approximate time-frame of the Later Stone Age). Fundamental to all the cases examined is a basic feature of southern Africa's geography , the distinction between summer-, winter-, and year-round-rainfall regimes that cuts across the sub-continent's arid and semi-arid zones. Drawing where possible on emerging genetic and linguistic, as well as archaeological, data the paper then discusses a series of spatial and/or temporal hiatuses in the region's cultural history from the Last Glacial Maximum to the introduction of domestic livestock. It concludes by considering two further discontinuities that underlie almost all studies of Later Stone Age hunter-gatherers and herders in southern Africa, regardless of environmental location: the relatively limited degree to which an archaeological record exists for the groups whose ethnographies are most heavily consulted, and the even more troubling disconnect arising from the extension across the whole of southern Africa of ethnographic analogies drawn from a very few populations living in its dryland biomes.

Pressure-Flaked Points in Lesotho: Dating, Distribution and Diversity

The South African Stone Age in the Collections of the British Museum: Content, History and Significance

Sehonghong: The Late Holocene Assemblages with Pottery

Revisiting the Robberg: New Results and a Revision of Old Ideas at Sehonghong Rock Shelter, Lesotho

Recent Holocene Archaeology in Western and Southern Lesotho

by Peter Mitchell and John Parkington

Ntloana Tsoana: A Middle Stone Age Sequence from Western Lesotho

Preliminary Report on the Later Stone Age Sequence from Tloutle Rock Shelter, Western Lesotho

DEVELOPING THE ARCHAEOLOGY OF MARINE ISOTOPE STAGE 3

Relative to the periods that immediately follow and precede it (which broadly encompass the Later... more Relative to the periods that immediately follow and precede it (which broadly encompass the Later Stone Age on the one hand and the Howieson's Poort and Still Bay Industries on the other), Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 3 remains archaeologically unexplored in southern Africa. This situation is all the more striking given its importance in Western Eurasia, where Neanderthals were replaced by anatomically modern humans, and in Sahul, which was colonized de novo at this time. One reason for the neglect of MIS 3 has been the longstanding difficulty of dating beyond the limits of the radiocarbon technique, another, the assumption that human numbers in southern Africa at this time were dramatically reduced. Drawing attention to new developments in dating and palaeoenvironmental research, this paper argues that the case for population decline and aridity has been massively overstated. It reviews the archaeological record for the period 60–25 000 years ago and then sets out a series of questions that warrant attention in future research. It also offers suggestions as to how that research might best be pursued.

The archaeology of the Phuthiatsana-ea-Thaba Bosiu Basin, Lesotho, southern Africa: changes in Later Stone Age regional demography

The late Quaternary landscape at Sehonghong in the Lesotho highlands, southern Africa

the rough and rugged country of the Lesotho highlands, rock-paintings and archaeological deposits... more the rough and rugged country of the Lesotho highlands, rock-paintings and archaeological deposits in the rock-shelters record hunter-gatherer life-ways; at Sehonghong, a long sequence runs from recent times to and through the Last Glacial Maximum. Survey of the region's Middle and Later Stone Age sites shows a pattern of concentrations that likely applies to other parts of the Lesotho highlands. ANTIQUITY 70 (1996): 623-38 624 PETER J. MITCHELL I

Archaeological research in Lesotho: a review of 120 years

Archaeological research in Lesotho over the last 120 years is reviewed. Particular emphasis is gi... more Archaeological research in Lesotho over the last 120 years is reviewed. Particular emphasis is given to P. Carter's excavation and survey project in eastern Lesotho and to contract archaeology projects in other parts of the country. Current research and projects involving the study of rock art are also considered. The archaeological potential of Lesotho for addressing a number of themes is discussed. These themes include the reconstruction of prehistoric seasonal mobility patterns, hunter-gatherer adaptations at the Last Glacial Maximum and relations between hunter-gatherer and farming populations. Lesotho's geographical situation lends itself to examining these questions across two distinct ecological gradients, but the richness of its rock art also demonstrates its potential for investigating Stone Age social relations. The importance of developing a more effective national archaeological infrastructure is stressed. R6sum6 Les recherches archdologiques des 120 derni~res anndes sont passdes en revue. L'accent est mis tout particulifirement sur les fouilles et le survey conduits dans l'est du Lesotho par P. Carter ainsi que sur les contrats de recherches archdologiques dans d'autres rdgions du pays. Les recherches en cours et les projets comprennant l'&ude de l'art rupestre sont aussi passds en revue. Le potentiel arch~ologique du Lesotho pour l'dtude d'un certain nombre de th~mes est discutC Ces th~mes comprennent la reconstruction des mouvements saisoniers et des adaptations des chasseurs/cueilleurs durant le dernier maximum glaciaire ainsi que les relations entre les chasseurs/cueilleurs et les populations fermi~res. Le Lesotho, de par sa situation gdographique, permet d'examiner ces questions au travers de deux niveaux dcologiques distincts, cependant que la richesse de son art rupestre ddmontre son potentiel pour &udier les relations sociales durant l'Age de la Pierre. L'importance du ddveloppe-ment d'une infrastructure archdologique nationale plus poussde est soulign~e. 4 P.J. Mitchell

Prehistoric Exchange and Interaction in Southeastern Southern Africa: Marine Shells and Ostrich Eggshell I

The spatiotemporal distribution of seashells and ostrich eggshell in the Later Stone Age of south... more The spatiotemporal distribution of seashells and ostrich eggshell in the Later Stone Age of southeastern southern Africa is used to infer several areas of social interaction. The inferred patterns are supported by comparisons with preferences for lithic raw materials and the distribution of bifacial stone arrows. Plusiers zones de l'interaction sociale sont dgduites des distributions chronolo-giques et spatiales de la coquillage et de la coquille de'autruche de l'Age de la Pierre Rdcent au sud-est de l'Afrique australe. Ces distributions sont soutenues des prgfgrences pour des matiOres premieres lithiques et de la distribution des fldches bifaciales de la pierre.

Africa from MIS 6-2: Where Do We Go from Here

This chapter seeks to identify directions along which future research into the population dynamic... more This chapter seeks to identify directions along which future research into the population dynamics of African hunter-gatherer communities and the paleoenviron-mental context in which they lived can be explored. These themes include: critically assessing existing datasets for their quality and chronological precision; transcending outdated stadial " block-like " thinking about the past in favor of more dynamic understandings of continuous processes of change; converting statements about broad climatic trends into more precise, quantitative statements about past temperature, and rainfall patterns in order to approximate more closely the impact of climatic change on the resources exploited by past hunter gatherers; examining the connectivity and isolation of human populations, concerting archaeological, and paleoen-vironmental evidence with data from genetics and human paleontology; and addressing the challenges posed for archaeologists' use of ethnographic analogy by the recognition of " modern " forms of human cognition and behavior at much greater time depths than was once thought plausible. The chapter concludes by reflecting upon the relevance of MIS 6-2 research for African societies today.

Going Back to Their Roots: Comanche Trade and Diet Revisited

Recent studies of eighteenth-and nineteenth-century Comanches have argued that their dependence o... more Recent studies of eighteenth-and nineteenth-century Comanches have argued that their dependence on bison posed a serious nutritional challenge in the form of a dangerously imbalanced high-protein diet. They contend that this specialization required Comanches to obtain carbohydrates in the form of maize from Spanish-ruled New Mexico and Texas or Native American horticulturalists. This in turn is claimed to have been crucial in structuring Comanche economic and political ties with their neighbors. This article argues instead that the documentary evidence used to support a trade in foodstuffs is weak and that Comanches employed alternative nutritional strategies, including consuming and storing a wide range of wild plants. Prestige and utilitarian goods such as metal tools and weapons, firearms, and items of personal adornment—not food—were the primary motivation for Comanche trade with Europeans.

Reply to Rocha: A note on erroneous ethnolinguistic affiliations in genetic studies of southern Africa

Journal of anthropological sciences

Book Review Late Pleistocene and Holocene Hunter-Gatherers of the Matopos: An Archaeological Study of Change and Continuity in Zimbabwe (Societas Archaeologica Upsaliensis, Studies in African Archaeology 10). By N. J. Walker. Uppsala, 1995 134 Figures, 24 Plates, 122 Tables. ISSN 0284-5040. ISBN ...

African Archaeological Review, 1997

Archaeological investigation of an open air hunter-gatherer site in the Lesotho highlands: Preliminary report on the 1995 season at Likoaieng

Archaeological fieldwork in the Lesotho highlands, July and August 1998: the second season of excava- tion at the Likoaeeng open-air site

Primordialism and the 'Pleistocene San' of southern Africa (with comments and reply)

by Justin Pargeter, Alex Mackay, Peter Mitchell, and Brian Stewart

Analogies are an important tool of archaeological reasoning. The Kalahari San are frequently depi... more Analogies are an important tool of archaeological reasoning. The Kalahari San are frequently depicted in introductory texts as archetypal, mobile hunter-gatherers, and they have influenced approaches to archaeological, genetic and linguistic research. But is this analogy fundamentally flawed? Recent arguments have linked the San populations of southern Africa with the late Pleistocene Later Stone Age (c. 44 kya) at Border Cave, South Africa. The authors argue that these and other claims for the Pleistocene antiquity of modern-day cultures arise from a fundamental misunderstanding of the nature of cultural and archaeological taxonomies, and that they are a misuse of analogical reasoning.

New ages from Sehonghong rock shelter: Implications for the late Pleistocene occupation of highland Lesotho

by Justin Pargeter, Emma Loftus, and Peter Mitchell

Sehonghong rock shelter is situated in the eastern Lesotho highlands, a climatically extreme regi... more Sehonghong rock shelter is situated in the eastern Lesotho highlands, a climatically extreme region of southern Africa. The site is one of a handful in southern Africa that preserves human occupations before, during, and after the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). The site's long and well-preserved sequence makes it relevant to addressing questions of human mobility, subsistence, and technology in relation to broader environmental change. Here we present a Bayesian-modelled radiocarbon chronology for the LGM and terminal Pleistocene occupations at Sehonghong. Our model incorporates previously published radiocarbon dates and new accelerator mass spec-trometry ages. We also present archaeological evidence to test the hypothesis that Sehonghong was occupied in a series of punctuated events, and that some of these occupations were more intensive than others. Previous chronological and archaeological data were insufficient for testing these hypotheses. The new dates and archaeological data confirm that the site was occupied intensively in the early LGM and immediately thereafter. The site was otherwise occupied sporadically. We find that greater site occupation density is not always correlated with intensified use of local resources as measured by increased bipolar reduction and fish consumption. The new dates further confirm that Sehonghong contains some of the oldest evidence for systematic freshwater fishing in southern Africa. The availability of fish, a high fat protein source, probably stimulated human occupation, however sporadic, of such montane environments during cooler and drier periods. These findings suggest behavioural variability in response to shifting mobility and subsistence strategies. Our brief discussion informs upon hunter-gatherer occupation of southern African montane environments more broadly and human behavioural variability during the LGM.