Acknowledgments ................................................. i
Contents ....................................................... ii
Illustrations ................................................... v
Tables ....................................................... viii
Foreward. Kevin Kuykendall ..................................... xi
Chapter 1. Introduction. Lyn Wadley & John McNabb ............. 1
Background to the ESA in the Cave of Hearths and
the characterisation of ESA technology in South Africa ....... 2
Earlier Stone Age subsistence ................................ 7
Behaviour .................................................... 7
Background to the Middle Stone Age ........................... 7
What characterizes Middle Stone Age technology and how does
it change through time? ...................................... 8
Middle Stone Age subsistence ................................ 10
Middle Stone Age social behaviour ........................... 10
The future of MSA studies in South Africa ................... 10
Chapter 2. An Overview of the Archaeological History of
the Cave of Hearths and its Lithic Assemblages.
John McNabb and Anthony Sinclair ............................... 12
The 1953 field season ....................................... 18
The 1954 field season ....................................... 20
Mason's interpretation of the sequence of events in the
cave ........................................................ 21
The Cave of Hearths and Revil Mason's new methodology for
the analysis of South African Lithic Assemblages ............ 23
Mason's interpretation of the Early Stone Age assemblage .... 25
Mason's interpretation of the Middle Stone Age assemblage ... 27
The Archaeological collections from the Cave of Hearths ..... 28
Conclusions ................................................. 28
Chapter 3. An Overview of the Physical Setting of Makapan.
Judy Maguire ................................................... 29
Introduction ................................................ 29
Physical setting of the Cave of Hearths, Makapan ............ 30
The geology and geomorphology of Makapan .................... 32
The Transvaal Supergroup at Makapan: an overview ............ 34
Stratigraphy and lithology of the study area ................ 34
Intrusives (igneous rocks intruded into the sediments) ...... 36
Geomorphology of Makapan, and its relationship to
the biosphere ............................................... 38
The modern climate of Makapan ............................... 40
Vegetation .................................................. 42
Chapter 4. The Formation and Sedimentary Infilling of
the Cave of Hearths and Gwaša/Historic Cave Complex, Makapan,
South Africa. Alf Latham and Andy Herries ...................... 49
The Cave of Hearths ......................................... 50
The speleogenesis of caves in carbonate rocks ............... 51
Description and survey ...................................... 51
The Makapan river hypothesis ................................ 54
The Cave of Hearths: the lower half-cavern .................. 55
The Cave of Hearths: the upper cavern shape and early
stratigraphy ................................................ 56
The Cave of Hearths archaeological stratigraphy and
occupation .................................................. 57
Conclusions ................................................. 58
Chapter 5. Archaeomagnetic Studies at the Cave of Hearths.
Andy Hemes and Alf Latham ...................................... 59
Evidence for fire at Cave of Hearths and sampling
strategy .................................................... 59
Results and discussion ...................................... 61
Conclusions ................................................. 64
Chapter 6. The Taphonomy of the Cave of Hearths Acheulean
Faunal Assemblage. Christine Ogola ............................ 65
Preliminary considerations .................................. 65
Methods ..................................................... 65
Identification of bone modification ......................... 66
Long bone shaft fragments and bone fracture attribute
analysis .................................................... 68
Measures of skeletal element and taxa frequencies ........... 69
The results of the analysis of the faunal assemblages from
the undisturbed areas of Cave of Hearths .................... 70
Discussion .................................................. 72
Conclusions ................................................. 74
Chapter 7. The ESA Stone Tool Assemblage from the Cave of
Hearths, Beds 1-3. John McNabb ................................ 75
Initial considerations ...................................... 75
Is there any evidence for the artefacts being in-situ? ...... 77
Artefact condition .......................................... 79
How much did raw material and blank type affect what was
made at Cave of Hearths? .................................... 79
The non-prepared core technology (i.e. non-PCT/non-
Levallois) technogroup ...................................... 89
The flake/debitage technogroup .............................. 94
The small retouched tool (SRT)/flake tool technogroup ....... 95
The Unknapped technogroup .................................. 100
Prepared Core Technology (PCT)/Levallois in the Acheulean
at Cave of Hearths ......................................... 102
Overview of the tool behaviours discernable from the
analysis of the stone tool assemblages from the ESA at
the Cave of Hearths ........................................ 102
Chapter 8. The MSA Stone Tool Assemblage from the Cave of
Hearths, Beds 4-9. Anthony Sinclair .......................... 105
The excavation and formation of the deposits ............... 105
The current condition of the MSA assemblages ............... 107
Research issues for the Middle Stone Age assemblages at
the Cave of Hearths ........................................ 108
Research aims .............................................. 109
The recording system for the Cave of Hearths MSA
assemblages ................................................ 109
The usefulness of the Cave of Hearths MSA assemblages
today ...................................................... 110
A brief overview of the MSA assemblages of the Cave of
Hearths .................................................... 113
The nature of the MSA lithic technology at the Cave of
Hearths .................................................... 114
The provisioning and use of raw materials through time ..... 114
The changing use of raw materials through time ............. 118
The relationship between raw material type and PCT ......... 119
The preparation of cores ................................... 119
The maintenance and discard of cores ....................... 122
Key features of MSA prepared core technology ............... 123
The retouched tools ........................................ 128
Variability and the question of identity in MSA
technology ................................................. 134
Chapter 9. The Mandible from Bed 3, Cave of Hearths.
Darren Curnoe ................................................. 138
Preservation ............................................... 139
Developmental age .......................................... 139
Morphological affinities ................................... 141
Dentition .................................................. 143
Classification and implications ............................ 148
Chapter 10. Overview and Broader Significance of the ESA
and MSA at the Cave of Hearths.
John McNabb, Anthony Sinclair, David Underhill ................ 150
The ESA at the Cave of Hearths (JM and DU) ................. 150
The Cave of Hearths ESA in its broader Acheulean context ... 152
The Cave of Hearths and hominin behaviour in
the Acheulean .............................................. 154
The MSA at the Cave of Hearths (AS) ........................ 157
Typological classification of the MSA at the Cave of
Hearths .................................................... 157
Technological activity at the Cave of Hearths MSA .......... 158
Behavioural comparisons between the Cave of Hearths MSA
and other southern African sites ........................... 161
Variability in technological skills within MSA hominin
groups ..................................................... 162
The future of Cave of Hearths .............................. 163
Appendices .................................................... 164
Appendix 5.1 Details of the Magnetic Analyses ............. 164
Appendix 7.1 Lithic Recording ............................. 165
Appendix 8.1a Features and Observations Recorded for
the Cave of Hearths Assemblages, 8.1b Major
and Minor Tool Types in the MSA Assemblages
at the Cave of Hearth ........................ 169
Appendix 8.2 The Frequency of Debitage Pieces by
Technological Type and Spit for Locally-
Sourced Black Quartzite ...................... 171
Appendix 8.3 The Frequency of Debitage Pieces by
Technological Type and Spit for Locally-
Sourced Grey Quartzite ....................... 172
Appendix 8.4 The Frequency of Debitage Pieces by
Technological Type and Spit for Locally-
Sourced Andesite ............................. 173
Appendix 8.5 The Frequency of Debitage Pieces by
Technological Type and Spit for Locally-
Sourced Chert ................................ 174
Appendix 8.6 The Frequency of Debitage Pieces by
Technological Type and Spit for Locally-
Sourced Quartz ............................... 175
Appendix 8.7 The Frequency of Debitage Pieces by
Technological Type and Spit for Locally-
Sourced(?) Indurated Shale ................... 176
Appendix 8.8 The Frequency of Debitage Pieces by
Technological Type and Spit for Hornfels ..... 177
Appendix 8.9 The Frequency of Debitage Pieces by
Technological Type and Spit for Felsite ...... 178
Bibliography .................................................. 179
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