RIPPLED WARE AT BLINKLIPKOP, NORTHERN CAPE

摘要

Southern Africa's Later Stone Age (LSA) pottery can generally be described as thin ware (Sadr & Sampson 2006), and one of its many varieties is known as rippled ware (Sadr 2008). The name refers to the rippled surface of pots, which is an effect that probably was created by first incising grooves into the clay and then burnishing them flat again. Rippled ware is found in early first millennium AD sites in the northern part of the subcontinent (Fig. 1). In the Limpopo province, an undated rim sherd with a thickened, rippled band was reported from Buffelskom in the Soutpansberg (Hall & Smith 2000: fig. 2), and another two such rims were found at the undated site of Goergap and third century AD Skeurkrans in the Waterberg (Van der Ryst 2006: 257, fig. 11). At Oruwanje 95/1 in northern Namibia, a rippled rim sherd was reported and is probably associated with the Middle Ceramic Phase dated between AD 310-590 (Albrecht et al. 2001: fig. 6.4; Ralf Vogelsang, pers. comm. 2010). The middle ceramic phase at Omungunda 99/1, which contains iron artefacts and is dated to the first millennium AD produced six sherds of rippled ware, at least one of which has vertical ripples on the rim band and horizontal ones lower down; another three rippled sherds came from the early ceramic phase of this site but had probably filtered down from the layers above (Ralf Vogelsang, pers. comm. 2007). Nearly 30 sherds of rippled ware, mostly vertical ripples on thickened rim bands and a couple of horizontally rippled body sherds, are found farther south at Geduld in layers dated to the first few centuries AD (Smith & Jacobson 1995: 8, fig. 8). Early first millennium AD ceramics from Falls Rock and Snake Rock Shelters in the Brandberg (Daures massif) also contain at least one rippled rim sherd each (Kinahan 2001: fig. 2.10 e & f).