Abstract
The Fauresmith lithic industry of South Africa has been described as transitional between the Earlier and Middle Stone Age. However, radiometric ages for this industry are inadequate. Here we present a minimum OSL age of 464 ± 47 kyr and a combined U-series-ESR age of 542-107+140 kyr for an in situ Fauresmith assemblage, and three OSL ages for overlying Middle and Later Stone Age strata, from the site of Kathu Pan 1 (Northern Cape Province, South Africa). These ages are discussed in relation to the available lithostratigraphy, faunal and lithic assemblages from this site. The results indicate that the Kathu Pan 1 Fauresmith assemblage predates transitional industries from other parts of Africa e.g. Sangoan, as well as the end of the Acheulean in southern Africa. The presence of blades, in the dated Fauresmith assemblages from Kathu Pan 1 generally considered a feature of modern human behaviour (McBrearty and Brooks, 2000, The revolution that wasn't: a new interpretation of the origin of modern human behavior, J. Human Evolution 39, 453-563),-provides evidence supporting the position that blade production in southern Africa predated the Middle Stone Age and the advent of modern Homo sapiens.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 269-283 |
| Number of pages | 15 |
| Journal | Journal of Archaeological Science |
| Volume | 37 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Feb 2010 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Funding
This project builds on the fieldwork carried out by Peter Beaumont and benefited greatly from his participation in our fieldwork at the site. All fieldwork was carried out under permit from the South African Heritage Resources Agency (SAHRA) and analysis of museum collections took place under the terms of a signed agreement between M. Chazan and the McGregor Museum. We are grateful to the directors and staff of the McGregor Museum: Colin Fortune, Leon Jacobson, David Morris, and Vincent Dinku for all of their support. Koot Msawula, Roger Bosch, Bafana Ndebele, and Petrus Wilson provided invaluable assistance in the field. We are grateful to Prof. R.G. Klein (Stanford University) who provided the data in Table 1 and the drawings for Fig. 5 . Funding for this project was provided by a grant to MC from the Canadian Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) and the Wenner-Gren Foundation. RG is grateful to the Institut des Sciences humaines et sociales du CNRS, Bordeaux, and the Laboratoire d'Anthropologie des populations du Passé, Université de Bordeaux I, for their kind hospitality in the writing-up stage of this manuscript. An earlier version of this manuscript benefited from comments by anonymous reviewers.
| Funders | Funder number |
|---|---|
| Wenner-Gren Foundation | |
| Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada |
Keywords
- Blade production
- ESR
- Earlier Stone Age
- Fauresmith
- Kathu Pan
- Later Stone Age
- Middle Stone Age
- OSL
- Prepared core technology