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Ngalue

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Lat/Long:
-12.51, 35.11
Country:
Mozambique
Date range max:
105,000 Bp
Date range min:
40,000 Bp
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Ngalue Cave is an archaeological site located in the Niassa province of Mozambique. Excavated primarily by Julio Mercader in 2007, Ngalue is a Middle Stone Age site. Due to its relatively dry environment and the shape of the cave, Ngalue had very good preservation, and not only were stone tools and animal bones found. There were preserved starch grains on many of the stone tools as well. Overall, this site can help add to our knowledge of the Middle Stone Age site in the Niassa Valley and our understanding of the subsistence of Middle Stone Age peoples in Eastern Africa.

The cave is made of dolomite marble and the mouth stretches inward before expanding into a wider cave. The cave is labeled with a few main parts, lower bed 1, lower bed 2, the middle bed, and the hearth beds. The latter three sections contained the largest number of artifacts and the middle beds in particular provided much of the information gained during and after excavation. Using radiocarbon dating, uranium series dating, and electron spin resonance dating, the time period of human occupation in the cave has been accurately dated to between 105 and 40 thousand years ago.