The behaviour of stones and stone implements,buried in consolidating and creeping Kalahari sands

This study reveals that the Quaternary mantle of reworked Kalahari Sands undergoes a post-sedimentary composite process at the archaeological site of Gombe (Kinshasa, Zaïre). There is a biological activity which consists of an upworking of soil particles, mainly by termites and worms. This causes a diminishing dry volume weight of the sediment. In response, the mantle reconsolidates. When the soil surface is horizontal, the particles which are not brought up will sink down in the soil profile as a result of the reconsolidation. When the soil surface is inclined, it is only the resettlement of the sediment which can give rise to creep, caused by wetting and drying. Creep of the dead mineralogical material alone seems to be very improbable once the structure and settlement of the sediment are in equilibrium with a given slope. Only a new phase of bioturbation can induce further creep movements. The experiments have shown that stone implements in reconsolidating Kalahari Sands do not exactly accompany the compaction movement of the sediment. Depending on their form, their size, their orientation and the water content of the sediment around them, stone implements can undergo differential movements during the reconsolidation process. This can result in a dispersion of the implements over levels of different ages. As creep is a phenomenon, going hand in hand with the resettlement of the sediment after biogenic upworking, partially analogous movements of stone implements can be expected in a creeping Kalahari Sands mantle. Partial or total reconcentration of the stone implements at the base of affective biogenic activity can be expected. This can lead to typical stone-line profiles which must be interpreted very carefully.