John Parkington is an Emeritus Professor and Senior Research Scholar in the Department of Archaeology at UCT. He did both undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in Palaeolithic Archaeology at Cambridge University in England.

With an Honours degree in 1966 he came to UCT as a Junior Lecturer and returned during his first university sabbatical year in 1974 to complete the three terms residence requirement for his PhD. His PhD was awarded in 1977, since which time he has been ad hominem promoted to Lecturer, Senior Lecturer, Associate Professor and full Professor.

John Parkington's research is directed at understanding long term hunter gatherer settlement in the Fynbos Biome of the Western Cape. It involves mapping, recording, sampling and sometimes excavating sites across the landscape, and analysis of the various kinds of materials recovered.

The primary goal is to understand patterns of behaviour and evolution through time. This is achieved by reconstructing life histories and social relations, settlement choices, image-making and resource use through the later Pleistocene and Holocene.

Archaeology Dept, Beattie Building Room 3.11.2
Fax: +27 (0)21 650 2352
Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.co.za/citations?hl=en&user=KgkTpfgAAAAJ

Courses

• Intro to Archaeology and Social Anthropology

Publications

Books

John Parkington, David Morris and Neil Rusch 2022. Karoo Rock Engravings. Cape Town. Krakadouw Trust.

John Parkington, Janette Deacon, David Morris, Katriena Swartz, Sophia Adams, Dawid Abrahams, Serena Renier, Klaas Priega, Neil Rusch, Simon Hall, Jose Manuel de Prada-Samper, Pam Christie and Russ Taylor 2021. Karoo Cosmos: /xam-ka !au and the /Xam. South African Astronomical Observatory. Cape Town.

John Parkington and Nonhlanhla Dlamini 2015 First People: Ancestors of the San. Cape Town. Krakadouw Trust ISBN 978-0-620-63997-2

Journal Articles and Chapters in Books

John Parkington and Guillaume Porraz 2022. in press Diepkloof Rock Shelter and Elands Bay Cave, South Africa. in

John Parkington and Joe Alfers 2022. in press. Entangled Lives: elephant and human figuresin the rock art of the Agter Pakhuis, Western Cape, South Africa. in Southern African Field Archaeology

Mareike Stahlschmidt, Robert C. Power, Susann Heinrich, Cedric Poggenpoel and John Parkington. 2022 in press. A Microcontextual Investigation of Later Stone Age Ash Deposits and Associated Interment of Human Remains at Faraoskop, Western Cape, South Africa. In Journal of Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences

Alan G. Morris, Tasneem Salie, Alissa Mittnik, George Rebello, Chiara Barbieri, John Parkington, Johannes Krause and Raj Ramesar. 2022 in press. Reconstructing Ancient Southern African Mitochondrial Genomes at Faraoskop. In Journal of Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences

John Parkington, Emma Loftus, Anthony Manhire and Lita Webley 2022. in press. The Faraoskop Event: a significant moment in the history of foraging in the Western Cape, South Africa? In Journal of Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences

Jordan Scholfield, Joseph Ralimpe, Marko Hutten, Len van Schalkwyk, John Parkington, Jessica Angel and Wouter Fourie 2022, in press The High-lands: A preliminary report on Smoking Pipes recovered during Heritage Mitigation for the Polihali Dam, Lesotho.

Jordan Scholfield, Len van Schalkwyk, Marko Hutten, John Parkington, Jessica Angel and Wouter Fourie 2022 in press Thick or Thin; Does it matter?

Davies, B., Power, M.J., Braun, D.R., Douglass, M.J., Mosher, S.G., Quick, L.J., Esteban, I., Sealy, J., Parkington, J. and Faith, J.T. 2022. Fire and human management of late Holocene ecosystems in southern Africa. Quaternary Science Reviews 289 107600.

Davies, B., M. Douglass, D. Braun, J. Parkington, M. Power and J.T. Faith. 2022. From quartz curvature to late Holocene mobility at Spring Cave, Western Cape, South Africa. Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences online https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-022-01533-2

John Parkington 2021. Image, Place and Occasion. Retrieved August 4, 2022, from https://rockartportal.org/Placement.html

John Parkington and Andrew Paterson 2021. Cloaks and Torsos: Image recognition, ethnography and male initiation events in the rock art of the Western Cape. Azania 56 (4): 463-481

Mohd Shafi Baht, Anusuya Chinsamy and John Parkington 2021. Histological investigation of burnt bones: a case study of angulate tortoises from the archaeological site, Diepkloof Rock Shelter, Western Cape, South Africa. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology 31: 742-757.

John Parkington and Jose de Prada-Samper 2021. ‘when elephants were people’: elephant/human images of the Olifants River, Western Cape, South Africa. in Oscar Moro-Abadia and Martin Porr (eds) Ontologies of Rock Art: Images, Relational Approaches and Indigenous Knowledge. 223-244. Routledge. London.

John Parkington, Ruan Brand and Taylor Niekerk 2021. Field processing and transport costs in shellfish gathering along the Cape west coast. Quaternary International Special Issue 284: 72-81

David Braun, Tyler Faith, Matthew Douglass, Ben Davies, Mitchell Power, Vera Aldeias, Nicholas Conard, Russell Cutts, Larisa DeSantis, Lydie Dupont, Irene Esteban, Andrew Kandel, Naomi Levin, Julie Luyt, John Parkington, Robyn Pickering, Lynne Quick, Judith Sealy and Deano Stynder 2021. Ecosystem engineering in the Quaternary of the West Coast of South Africa. Evolutionary Anthropology 30 (1): 50-62.

John Parkington, Ruan Brand and Taylor Niekerk 2020. Forum Communication- “Reply to Antonieta Jerardino’s comment on ‘Field Processing and Transport costs in shellfish gathering along the Cape west coast’ Quaternary International 544: 116-119.

Porraz, G., Parkington, J. E., Schmidt, P., Bereiziat, G., Brugal, J.-P., Dayet, L., Igreja, M., Miller, C. E., Schmid, V. C., Tribolo, C., Val, A., Verna, C., Texier, P.-J. 2020. Experimentation preceding innovation in a MIS5 Pre-Still Bay layer from Diepkloof Rock Shelter (South Africa): emerging technologies and symbols. EcoEvoRxiv, ch53r, ver. 3 peer-reviewed and recommended by PCI Archaeology. doi: 10.32942/osf.io/ch53r

John W Fisher Jr and John Parkington 2020. Season of Occupation of Elands Bay Cave: Expanding the Rock Hyrax Calendar. South African Archaeological Bulletin 75 (212): 27-36.

John Parkington and Ruan Brand 2020. Shell Middens and Coastal Prehistory. Oxford Research Encyclopaedia of Anthropology. Online publication Date: Sep 2020 DOI:10.1093/acrefore/9780190854584.013.48

John Parkington, John W Fisher Jr, Simon Hoyte, Maria Lazarides and Stephan Woodborne 2020 Entanglement and Contemporaneity: archaeological site structure from a Bayesian perspective. Journal of Archaeological Science Reports 31: June doi 10.1016/j.jasrep.2020.102349

Aurore Val, Guillaume Porraz, Pierre-Jean Texier, John W Fisher Jr and John Parkington 2020. Human exploitation of nocturnal felines at Diepkloof Rock Shelter provides further evidence for symbolic behaviours during the Middle Stone Age. Nature Scientific Reports 10 (1). 14 April DOI:10.1038/s41598-020-63250-x

Patrick Schmidt, Deano Stynder, Nicholas Conard and John Parkington 2020. When was silcrete heat treatment invented in South Africa? Palgrave Communications 6:73:1-10. doi.org/10.1057/s41599-020-0454-z

Forssman, Tim, Matt Lotter, John Parkington, Jeremy Hollmann, Jessica Angel and Wouter Fourie 2020. An Introduction to the Stone Age Archaeology of the Polihali Dam Area, Mokhotlong District, Lesotho. Journal of African Archaeology 18: 1-18.

John Parkington, David Morris and Jose de Prada-Samper 2019 Elusive Identities: Karoo /Xam descendants and the Square Kilometre Array. Journal of Southern African Studies 45 (4): 729-747.

Mohd Shafi Baht, Anusuya Chinsamy and John Parkington 2019 Long bone histology of Chersina angulate from South Africa: Interelement variation and life history data. Journal of Morphology 280 (12): 1881-1899.

John Parkington and Andrew Paterson 2017 Somatogenesis: vibrations, undulations and the possible depiction of sound in San rock paintings of elephants in the Western Cape. South African Archaeological Bulletin 72: 134-141.

Pontus Skogland, Jessica Thompson, Mary Prendergast, Alissa Mittnik, Kendra Sirak, Mateja Hajdinjak, Tasneem Salie, Nadin Rohland, Swapan Malick, Alexander Peltzer, Anja Heinze, Inigo Olalde, Matthew Ferry, Eadaoin Harney, Megan Michel, Kristin Stewardson, Jessica Cerezo-Roman, Chrissy Chiumia, Alison Crowther, Elizabeth Gomani-Chindebvu, Agnes Gidna, Katherine Grillo, Taneli Helenius, Garrett Hellenthal, Richard Helm, Mark Horton, Saioa Lopez, Audax Mabulla, John Parkington, Ceri Shipton, Mark Thomas, Ruth Tibesasa, Menno Welling, Vanessa Hayes, Douglas Kennett, Raj Ramesar, Matthias Meyer, Svante Paabo, Nick Patterson, Alan Morris, Nicole Boivin, Ron Pinhasi, Johannes Krause and David Reich. 2017. Reconstructing Prehistoric African Population Structure. Cell 171: 59-71. September 21.

Emily Hallinan and John Parkington 2017 Stone Age landscape use in the Olifants River Valley, Western Cape, South Africa. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa 52(3): 324-372.

Guillaume Porraz, Viola Schmid, Christopher Miller, Chantal Tribolo, Caroline Cartwright, Armelle Charrie-Duhaut, Marine Igreja, Susan Mentzer, Norbert Mercier, Patrick Schmidt, Nicholas Conard, Pierre-Jean Texier and John Parkington 2016 Update on the 2011 excavation at Elands Bay Cave (South Africa) and the Verlorenvlei Stone Age. Southern African Humanities 29: 33-68.

Chantal Tribolo, Norbert Mercier, Helene Valladas, Yannick Lefrais, Christopher Miller, John Parkington and Guillaume Porraz 2016 Chronology of the Pleistocene deposits at Elands Bay Cave (South Africa) based on charcoals, burnt lithics, and sedimentary quartz and feldspar grains. Southern African Humanities 29: 129-152.

Viola Schmid, Nicholas Conard, John Parkington, Pierre-Jean Texier and Guillaume Porraz 2016 The ‘MSA 1’ of Elands Bay Cave (South Africa) in the context of the southern African Early MSA technologies. Southern African Humanities 29: 153-201.

Guillaume Porraz, Marina Igreja, Patrick Schmidt and John Parkington 2016 A shape to the microlithic Robberg from Elands Bay Cave (South Africa). Southern African Humanities 29: 203-247.

Caroline Cartwright, Guillaume Porraz and John Parkington 2016 The wood charcoal evidence from renewed excavations at Elands Bay Cave, South Africa. Southern African Humanities 29: 249-258.

Armelle Charrie-Duhaut, Guillaume Porraz, Marina Igreja, Pierre-Jean Texier and John Parkington 2016 Holocene hunter-gatherers and adhesive manufacture in the West Coast of South Africa. Southern African Humanities 29: 283-306.

John Parkington 2016 Elands Bay Cave: keeping an eye on the past. Southern African Humanities 29: 17-32.

John Parkington, Katharine Kyriacou and John Fisher Jr. 2015 Late Holocene settlement along the Atlantic coast of the Cape: Megamiddens and the case for and against human population increase. South African Archaeological Bulletin 70: 124-127.

Katharine Kyriacou and John Parkington 2015 Prehistoric shellfish exploitation along the northern Cape coast: The Middle and Later Stone Age shellfish assemblages from Brandse Baai, Namaqualand. South African Archaeological Bulletin 70: 28-35.

John Parkington and Andrew Paterson 2015 Observing, memorizing, imagining and painting elephants. PaleoVol Supplement 2015: 1-14.

Patrick Schmidt, Guillaume Porraz, Ludovic Bellot-Gurlet, Edmund February, Bertrand Ligouis, Celine Paris, Pierre-Jean Texier, John Parkington, Christopher Miller, Klaus Nickel and Nicholas Conard 2015 A previously undescribed organic residue sheds light on heat treatment in the Middle Stone Age. Journal of Human Evolution 85: 22-34.

Katharine Kyriacou, John Parkington, Manuel Will, Andrew Kandel and Nicholas Conard 2015 Middle and Later Stone Age shellfish exploitation strategies and coastal foraging at Hoedjiespunt and Lynch Point, Saldanha Bay, South Africa. Journal of Archaeological Science 57: 197-206.