Holocene later stone age hunter-gatherers south of the Limpopo River, Ca. 10,000-2000 B.P.

Encouraged by new, ethnographically grounded interpretations of San rock art, Holocene hunter-gatherer research south of the Limpopo has undergone a partial paradigm shift over the last decade, away from ecological issues and in favor of questions of social organization and ideology. Earlier models relating changes in regional demography to environmental shifts now need revision, as do long-standing studies of seasonal mobility. New research emphasizes instead identification of exchange and alliance networks and patterns of seasonal aggregation and dispersal. However, several of the assumptions of these models remain untested, while dating problems make it difficult to integrate rock art with other components of the archaeological record. Critical use of a more diverse set of ethnographic data, from both within and beyond the Kalahari, is also needed. These points are emphasized in discussing evidence for social and economic intensification between 5000 and 2000 B.P. in several areas of the subcontinent (KwaZulu-Natal, the southern, eastern, and far western Cape).