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Kalambo Falls Wikipedia Summary

The Kalambo Falls archaeological complex of Northern Zambia has had a history of uncertainty with significance to the Archaeological record. J.D. Clark has been the lead archaeologist on the site since 1953 and has assisted on excavations and publications about its discoveries today (Duller 2015, Barham et al. 2008). The natural existence of Fluvial soils is the key component that lead to the discovery of the site, as it allowed for many artifacts to be eroded as the river pushed soils to the edges. The archaeological assemblages have many significant discoveries within. The natural preservation capabilities of Fluvial environments have led to the discoveries of wooden artifacts such as clubs and digging sticks. Evidence of both Mode 2 Acheulean stone tools and Mode 3 early stone age tools allows archaeologists to relatively date a transitional period of cultural settlement in the area.

The process of erosion and shifting of the Kalambo River have resulted in many problems for archaeologists when questions of dating the periods of settlements. Doctor Geoff A.T. Duller (2015) summarizes the different attempts by archaeologists to create a chronology in his article New Investigations at Kalambo Falls, Zambia: Luminescence Chronology, Site Formation, and Archaeological Significance. He returned to the site to assist in Dr Lawrence Barham’s 2008 excavation. The dates derived from these processes are uncertain and do not correlate with each other, which brought him to assess the question from another angle. The use of optically stimulated luminescence on the grains of quartz within the Fluvial soils around the artifacts at site C of the Kalambo complex have resulted in much accurate dates that split chronology into 6 periods of settlement, with Acheulean artifacts only found in Stage 1, dating from ~500ka-300ka years. Mode 3 artifacts are found in Stages 1 through 4, dating from ~500ka-50ka. A mixture of Stone and Iron Age artifacts were exclusively found in the Stage 4, from ~1.5ka-.5ka. These results have proven the significance that has been debated of the Kalambo Falls archaeological site.

The archaeology at Kalambo Falls in Northern Zambia has allowed for the site to be added to the UNESCO list of world heritage sites in 2009. Other than the natural feature of the waterfalls being the second highest in the continent of Africa, the justification for its inclusion is its evidence of one of the longest continuous histories of human habitation in Sub-Saharan Africa. When it was first proposed for inclusion in 1997, Kalambo Falls was already included under Zambia’s National Heritage Conservation Act of 1989. Today, Kalambo falls has proven its significance not only to the understanding of the origins of humanity, but also to the societies that exist in the world today.Luxord185 (talk) 19:54, 23 October 2016 (UTC)