In southern Africa, Middle Stone Age sites with long sequences have been the
focus of intense international and interdisciplinary research over the past
decade (cf. Wadley 2015). Two techno-complexes of the Middle Stone Age—the
Still Bay and Howiesons Poort—have been associated with many technological
and behavioural innovations of Homo sapiens. The classic
model argues that these two techno-complexes are temporally separated
‘horizons’ with homogenous material culture (Jacobs et al.
2008), reflecting demographic pulses and supporting large subcontinental
networks. This model was developed on the basis of evidence from southern
African sites regarded as centres of subcontinental developments.