“A survey of surveys” revisited: current approaches to landscape and surface archaeology in southern Africa

Surveys are an important reconnaissance tool in African archaeology, but surface-oriented research is still relatively limited. Thirty years on from John Bower's "survey of surveys," this article revisits the state of surface archaeology in Southern Africa and reviews its role in landscape archaeology more broadly. Drawing on examples of Middle Stone Age research in particular, the article considers how archaeologists have addressed Bower's methodological concerns of site definition, data collection, survey logistics, and interpretation. Recent research in the Tankwa Karoo region of South Africa is presented as a case study to demonstrate the value that surface research holds for understanding past behavioral variability at a landscape scale.