The Southern African Stone Age Site Index (SASSI): A Spatial, Chronological and Contextual Resource for Archaeological Research

Abstract

Southern Africa possesses a deep archaeological record, spanning more than a million years, which has attracted over a century of research. As a result, it offers one of the densest and most detailed pictures of Stone Age occupation history in Africa. However, certain time periods and regions have featured more prominently in research, particularly the later Middle Stone Age of the coastal and mountain zones. Moreover, the modern emphasis on absolute dating and well-resolved chronologies often excludes open-air and surface sites from reviews and syntheses, meaning that environments lacking deep, stratified rock shelters remain underrepresented.To address this, the Southern African Stone Age Site Index (SASSI) provides a centralised, openly accessible resource for archaeological research, featuring 485 reported Earlier, Middle and Later Stone Age sites from South Africa, Lesotho, Eswatini and Namibia. It includes both dated and undated sites, and encompasses diverse contexts. The database integrates spatial, chronological, cultural and contextual information, following FAIR data principles. While previous synthetic datasets have emphasised chronology and systematics, SASSI instead prioritises spatial coverage, offering a foundation for new perspectives on demography, settlement patterns, and landscape use in southern Africa’s past.

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