The Rietputs 15 site and Early Acheulean in South Africa

Quaternary International xxx (2017) 1e14

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Quaternary International journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/quaint

The Rietputs 15 site and Early Acheulean in South Africa Kathleen Kuman a, *, Ryan J. Gibbon b a b

School of Geography, Archaeology and Environmental Studies, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa Department of Geological Sciences, University of Cape Town, South Africa

a r t i c l e i n f o

a b s t r a c t

Article history: Received 1 March 2016 Received in revised form 19 December 2016 Accepted 26 December 2016 Available online xxx

South Africa has a rich record of Acheulean sites, but the Early Acheulean is thus far limited to a handful of secondary context sites. These are in the Cradle of Humankind (ca 1.7 to 1.0 Ma) in Gauteng Province in the northeast and in two site complexes in the Northern Cape Province in the interior of the country. This paper describes the typology and technology of an assemblage from Rietputs 15, Northern Cape Province, where burial dating with cosmogenic nuclides has demonstrated the first Early Acheulean assemblages beyond Gauteng Province (Gibbon et al., 2009). The assemblage is named ACP after its location (Artefact Collection Pit) near Rietputs Pit 1, which has an age of ca 1.7 Ma and is at the western side of the Rietputs farm. Organized core reduction strategies are absent from ACP, but they are present in a second assemblage collected from Rietputs Pit 5 over 2 km to the east in the same site complex, where dates from five gravels, all of which contain stone tools, range from ca 1.2 to 1.6 Ma. The Pit 5 assemblage with organized core flaking strategies is directly dated to ca 1.3 Ma (Leader et al., in press). Also at the nearby site of Canteen Kopje, an assemblage excavated from a layer dated to 1.51 Ma contains organized core reduction strategies (Leader 2014). Based on these technological comparisons and on the comparable nature of the large cutting tools (LCTs) with those from the Cradle of Humankind, we interpret the ACP site at Rietputs 15 to be older than 1.3e1.5 Ma. This assemblage adds to our understanding of the Early Acheulean in South Africa. Large cutting tools in the two regions were made both on flakes and cobbles and show much variability in plan form. Pick-like forms are common but not exclusive. The LCTs from both regions are described to provide a picture of Early Acheulean adaptations in South Africa. © 2016 Elsevier Ltd and INQUA. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction Until recently, all early Acheulean artefacts published for South Africa were found in the northeast of the country in Gauteng Province, in the early hominid sites of the Sterkfontein valley and in an undated alluvial gravel with comparable artefact types (Mason, 1962; for reviews see Klein, 2000; Kuman, 2007, 2016). Several years ago, however, this distribution was expanded to the interior of the country when the first open-air Early Acheulean sites were dated at Windsorton, Northern Cape Province, in alluvial deposits of the lower Vaal River basin (Fig. 1; Gibbon et al., 2009). In deeply buried alluvial sands and gravels containing artefacts, Gibbon (2009) collected dating samples at the site of Rietputs 15 from five pits which were only accessible thanks to diamond mining activities. Ideal conditions were met

* Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: [email protected] (K. Kuman), ryan.gibbon@gmail. com (R.J. Gibbon).

for cosmogenic nuclide burial dating of these deposits because samples were collected at depths from 7 to 16 m, allowing for the steady decay of 26Al and 10Be to occur due to adequate shielding from further nuclide production. The initial suite of dates published by Gibbon et al. (2009) for the tool-bearing gravels ranged from 1.89 ± 0.19 to 1.34 ± 0.22 Ma but are now revised to 1.73 ± 0.16 to 1.26 ± 0.21 Ma (see below and Leader et al. in press). The oldest date in the series of five dated pits comes from Pit 1, at the western extreme of the Rietputs 15 site and over 2 km from the other four dated pits that range between ca 1.6 and 1.2 Ma. This paper presents an analysis of artefacts collected from the basal gravel layer in an undated pit ca 200 m from Pit 1 (see ‘Artefact Collection Pit’ in Gibbon et al., 2009, Fig. 1.), henceforth called the ACP trench. Although we cannot demonstrate that the age of 1.7 Ma applies to these gravels, we use the techno-typological analysis of the artefact assemblage to argue that it is older than artefacts dated directly in Pit 5 to 1.3 Ma (Leader et al., in press), where organized core flaking strategies are present. As such core reduction strategies are also

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2016.12.031 1040-6182/© 2016 Elsevier Ltd and INQUA. All rights reserved.

Please cite this article in press as: Kuman, K., Gibbon, R.J., The Rietputs 15 site and Early Acheulean in South Africa, Quaternary International (2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2016.12.031

2

K. Kuman, R.J. Gibbon / Quaternary International xxx (2017) 1e14

Fig. 1. The major Earlier Stone Age sites of South Africa, indicated by black circles, with boxed circles showing the location of the Sterkfontein valley in the northeast and Rietputs 15 in the interior of the country.

documented at the nearby site of Canteen Kopje in a layer dated to 1.51 Ma (Leader, 2014), the Rietputs ACP assemblage is also likely to exceed that age because it lacks such organized patterns of core reduction. In addition to analyzing the collection, we provide some comparisons of the Large Cutting Tools (LCTs) with those from the better known early Acheulean sites of Sterkfontein and Swartkrans in Gauteng Province, to provide an overall impression of the most diagnostic tools in the earliest Acheulean sites in the country. This study adds to the record of Acheulean sites in South Africa published within the last two decades with the goal of deepening our understanding of this important industrial complex (e.g., Kuman and Clarke, 2000; Kuman, 1998, 2001; Kuman et al., 2005a,b; Gibbon et al., 2009; Pollarolo et al., 2010a,b; Sumner and Kuman, 2014; Lotter et al., 2016; Kuman, 2016; Li et al., in press; Leader et al., in press). 2. Rietputs 15 2.1. Dating The Rietputs 15 site is named after a farm located near Windsorton, Northern Cape Province, about 500 km southwest of the Sterkfontein valley. Deposits termed the ‘Rietputs Formation’ have long been known to contain Acheulean artefacts, but without proper dating they were assumed to belong to the Middle

Pleistocene (Helgren, 1979). The location of fossils attributed years ago to the formation are poorly documented, and no fossils are present in the gravels investigated at Rietputs 15 by Gibbon et al. (2009). Therefore an age estimate for the ACP assemblage based on faunal taxa is not possible. However, the last appearance date for Metridiochoerus andrewsi from this formation is now considered to be 1.6 Ma in East Africa (ibid.). The cosmogenic burial dating results published by Gibbon et al. (2009) indicated that deposition of the gravels occurred from 1.89 ± 0.19 to 1.34 ± 0.22 Ma, and burial of the deposits by overlying fine alluvium sterile of artefacts took place ca 1.26 Ma. In recent years, however, advances have been made in the cosmogenic nuclide burial dating technique that have produced revised calculations for the original accelerator mass spectrometry measurements at Rietputs 15. First, the half-life of 10Be has been reevaluated and raised from 1.34 Ma to 1.39 Ma (Chmeleff et al., 2010), decreasing the burial age. Secondly, post-burial production by muons at depth had also been overestimated and gave a burial age that was too old (Balco et al., 2013). Revised ages for the artefact-bearing gravels in the five individual pits–all of which had stone tools exposed in the pit walls–now range from 1.73 ± 0.16 to 1.26 ± 0.21 Ma. Burial by the upper fine alluvium is now revised to range from 1.20 ± 0.15 to 1.15 ± 0.15 Ma. Thus the gravels sampled in the five pits were deposited over several hundred thousand years, but the earliest date of 1.73 ± 0.16 Ma applies only to Pit 1. As

Please cite this article in press as: Kuman, K., Gibbon, R.J., The Rietputs 15 site and Early Acheulean in South Africa, Quaternary International (2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2016.12.031

K. Kuman, R.J. Gibbon / Quaternary International xxx (2017) 1e14

noted above, dating of the ACP gravel was not successful. More detail on the revisions to burial ages is provided in Leader et al. in press, which discusses the material from Pit 5, over 2 km to the east of Pit 1 and dating to ca 1.3 Ma. 2.2. Lithic analysis During the course of his PhD project, Gibbon (2009) collected 463 artefacts from the lower coarse alluvium in the ACP trench close to Pit 1 (coordinates are 28
190 22.800 , 24
430 02.600 ). All artefacts were collected from a mining conveyor belt for a period of 10 h over two days. Sorters to which archaeologists were given access contained material from 32 mm and upwards in size. Fig. 2 shows the size range of the assemblage. As the smallest artefact is 42 mm in maximum length and there are also only 10 pieces in the 40e49 mm size interval, it is unlikely that smaller material was preserved in these deposits, despite the 32 mm size limit imposed by the sorting machines. A well preserved assemblage that represents flaking activities should contain from 60 to 75% small flaking debris <20 mm in size and have a right-tailed size profile (Schick, 1987). Both features are absent in the Rietputs sample. The tool-bearing unit consists of coarse gravel and sand deposited by high energy alluvial flow and has a maximum thickness at the site of 7 m (Gibbon et al., 2009). The majority of artefacts falls within the 50e89 mm size range, and the assemblage is dominated by lighter material, as cores comprise only 20.1%. Ventersdorp lava (a form of andesite) is the most common rock type in the Rietputs Formation gravels (Helgren, 1979). In the ACP sample, there are 10 types of raw material (Table 1), with Ventersdorp lava comprising the majority at 53.13%. Quartzite, chalcedony and hornfels collectively make up 40% of the rock types, while the remaining six types comprise 7.6%. Raw materials are dominated by facetted shapes, with well rounded edges due to rolling. Oval forms occur but are rare. Some boulder-sized rocks of Ventersdorp lava are present and tend to have more blocky shapes but with well rounded edges. Bipolar cores are the largest in number (23%), but they are closely followed by chopper-cores (19%), and multifacial cores (17%), plus a range of other core types in smaller numbers (Table 1). Bipolar cores occur mostly in cryptocrystalline rocks, followed by quartz, quartzite and hornfels. If bipolar flakes are included, the technique is also applied to Ventersdorp lava. Of the 18 chopper cores, all but one is bifacially worked, but the dominant pattern is one of limited removals. This may simply be a reflection of the abundance of raw material to which hominids had access along the banks of the Vaal River. Blanks are mainly cobbles but included also are chunks of cobbles and several pebbles. These chopper-cores represent an informal core reduction strategy in

Fig. 2. Size profile of the entire ACP assemblage from Rietputs 15.

3

cryptocrystalline rocks, hornfels and quartzite, with only one example in Ventersdorp lava. Cortex is prominent on most specimens, with an average of 50e75% remaining. Radial cores are few (6) and not extensively worked, and they tend to be made on relatively flat blanks where edges are accessible. Subradial cores (9) are those for which removals are generally toward the centre, but some could also be called irregular cores due to the minor level of flaking. A variety of blank types was used for these categoriesdsplit pebbles, flat cobbles, thick flakes, and an angular cobble or flake of Ventersdorp lava. Casual cores (9) are defined by having only one or two removals. They are made on a variety of blank types and probably reflect testing of raw materials. Single platforms cores (6) are very informal pieces in which right-angled edges on split or fractured pebbles (3), cobble chunks (2), and a chunk are exploited in a fortuitous rather than planned manner. Only two Kombewa flakes are present, identified by the criterion that a flaking platform must be visible on both faces of the flake (Sharon, 2006). Both flakes are relatively small (52 and 64 mm) and thus not part of a large flake production strategy associated with LCT blanks. As both are in Ventersdorp lava, they are instead reflecting the use of large flakes struck from boulders, resulting in flakes with two ventral faces (De Heinzelin et al., 2000, p 67). Supporting evidence for the use of boulders is found in the fact that all but one of the 17 core rejuvenation flakes occur in Ventersdorp lava. Overall the flaking pattern for this lava involves the reduction of more angular blocks of raw material, often of larger size. Other raw materials tend to occur in smaller packages and most are more heavily rolled in the gravels as a result of transport and saltation. Two other core adjustment flake types are recognized. 1) Core edge bordant flakes) have one steep lateral edge; this kind of flakes (de flake helps to reshape the flaking surface (Perreault et al., 2013). 2) Core trimming flakes have a pronounced angular cross section. There are only four examples of these two flake types, and three are in Ventersdorp lava. Cores that present platforms in differing, unorganized directions are termed multifacial cores (N ¼ 16). This term is used in place of ‘polyhedral cores,’ because true polyhedrons are regarded as shaped pieces, with the focus on production of a more spherical endproduct. In such cases, flakes are removed in non-contiguous directions (Roche, 2005), and often in opposite directions, in order to create larger platform angles that tend to shape the object volumetrically around a central point (Inizan et al., 1999). In other words, shaping the artefact is the intention, rather than flaking in secant planes (ibid.). No such shaped pieces occur in this assemblage. Freehand flakes have been divided into three types, based on position of the striking platform in relation to the long axis of the piece: side-struck, end-struck, and corner-struck. Corner-struck flakes are equivalent to the notion of ‘special side-struck’ flakes as defined by Isaac and Keller (1967). This tripartite classification is done primarily to search for any patterns across raw materials, but also to determine how frequent end-struck flakes are in an assemblage, as these types are more favoured in younger, Middle Stone Age industries where prepared cores and blades are an important part of the flaking strategies (Isaac and Keller, 1967; Kuman, 2001). Results by raw material indicate that quartzite has similar numbers of corner- and end-struck flakes but fewer sidestruck flakes. For the largest raw material category of Ventersdorp lava, end-struck flakes are most common (48%), followed by corner-struck flakes (29%) and side-struck flakes (23%). These figures probably only reflect the blocky shapes of this raw material. No patterns are evident for the other raw materials, which have small sample sizes. For all striking platforms on complete or

Please cite this article in press as: Kuman, K., Gibbon, R.J., The Rietputs 15 site and Early Acheulean in South Africa, Quaternary International (2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2016.12.031

4

K. Kuman, R.J. Gibbon / Quaternary International xxx (2017) 1e14

Table 1 Classification of the ACP assemblage from Rietputs 15 and raw materials. Abbreviations: CCS - cryptocrystalline rocks such as cherts and chalcedonies; V. lava ¼ Ventersdorp lava; Congom. ¼ Conglomerate. Type Cores Chopper cores, bifacial Chopper cores, unifacial Casual cores Multifacial cores Single platform cores Irregular on flake Radial cores Subradial cores Bipolar cores Core fragments Formal Tools Denticulates Miscelaneous retouched Side scrapers Convex scrapers Notched scrapers Convergent scrapers Handaxes Handaxe distal portion Cleavers Picks Flakes Bipolar Core edge Core trimming Core rejuvenation Corner struck End-struck Side-struck Kombewa Indeterminate axis Incomplete (with platform) Fragments (without platform) Split Other Chunks Chunks, bipolar Split cobbles Split pebbles Total

CCS

Hornfels

Quartzite

V. lava

Jasperlite

Quartz

Tillite

Dolerite

Felsite

Conglom.

Subtotal

7 0 3 3 3 0 1 1 13 0

5 0 3 1 0 0 0 1 1 0

4 1 0 2 1 0 2 3 2 1

1 0 3 10 2 1 2 2 0 6

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 5 0

0 0 1 0 0 0 0 2 0 0

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

17 1 9 16 6 1 6 9 21 7

0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0

0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 0 0

1 0 1 2 0 0 9 1 3 2

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

1 1 1 2 3 1 11 2 3 2

10 0 0 0 4 5 2 0 0 3 0 0

2 0 0 0 9 7 5 0 0 5 2 0

6 1 0 1 12 10 4 0 2 9 4 0

5 2 1 16 35 57 28 2 1 30 9 2

0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0

2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 0

0 0 0 0 1 3 4 0 0 2 1 0

0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0

0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0

25 3 1 17 61 83 46 2 4 50 16 2

3 2 3 1 65 14.04%

3 0 2 0 48 10.37%

2 0 0 0 71 15.33%

12 0 0 0 246 53.13%

0 0 0 0 1 0.22%

1 1 0 0 11 2.38%

2 0 0 1 10 2.16%

0 0 0 0 11 2.38%

0 0 0 0 1 0.22%

0 0 0 0 1 0.22%

23 3 5 2

incomplete flakes (N ¼ 184 and excludes indeterminate, broken or shattered platforms), plain types dominate (66%), followed by cortical types (26%), flakes with two facets (7%), and flakes with three facets (2%). These figures reflect the lack of core preparation in the assemblage. The small proportion of flakes with two or three facets most likely derives from LCT manufacture and alternate flaking of core edges. 2.3. Discussion Core types reflect basic or generally ‘simple’ flaking strategies, with dominant types being bipolar cores, chopper-cores and multifacial cores. Pelegrin (2005) defines simple flaking methods as those in which removals are ‘arranged systematically and repeated according to a simple rule,’ usually with adjacent or alternating removals and with little attention paid to shaping of the core. Inizan et al. (1999) regard simple debitage as the removal of flakes without core preparation and without a preferential striking platform. In their view, discoidal (i.e., radial) flaking is slightly more elaborate because it involves a certain degree of predetermination. While this may be true, the flaking of discoids appears to have most to do with the shape of the blank used for the core (Toth, 1985; McNabb and Kuman, 2015). When the core shape is amenable for flaking around the perimeter of a cobble or other blank, a discoidal shape is

Total 93

20.10%

27

5.80%

310

67.00%

33

7.10%

463 100%

relatively easy to achieve. Various descriptions of a higher level of core reduction strategy have been published. These can be described as: ’hierarchical organization and nesting of subroutines within goal-directed sequences' (Stout et al., 2010); true polyhedral cores that demonstrate largely non-contiguous flake scars with less acute core angles (Texier and Roche, 1995; Inizan et al., 1999); cores that exhibit centripetal hierarchical bifacial flaking (de la Torre, 2001); the Kombewa method for large flake production and LCT blanks (Sharon, 2006); and predetermined debitage that involves shaping of the core (Inizan et al., 1999; Pelegrin, 2005). None of these features occurs within the ACP assemblage. Organized core flaking strategies do, however, occur within the 1.3 My old assemblage from Pit 5 on Rietputs 15 (Leader, 2009; Leader et al., in press). In this assemblage, 17% of cores are assymetrical and show that more thought was put into selection and/or creation of core shapes. The most developed strategies among these organized cores are a majority classed as assymetrical cores with preferential surface and assymetrical cores with a preferential (large) removal. Although organized cores in Pit 5 comprise a minority of the cores, they are consistently present. In the ACP assemblage, only one assymetrical radial core is present and it may be due to a fortuitous use of the raw material shape rather than a planned effort. Similar organized cores also occur in one Early Acheulean assemblage from Canteen

Please cite this article in press as: Kuman, K., Gibbon, R.J., The Rietputs 15 site and Early Acheulean in South Africa, Quaternary International (2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2016.12.031

K. Kuman, R.J. Gibbon / Quaternary International xxx (2017) 1e14

Kopje, Northern Cape (Leader, 2014), a second Vaal River gravel site about 40 km southwest of Rietputs15. This assemblage has been dated by the cosmogenic burial method to 1.51 Ma (ibid.; Gibbon et al., 2013). We thus conclude that the ACP assemblage appears to be older than 1.3e1.5 Ma because organized core reduction strategies are absent. While there are certainly examples of variable assemblages of comparable age within an industry (e.g., Stout et al., 2010), the prominence of the bipolar technique and the simple nature of the other core types suggest that these artefacts may indeed belong to a period when Early Acheulean core flaking strategies were more basic than for the two neighbouring examples of Canteen Kopje and Rietputs 15 Pit 5. 2.4. Large cutting tools There are 16 LCTs in this collection (Table 2; Figs. 3e7): 10 handaxes, 2 distal handaxe portions, 2 cleavers and 2 picks. Thirteen specimens (or 81.3% of all LCTs) are made on Ventersdorp lava; the exceptions are two handaxes made on quartzite and hornfels and one handaxe distal portion in quartzite. This preference for lava for the LCTs contrasts with the more varied rock types in the overall assemblage where almost 48% of the assemblage consists of other rock types. Ventersdorp lava is a tough material for flaking (V. Mourre, pers. comm. based on 2015 experiments) but provides a strong working edge. Such selectivity for edge properties is well documented in the Earlier Stone Age (e.g., Jones, 1994; Kuman, 1998: 175; Braun et al., 2009). In the ACP assemblage, Ventersdorp lava flakes (all types) also have the largest mean length at 82.7 mm (vs. 76.14 mm for quartzite, 72.75 mm for dolerite, 70.76 mm for cryptocrystalline rocks, 58.6 mm for hornfels, and 74 mm for quartz). The strong edge properties and larger sizes of flakes in Ventersdorp lava appear to explain the preference for LCT blanks in this material. The majority of LCT blanks (9 out of 16) is made on Ventersdorp lava flakes. The mean length of the complete LCTs is 112 mm (range 86e125 mm), and LCT lengths fall within the size range of the assemblage (Fig. 1). For complete handaxes and cleavers made on flakes, the mean Refinement Index (Thickness/Width) is 0.50, vs. 0.60 for those made on cobbles. For the combined sample, the index is 0.52. This figure is within the range of data for African Acheulean handaxes overall, including those from the earliest sites (see Kuman et al., 2014, Table 8). In plan view, however, there is much variability in the shapes of these LCTs, which is typical for early Acheulean assemblages in Africa (see Beyene et al., 2015 for a good comparative example of such data). The mean figure for the Elongation Index (Length/Width) is 1.55 (range 1.37e1.82). This is at the low end of the range for other Acheulean assemblages in Africa (op cite). The two cleavers (Figs. 4.2 & 5) are both made on flakes and are minimally shaped. Both are unifacial and they have the least number of scars among the LCTS (3 and 4 scars; Table 2). No. 318 (Fig. 5) is particularly interesting in that it is made on the proximal end of a broken side-struck flake. The wider lateral edge of the flake is used as the cleaver bit, and the broken distal edge is shaped with two flake scars. This is an expedient and intelligent use of broken flake. The 10 complete handaxes have an average of 17 flake scars (range 7e25; Table 2). These figures include scars of all sizes, from large shaping removals to small secondary removals used to regularize an edge. The distribution of scars on the two faces of an LCT is presented by sectors in Table 3. Each face is divided into equal portions: distal sectors are 1e2 (the left and right sectors of Face 1) and 7e8 (the left and right sectors of Face 2); middle sectors are 3e4 and 9e10 (as indicated, from left to right); and proximal sectors are 5e6 and 11e12 (as indicated). Using this method, we can classify bifacial, unifacial and partly bifacial types more objectively

5

(see Kuman et al., 2014 for more detail). The majority of handaxes (N ¼ 7) is bifacially shaped (including the three made on cobbles), but two are partly bifacial and one is unifacial. However, the invasiveness of shaping scars is varied, as cortex is present in a dorsal centre position more often than not. Table 2 also shows the relatively small weights for these handaxes, with an average of 335.9 g. This is at the low end of the range for African earlier Acheulean sites (Kuman et al., 2014, Table 8). It also relates to the relatively small handaxe lengths, with an average of 112 mm. The three specimens made on cobbles are the smallest in the range. Some of the earliest Acheulean sites are noted as having picklike handaxes (Asfaw et al., 1992; Lepre et al., 2011; Beyene et al., 2013, 2015), while at other sites handaxes are said to resemble large notched scrapers with sturdy points (de la Torre and Mora, 2005 for the EF-HR Olduvai Acheulean type series; de la Torre et al., 2008; de la Torre, 2009 for Peninj). Table 2 therefore provides some descriptive information on the shape of handaxe distals for the Rietputs collection. There are: four handaxes that can be described as pick-like, with distals that have a convergent pointed form; two that have convergent but flat distals; and four with distals that are rounded and flat. Such variability suggests that there was likely more than one use to which these earliest shaped tools were put. However, for 70% of the handaxes the working edge of the tool was confined to the distal end, judging by the overall shape of the tool. In three examples though, the distal end is less isolated from the lateral edges and appears to form a larger functional area. These three handaxes are all made on flakes. Picks in this sample are defined as trihedrally shaped tools that have less overall shaping of the body of the piece. There are two examples made on lava (Figs. 3.3 & 4.4). Both are crudely shaped pieces that have a number of step-terminated scars. While other LCTs also have such scars, they tend not to be so pronounced as these. 3. Sterkfontein valley sites: LCT comparisons ‘Sterkfontein valley’ is the informal name used for the geographic location of seven of the underground cave infill sites in the Blaaubank River Valley, which are included in a suite of 14 sites forming South Africa's Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site. Handaxes and cleavers have been noted at both Sterkfontein (Mason, 1962; Kuman, 1998) and Swartkrans (Leakey, 1970). A small assemblage from Kromdraai A (KA) has also been assessed as early Acheulean, although it currently lacks handaxes and cleavers (Kuman et al., 1997). Two further sites in the area are known to have early Acheulean material: Goldsmiths, which is still undated and unpublished, with artefacts and fossils retrieved from miners' dumps (Mokokwe, 2005; Jacoby et al., 2013); and Maropeng, a large, undated open-air site with artefacts contained in an erosional lag deposit (Pollarolo et al., 2010a,b). At all of these sites, the artefacts are remarkably similar and undoubtedly belong to the same industry, but only Sterkfontein and Swartkrans have large assemblages with faunal age estimates. We therefore limit our discussion to these two sites. The first Acheulean deposit at Swartkrans is found in Member 2 at ca 1.5 Ma (Brain et al., 1988; Clark, 1993). For some time, the age and industry of the artefacts in Member 1 had been debated (Field, 1999), but they are now demonstrated to belong to the Oldowan industry and have cosmogenic dates of ca 1.8 and 2.19 Ma (Sutton, 2012; Gibbon et al., 2014). Therefore Member 2 is the first Acheulean-aged infill at the site. In addition, a small assemblage of artefacts was also excavated from Member 3, dated to 0.96 ± 0.09 Ma (Gibbon et al., 2014). The likely maker of these assemblages is Homo ergaster, as a partial cranium of this species is present in the Member 1 Hanging Remnant, dated to >1.7 Ma (Clarke, 1994;

Please cite this article in press as: Kuman, K., Gibbon, R.J., The Rietputs 15 site and Early Acheulean in South Africa, Quaternary International (2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2016.12.031

6

Type

Catalogue Number

Raw Material

Blank Type

Shaping Length Width Th Weight Scars face #1

Scars face #2

Cortical butt

Th/ W

L/W Centre cortex Centre cortex Shape of #1 #2 distal

Cleaver Cleaver

Vaal 317 Vaal 318

V. lava V. lava

Unifacial 115 Unifacial 113

81 66

42 423.48 3 35 254.3 4

0 0

No No

0.52 1.42 No 0.53 1.71 Yes

Ventral Ventral

Handaxe

Vaal 321

V. lava

CS flake SS br flake Cobble

Bifacial

97

66

45 293.75 10

9

70%

0.61 1.47 A little

Yes, basal

Handaxe Handaxe

Vaal 455 Vaal 456

V. lava Quartzite

Cobble Cobble

Bifacial Bifacial

86 96

54 55

32 184.93 11 40 218.25 11

10 6

75% Yes

0.59 1.59 Yes 0.59 1.59 Yes

Yes Yes

Handaxe

Vaal 061

V. lava

Flake CS

81

35 271.56 8

6

No

0.43 1.38 No

Ventral

Handaxe Handaxe

Vaal 320 Vaal 457

V. lava V. lava

Flake ES Flake ES

Partly 112 bif Bifacial 125 Unifacial 112

82 68

36 381.02 4? 36 299.01 10

12 7

No No

0.44 1.52 No 0.44 1.52 Yes

Ventral Yes

Handaxe

Vaal 462

V. lava

Bifacial

112

85

47 541.5

15

10

No

0.53 1.65 Indet

Ventral

Handaxe Handaxe

Vaal 323 Vaal 319

Hornfels V. lava

Flake indet Flake SS Flake SS

119 119

75 87

38 326.43 15 40 440.56 5

10 2

No No

0.51 1.59 A little 0.46 1.37 Yes

Ventral Ventral

Handaxe

Vaal 322

V. lava

Flake SS

Bifacial Partly bif Bifacial

138

76

48 395.85 4

5

No

0.63 1.82 Some

Ventral

Handaxe distal Handaxe distal Pick Pick

Vaal 452

Quartzite

Indet

Bifacial

85

n.a.

n.a.

Vaal 270

V. lava

Flake

Bifacial

70

n.a.

n.a.

Vaal 459 Vaal 460

Lava Lava

Cobble Cobble

Bifacial Bifacial

107 112

69 72

55 436.45 5 39 400.84 5

5 4

40% Yes

0.80 1.55 Yes 0.54 1.56 Yes

n/a Yes

Functional part

Comments

Wide bit Wide bit

Distal Distal

Convergent ptd Rounded flat Convergent ptd Convergent flat Rounded flat Convergent ptd Rounded flat

Distal

Typical cleaver On proximal broken flake Pick-like handaxe

Distal Distal

A small biface Pick-like handaxe

Dist þ lateral A bifaced flake Dist þ later Distal

A bifaced flake Pick-like handaxe

Distal

A bifaced flake

Rounded flat Dist þ later Convergent Distal flat Convergent Distal ptd

Classic haxe A bifaced flake

Trihedral Trihedral

On split cobble? Deeply stepped scars

Distal Distal

Pick-like handaxe

K. Kuman, R.J. Gibbon / Quaternary International xxx (2017) 1e14

Please cite this article in press as: Kuman, K., Gibbon, R.J., The Rietputs 15 site and Early Acheulean in South Africa, Quaternary International (2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2016.12.031

Table 2 Details of the large cutting tools from the ACP trench at Rietputs 15. Flaking axis is noted in relation to the long axis of the shaped form of the tool. Abbreviations: Th ¼ Thickness; ES ¼ end-struck; CS ¼ corner-struck; SS ¼ sidesruck; indet ¼ indeterminate; bif ¼ bifacial; ptd ¼ pointed; dist ¼ distal; later ¼ lateral; br ¼ broken.

K. Kuman, R.J. Gibbon / Quaternary International xxx (2017) 1e14

7

Fig. 3. LCTs from the ACP assemblage, Rietputs 15: 1) No. Vaal 323, hornfels handaxe on side-struck flake. 2) No. Vaal 321, lava handaxe. 3) No. Vaal 459, lava pick on cobble.

Gibbon et al., 2014). Unfortunately there are no artefacts in this subunit of the member, although Grine (2004) has described a number of teeth from Member 2 as Homo. At Sterkfontein, the best preserved deposit for Acheulean artefacts is Member 5 West, with an age estimate of between 1.7 and 1.4 Ma (Kuman and Clarke, 2000). Here a fragmentary fossil of Homo ergaster, StW 80, is found in direct association with the artefacts (ibid.). Technologically, the LCTs appear to be at the earlier end of this time range, and so an estimate of ca 1.6 Ma based on comparison with the early Acheulean in middle Bed 2 at Olduvai Gorge (Hay, 1976; Leakey, 1971, 1976) is reasonable. The Early Acheulean industry of Gauteng is made on quartzite, quartz, chert and diabase, with quartzite and quartz the most commonly used materials. All of these rocks types are available in the Blaubank River terrace gravels, within 300e500 m of the sites. Chert and quartz can also be sourced from the landscape around

Fig. 4. LCTs in Ventersdorp lava from the ACP assemblage, Rietputs 15: 1) No. Vaal 322, handaxe on flake. 2) No. Vaal 317, unifacial cleaver on flake with trimming of left bulbar area. 3) No. Vaal 455, handaxe on cobble. 4) No. Vaal 460, pick on cobble.

the caves, although the best quartz is usually found in the gravels. Bipolar flaking of quartz is used, but freehand percussion of all

Please cite this article in press as: Kuman, K., Gibbon, R.J., The Rietputs 15 site and Early Acheulean in South Africa, Quaternary International (2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2016.12.031

8

K. Kuman, R.J. Gibbon / Quaternary International xxx (2017) 1e14

Fig. 5. No. Vaal 318, a cleaver in Ventersdorp lava from the ACP assemblage, Rietputs 15, made on a broken flake. Left is the dorsal face; the profile shows two scars on the broken distal of the flake blank; at right is the ventral face, showing that the blank was a side-struck flake with a platform that runs the length of the left side.

materials is the most common technique. Multifacial cores are common, which relates to the blocky and facetted shapes that dominate the local cobbles (Kuman, 1996). Other typical Acheulean core types occur in smaller numbers, e.g., chopper-cores, single platform cores, casual cores, and discoids. All of the Acheulean assemblages in the Sterkfontein valley were accumulated in underground cave infills through the incomplete capture of material from surface occupations. Heavier items such as cores and manuports are well represented at Sterkfontein, where surface erosion has winnowed the collection of a large portion of the lighter material before its entry into the cave. At Swartkrans and Kromdraai A, a wider range of artefact sizes is present, but the individual assemblages are much smaller. Assemblage details for all three sites are available in Clark (1993), Kuman (1994, 1998), Kuman et al. (1997), and Field (1999). The most detailed classification for Sterkfontein has been that of Field (1999), who analysed the material together with KK for her Masters dissertation. However, this is a sample consisting of 701 pieces from particular squares from Member 5 West, and a more comprehensive analysis of the full assemblage is currently being prepared. In this paper we therefore limit our discussion to the LCT component at both sites, because handaxes and cleavers are the most diagnostic types of the

1 Several additional bifaces not considered in this paper may also belong to the early Acheulean industry at Sterkfontein, and these include a few tools published by Stiles and Partridge (1979). They have not been included in this discussion because they derive from less certain provenances, either from overburden or from areas of decalcified breccia in contact with the overburden. In places, the highest levels of the infill were affected by collapse of the dolomite roof and decalcification of solid breccia, which leaves a dark manganese coating on bone and stone in these deposits. Dolomite contains manganese, which is left behind when the cave roof and walls undergo dissolution. When the dolomite has completely eroded away, bands of resistant chert interlayered with the dolomite are released. This chert eventually breaks up and forms part of a manganese-stained colluvial rubble over the site's surface, which forms the overburden.

early Acheulean and are useful for chronological comparisons within the country. 3.1. Sterkfontein There are 14 LCTs (9 handaxes, 4 cleavers and 1 rough pick) from the Sterkfontein deposits assigned to the early Acheulean, not restricted to Member 5 West (Table 4), plus five LCTs from less secure provenances that are not considered here.1 All LCTs are made on quartzite, with the exception of one handaxe made on a flat clast of natural chert. The majority of LCTs is made on flake blanks, but cobbles are also well represented. Large, bold removals are the most common pattern. Of the cleavers, three are made on large flakes (Fig. 8) and one on a cobble (Fig. 9.1). The two made on side-struck flakes (Figs. 8.1e2) show reduction of platform thickness by means of large removals, while one example (Fig. 8.3) is made on an endstruck flake with the base reduced by a series of large, wellexecuted removals. This particular cleaver also shows use-damage on the bit and what appears to be scraper utilization on the left dorsal edge, indicating use on some hard material. The fourth cleaver (Fig. 9.1) is made on a cobble, with a partially cortical butt that would have cushioned the tool in the hand. The cleaver bit is shaped by several large removals, rather than a single sharp edge, as is typical for most cleavers. The handaxes (Figs. 9.2e3 & 10-11) are not standardized but are rough and variable in appearance. Three are made on cobbles and four on large flakes, with two blanks indeterminate (Table 4). Overall there is an emphasis on creating sturdy points through convergent shaping that gives a pick-like appearance to many pieces. The example in Fig. 11.2 is heavier and larger than the other LCTs and could equally well be termed a trihedral pick. The specimen in Fig. 9.2 has minimal shaping and could also be termed a proto-biface, following Leakey (1971).

Please cite this article in press as: Kuman, K., Gibbon, R.J., The Rietputs 15 site and Early Acheulean in South Africa, Quaternary International (2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2016.12.031

K. Kuman, R.J. Gibbon / Quaternary International xxx (2017) 1e14

9

Fig. 6. Handaxes from the ACP assemblage, Rietputs 15: Left: No. 457, a unifacial, picklike handaxe on an end-struck flake in Ventersdorp lava. Centre: No. 061, a partly bifacial handaxe on a corner-struck flake in Ventersdorp lava. Right: No. 456: a bifacial pick-like handaxe on a quartzite cobble.

Fig. 7. Handaxes from the ACP assemblage, Rietputs 15: Left: No. 319, a partly bifacial handaxe on a side-struck flake in Ventersdorp lava. Centre: No. 462, a bifacial handaxe on a flake in Ventersdorp lava. Right: No. 320, a bifacial handaxe on an end-struck flake in Ventersdorp lava.

The foregoing discussion illustrates the often pick-like nature of the Sterkfontein handaxes, which must relate to their function. The categories of protobiface, handaxe and pick have blurred boundaries in the Early Acheulean, and there is certainly a degree of subjectivity in identifying these tools as discrete types. In general, however, the Sterkfontein Acheulean in Member 5 West shows a significant emphasis on heavy-duty tools over the preceding Oldowan ca 2.18 Ma (Granger et al., 2015), which is a light-duty, quartzdominated industry (Kuman and Field, 2009). A few choppers (v. chopper-cores) contribute to the heavy-duty elements in the asseblage.

confirming their derivation from cave deposits. After clearing operations and excavation of in situ deposits, Brain was able to link this dump by location and breccia types with Members 1 and 2 (Brain, 1981: 227e229). He discussed seven of the 30 artefacts described by Leakey as potentially associated with Member 1. However, he assigned a cleaver (SK3962) and one handaxe (SK7879, Fig. 12.2) to Member 2 and stated that all the remaining tools ‘appear to have come from Member 2 breccia’ (ibid.). This would include the two additional handaxes (SK3979/Fig. 12.1, and SK3980). Member 2 is a brown breccia, and even if the faunal date is not precise, the infill is intermediate in age between Members 1 and 3. An Early Acheulean age would concur with Clark (1993) and Field (1999)'s conclusions on the Member 2e3 Swartkrans assemblages as Early Acheulean. In 2015, the first in situ handaxe (in quartzite) was excavated by T. Pickering and M. Sutton, lending support to Brain's assessment that Member 2 was the source of the LCTs found in the dumps. The handaxe in Fig. 12.1 in quartzite is a small bifaced tool made on a thick flake and shaped with bold scars. A diabase handaxe

3.2. Swartkrans There are four LCTs published from Swartkransd3 handaxes, a cleaver and a pick (Leakey, 1970; Clark, 1993; Field, 1999, Table 4). None is provenanced as they were found in dumps of breccia created by lime miners during blasting operations. However, three have adhering breccia which is absent on surface finds, further

Please cite this article in press as: Kuman, K., Gibbon, R.J., The Rietputs 15 site and Early Acheulean in South Africa, Quaternary International (2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2016.12.031

10

K. Kuman, R.J. Gibbon / Quaternary International xxx (2017) 1e14

Table 3 Shaping for handaxes and cleavers recorded by sector in which primary (p) and secondary (s) scars occur. See text for explanation of the method. RM ¼ raw material. Number Handaxes 455 321 320 322 462 456 457 323 61 319 Cleavers 318 317

RM

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

12

Type

V lava V lava V lava V lava V lava Quartzite V lava Hornfels V lava V lava

p p 0 c Damaged Damaged pþs p s pþs

p p p 0 p p p Damaged pþs p

p p p p p c p p 0 p

p p pþs p p p c p pþs 0

c 0 p p p p c Damaged 0 0

p c 0 p p p p p 0 0

p p 0 p p p s p p p

c p p p p p 0 0 0 p

Bifacially shaped cobble Bifacially shaped cobble Bifacially shaped flake Bifacially shaped flake Bifacially shaped flake Bifacially shaped cobble Unifacially shaped flake Incomplete Partly bifacial shaped flake Partly bifacial shaped flake

V lava V lava

c p

c 0

p p

0 0

p p

p 0

0 0

0 0

Unifacial on a flake Unifacial on a flake

(Fig. 12.2) is made on a large side-struck flake and is unifacial, with ventral working confined to thinning of the platform. A diabase cleaver (No. 3962) is highly decayed and less informative, and the dorsal face is largely obscured with breccia. However, it is clearly a cleaver and is made on a side-struck flake, with traces of some lateral removals on the ventral face. These two latter LCTs on flakes are relatively thin, which is probably related to the fine-grained nature of the diabase and the form of the original cobble. A third handaxe (SK3980, in diabase) also appears to be made on a large flake. Although the cross-section is thick, it would have had sharp edges when fresh. The quartzite handaxe found in situ in 2015 is not included in this paper, but it is also made on a flake. There is a fifth bifacial tool–a rough pick–with orange breccia adhering, which does not appear to derive from Member 2. It is thick and heavy, and although some might consider it a core, it appears to have tip-shaping that better places it in the pick category (see also Leakey, 1970; who classified it as a heavy duty pick). The Swartkrans LCT sample is small but it is of broadly similar age to that from Sterkfontein, and study of the overall assemblages from the two sites confirms that the industry is the same (Field,

1999). Comparison of the shaped LCTs shows that the main difference in the small Swartkrans sample is the prominence of diabase, which is fine grained and has a better flaking quality. The Refinement Index for Sterkfontein handaxes averages 0.65, and for the three Swartkrans handaxes is 0.53. This difference can be attributed to the use of diabase flakes at Swartkrans.

4. Discussion and conclusion Although the raw materials differ across the three sites of Rietputs, Sterkfontein and Swartkrans, there are strong commonalities in the three assemblages that fit with an Early Acheulean character. Material is accessed close to each site, and simple flaking strategies are prominent in both core types and the absence of core shaping. LCTs occur in quite small numbers and are made on both large flakes and cobbles, although flake blanks are somewhat greater in proportion. The figures in this paper show that plan views of handaxes are variable, indicating a lack of standardization or significant re-sharpening. The thinnest and most regular LCTs are those made on flake blanks in finer raw materials (e.g., Figs. 3.1

Table 4 Large cutting tools from Sterkfontein and Swartkrans. Not listed for Sterkfontein is one diabase handaxe not available for study at this time. Measurements are in mm. Abbreviations: ES ¼ end-struck, CS ¼ corner-struck, SS ¼ side-struck. Artefact

Material

Sterkfontein Cleaver Quartzite Cleaver Quartzite Cleaver Quartzite Cleaver Quartzite Handaxe Quartzite Handaxe Quartzite Handaxe Chert Handaxe Quartzite Handaxe Quartzite Handaxe Quartzite Handaxe Quartzite Handaxe Quartzite Handaxe Quartzite Pick Quartzite Swartkrans Handaxe Diabase Handaxe Quartzite Handaxe Diabase Cleaver Diabase Pick Quartzite

No.

Length

Width

Max

Mid

Th

Th

Blank

Th/W

L/W

Shaping

Illustrated

10,363 10,016 2060 2054 Sea 1 9690 2053 10,120 10,520 2066 6612 2373 10,521 139

117 127 104 115 109 100 93 117 120 141 127 169 128 Damaged

69 70 68 70 81 70 51 83 74 74 79 87 62 86

50 48 32 34 57 55 27 47 43 48 44 59 51 64

40 42 32 30 41 51 25 41 43 43 41 50 51 n/a

Cobble flake Flake SS Flake SS Cobble Cobble Cobble/slab Flake (ES?) Flake CS Flake ES Flake SS Unknown Unknown Cobble

0.72 0.69 0.47 0.49 0.7 0.79 0.53 0.57 0.58 0.65 0.56 0.68 0.82 0.74

1.7 1.81 1.53 1.64 1.35 1.43 1.82 1.41 1.62 1.91 1.61 1.94 2.06

Cleaver on cobble with bifacial primary flaking Cleaver on flake with worked base Cleaver on flake with platform removal Cleaver on flake with platform removal Bifacial Protobiface-like, bifacial shaping Bifacial Proto-biface-like tool on large flake with distal shaping Pick-like trihedral shape, mostly unifacial flaking Pick-like trihedral shape, mostly unifacial flaking Mostly unifacial with minor bifacial shaping Pick-like shape, trihedral flaking Pick-like shape, trihedral flaking Roughly pointed tool/crude pick

Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No Yes Yes Yes Yes No

SK7879 SK3979 SK3980 SK3962 SK3955

136 99 128 122 147

95 58 88 86 92

36 37 50 25 n/a

33 37 50 25 66

Flake SS Flake (ES?) Flake Flake SS Cobble

0.38 0.64 0.57 0.29

1.43 1.71 1.45 1.42 1.6

Unifacial with bulbar trimming Bifacial on possible ES flake Very eroded biface but appears made on flake Very eroded cleaver with platform thinning Roughly pointed tool/crude pick

Yes Yes No No No

Please cite this article in press as: Kuman, K., Gibbon, R.J., The Rietputs 15 site and Early Acheulean in South Africa, Quaternary International (2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2016.12.031

K. Kuman, R.J. Gibbon / Quaternary International xxx (2017) 1e14

11

Fig. 9. LCTs in quartzite from Sterkfontein: 1) No. 10363 (square P/57; level 190 800 200 800 ), cleaver on cobble. 2) No. 9690 (square N/64; level 90 800 -100 400 ), protobiface-like handaxe on cobble. 3) No. 6612 (square S/53; level 130 300 -140 300 ), handaxe on sidestruck flake, mostly unificial Fig. 8. Cleavers on quartzite flakes from Sterkfontein: 1) No. 2054 (square Q/51; level 100 800 -110800 ), cleaver on side-struck flake with platform removal. 2) No. 2050 (square Q/57; level 130 800 -140 800 ), cleaver on side-struck flake with platform removal. 3) No. 10016 (square M/65; level 90 500 -100 000 ), cleaver on flake with extensive trimming of the bottom half.

& 12.2.) Flake scar numbers were not recorded for Sterkfontein and Swartkrans, but the illustrations show that they are similar to Rietputs in their limited number. The poor Refinement Index of 0.65 for the Sterkfontein handaxes is at the extreme end of indices for the Early Acheulean (Kuman et al., 2014, Table 8), but this may only be due to the use of more quartzite over igneous rocks to obtain flake blanks. As is common for the earliest Acheulean, pick-like distals for LCTs occur at Sterkfontein and Rietputs and can be seen in illustrations of the convergent pointed ends and/or overall tool bodies. But there is variety as well, as some LCTs have flatter working ends– although these only occasionally extend to include the adjacent lateral edges. Overall handaxe shapes are highly variable, a trait which is visible in the figures, and there is a general focus on the

creation of strong tips, rather than on lateral edges. The focus on lateral edges is documented to increase during the Acheulean through time (Beyene et al., 2015). Cleavers are fewer than handaxes in number in all of the sites and are equally varied in their manufacture, with scars counts that tend to be lower than for handaxes. They show little standardization of form, with both sidestruck and end-struck flakes used as blanks, along with the occasional cobble and even a broken flake. Some LCTs can be classed as picks because there is relatively more focus on the distal end and less on shaping the body of a piece, but in the classification schemes of other researchers, such pieces might be called pick-like handaxes. The earliest artefacts from Rietputs 15 ACP lie close to the dated sample from Pit 1 at ca 1.73 Ma, and the simple core types and variable nature of the LCTs could conform to such an early age. Organized cores, such as those found in the 1.3 My old Rietputs Pit 5 assemblage in numbers or in the organized core assemblage at Canteen Kopje ca 1.51 Ma, are not part of the flaking strategies, and

Please cite this article in press as: Kuman, K., Gibbon, R.J., The Rietputs 15 site and Early Acheulean in South Africa, Quaternary International (2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2016.12.031

12

K. Kuman, R.J. Gibbon / Quaternary International xxx (2017) 1e14

Fig. 11. Handaxes in quartzite, Sterkfontein: 1) No. 2066 (square Q52; level 90 400 -100 400 ), handaxe on end-struck flake, mostly unifacial. 2) No. 2373 (square V/58; level 401000 501000 ), pick-like handaxe with trihedral shaping.

Fig. 10. Handaxes from Sterkfontein: 1) No. 2053 (square P/53; level 140 600 -150 600 ), handaxe on slab-like chert cobble. 2) No. 10521 (from Dump 1), quartzite handaxe. 3) No. SEA 1 (from Robinson 1957's excavation (Mason, 1962), Sterkfontein Extension Site; level 150 500 -160 000 ), quartzite handaxe on cobble.

bipolar cores are prominent. It is not possible for the ACP assemblage to be dated, but these observations suggest it is older than 1.3 Ma and probably older than 1.5 Ma as well. For Sterkfontein, the LCTs are equally simple and highly variable, as are the core flaking strategies. This assemblage has an age range of 1.7e1.4 Ma and a suggested relative age of ca 1.6 Ma. The Swartkrans Member 2 LCTs are ca 1.5 Ma, and in contrast with Sterkfontein, employ more diabase than quartzite, but they are few in number and some are too eroded to be very informative. Overall, however, these three collections compare well with the simple nature of the earliest Acheulean sites in East Africa, dating to 1.76 to 1.6 Ma, and they show no signs of more advanced core reduction methods associated with sites from ca 1.5 My onward in the African Acheulean. Acknowledgments Research on Sterkfontein and Vaal archaeology has been supported by grants to KK and RJG from PAST, the Palaeontological Scientific Trust. For additional support of Sterkfontein archaeological research, KK thanks the National Research Foundation, as well as the L.S.B. Leakey Foundation for previous support. We thank Victoria Gibbon for assistance with fieldwork. All artefacts have

Fig. 12. Handaxes from Swartkrans: 1) No. SK 3979, quartzite handaxe on flake. Irregular cross-hatches indicate adhering breccia. 2) No. SK 7879, diabase handaxe on side-struck flake, unifacial but with bulbar trimming.

Please cite this article in press as: Kuman, K., Gibbon, R.J., The Rietputs 15 site and Early Acheulean in South Africa, Quaternary International (2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2016.12.031

K. Kuman, R.J. Gibbon / Quaternary International xxx (2017) 1e14

been drawn by Wendy Voorvelt. References Asfaw, B., Beyene, Y., Suwa, G., Walter, R.C., White, T.D., Wolde-Gabriel, G., Yemane, T., 1992. The earliest Acheulean from Konso-Gardula. Nature 360, 732e734. Balco, G., Soreghan, G.S., Sweet, D.E., Marra, K.R., Bierman, P.R., 2013. Cosmogenic nuclide burial ages for Pleistocene sedimentary fill in Unaweep Canyon, Colorado, USA. Quat. Geochronol. 18, 149e157. Beyene, Y., Katoh, S., WoldeGabriel, G., Hart, W.K., Uto, K., Sudo, M., Kondo, M., Hyodo, M., Renee, P.R., Suwa, G., Asfaw, B., 2013. The characteristics and chronology of the earliest Acheulean at Konso, Ethiopia. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 110 (5), 1584e1591. Konso-Gardula Research Project Beyene, Y., Asfaw, B., Sano, K., Suwa, G., 2015. Archaeological Collections: Background and the Early Acheulean Assemblages, vol. 2. The University Museum, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo. Brain, C.K., 1981. The Hunters or the Hunted? University of Chicago Press, Chicago. Brain, C.K., Churcher, C.S., Clark, J.D., Grine, F.E., Shipman, P., Susman, R.L., Turner, A., Watson, V., 1988. New evidence of early hominids, their culture and environment from the Swartkrans cave. South Afr. J. Sci. 84, 828e835. Braun, D.R., Plummer, T., Ferraro, J.V., Ditchfield, P., Bishop, L.C., 2009. Raw material quality and Oldowan hominin toolstone preferences: evidence from Kanjera South, Kenya. J. Archaeol. Sci. 36, 1605e1614. Chmeleff, J., von Blanckenburg, F., Kossert, K., Jakob, D., 2010. Determination of the 10 Be half-life by multicollector ICP-MS and liquid scintillation counting. Nucl. Instrum. Methods B 268, 192e199. Clark, J.D., 1993. Stone artefact assemblages from Members 1-3, Swartkrans cave. In: Brain, C.K. (Ed.), Swartkrans, a Cave's Chronicle of Early Man. Transvaal Museum Monograph No. 8, Pretoria. Clarke, R.J., 1994. The significance of the Swartkrans Homo to the Homo erectus problem. Cour. Forschungs-Institut Senckenberg 171, 185e193. De Heinzelin, J., Cark, J.D., Schick, K.D., Gilbert, W.H., 2000. The Acheulean and the Plio-pleistocene Deposits of the Middle Awash Valley, Ethiopia. (Belgique ologiques 104). Muse e Royal de l’Afrique Central, Tervuren. Annales-sciences Ge de la Torre, I., 2001. Technological strategies in the Lower Pleistocene at Peninj (west of Lake Natron, Tanzania). In: Schick, K., Toth, N. (Eds.), The Cutting Edge: New Approaches to the Archaeology of Human Origins. Stone Age Institute Press, Gosport, Indiana, pp. 93e113. de la Torre, I., 2009. Technological strategies in the Lower Pleistocene at Peninj (west of Lake Natron, Tanzania). In: Schick, K., Toth, N. (Eds.), The Cutting Edge: New Approaches to the Archaeology of Human Origins. Stone Age Institute Press, Gosport, pp. 93e113. de la Torre, I., Mora, R., 2005. Technological Strategies in the Lower Pleistocene at Olduvai Beds I and II, vol. 112. Etudes et Recherches archeologique de l'University de Liege, p. 248. de la Torre, I., Mora, R., Martinez-Moreno, J., 2008. The early Acheulean in Peninj (Lake Natron, Tanzania). J. Anthropol. Archaeol. 27, 244e264. Field, A.S., 1999. An Analytical and Comparative Study of the Earlier Stone Age Archaeology of the Sterkfontein Valley. MSc Dissertation. University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa. Gibbon, R.J., 2009. The Fluvial History of the Lower Vaal River Catchment. PhD thesis. University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa. Gibbon, R.J., Granger, D.E., Kuman, K., Partridge, T.C., 2009. Early Acheulean technology in the Vaal River gravels, South Africa, dated with cosmogenic nuclides. J. Hum. Evol. 56, 152e160. Gibbon, R.J., Granger, D.E., Kuman, K., Leader, G.M., Lotter, M., Forssman, T. 2013. Isochron burial dating of the Eaerlier Stone Age deposits at Canteen Kopje, South Africa. Paper presented at the Association of Southern African Professional Archaeologists, Biennial Conference, Gaborone 3e7 July. Gibbon, R.J., Pickering, T.R., Sutton, M.B., Heaton, J.L., Kuman, K., Clarke, R.J., Brain, C.K., Granger, D.E., 2014. Cosmogenic nuclide burial dating of homininbearing Pleistocene cave deposits at Swartkrans, South Africa. Quat. Geochronol. 24, 10e15. Granger, D.E., Gibbon, R.J., Kuman, K., Clarke, R.J., Bruxelles, L., Caffee, M.W., 2015. New cosmogenic burial ages for Sterkfontein member 2 Australopithecus and member 5 Oldowan. Nature 522, 85e88. Grine, F.E., 2004. Description and preliminary analysis of of new hominid craniodental fossils from the Swartkrans Formation. In: Brain, C.K. (Ed.), Swartkrans, a Cave's Chronicle of Early Man. Transvaal Museum Monograph No. 8, second ed. (Pretoria). Hay, R.L., 1976. Geology of the Olduvai Gorge: a Study of Sedimentation in a Semiarid Basin. University of California Press, Berkeley. Helgren, D.M., 1979. River of Diamonds: an Alluvial History of the Lower Vaal Basin, South Africa. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago. Inizan, M.-L., Roche, H., Reduron-Ballinger, M., Tixier, J., 1999. Technology and Terminology of Knapped Stone. CREP, Nanterre. Isaac, G.L., Keller, C.M., 1967. Note on the proportional frequency of side- and endstruck flakes. South Afr. Archaeol. Bull. 23, 17e19. Jacoby, B., Phillips, N. Clarke, R., Kuman, K. 2013. New research at the Goldsmith’s Pleistocene site, Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site (Gauteng Province, South Africa. Poster presented at the Association of Southern African Professional Archaeologists Biennial Conference, Gaborone, Botswana 3e7 July. Jones, P.R., 1994. Results of experimental work in relation to the stone industries of

13

Olduvai Gorge. In: Leakey, M.D., Roe, D.A. (Eds.), Excavations in Bed III, IV and the Masek Beds, 1968-1971, vol. 5. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 254e298. Olduvai Gorge. Klein, R.G., 2000. The earlier stone age of southern Africa. South Afr. Archaeol. Bull. 55, 107e122. Kuman, K., 1994. The archaeology of Sterkfontein: past and present. J. Hum. Evol. 27, 471e495. Kuman, K., 1996. The Oldowan industry from Sterkfontein: raw materials and core forms. In: Pwiti, G., Soper, R. (Eds.), Aspects of African Archaeology: Papers from the 10th Congress of the Panafrican Association for Prehistory and Related Studies. University of Zimbabwe Press, Harare, pp. 139e146. Kuman, K., 1998. The earliest South African industries. In: Petraglia, M., Korisettar, R. (Eds.), Early Human Behavior in Global Context: the Rise and Diversity of the Lower Palaeolithic Record. Routledge Press, London, pp. 151e186. Kuman, K., 2001. An Acheulean factory site with prepared core technology near Taung, South Africa. South Afr. Archaeol. Bull. 55, 107e122. Kuman, K., 2007. The Earlier Stone Age in South Africa: site context and the influence of cave studies. In: Pickering, T.R., Schick, K., Toth, N. (Eds.), Breathing Life into Fossils: Taphonomic Studies in Honor of C.K. (Bob) Brain. Stone Age Institute Press, Gosport, Indiana, pp. 181e198. Kuman, K., 2016. Development of the archaeological record in southern Africa during the earlier stone age. In: Knight, J., Grab, S. (Eds.), Quaternary Environmental Change in Southern Africa: Physical and Human Dimensions. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 349e370. Kuman, K., Clarke, R.J., 2000. Stratigraphy, artefact industries and hominid associations for Sterkfontein, Member 5. J. Hum. Evol. 38, 827e847. Kuman, K., Field, A.S., 2009. The Oldowan industry from Sterkfontein caves, South Africa. In: Schick, K., Toth, N. (Eds.), The Cutting Edge: New Approaches to the Archaeology of Human Origins. Stone Age Institute Press, Gosport, Indiana, pp. 151e170. Kuman, K., Field, A.S., Thackeray, J.F., 1997. Discovery of new artefacts at Kromdraai. South Afr. J. Sci. 93, 187e193. Kuman, K., Gibbon, R.J., Kempson, H., Langejans, G., Le Baron, J.C., Pollarolo, L., Sutton, M., 2005a. Stone Age signatures in northernmost South Africa: early archaeology of the Mapungubwe National Park and vicinity. In: D'Errico, F., Backwell, L. (Eds.), From Tools to Symbols, from Early Hominids to Modern Humans. Witwatersrand University Press, Johannesburg, pp. 163e182. Kuman, K., Le Baron, J.C., Gibbon, R.J., 2005b. Earlier stone age archaeology of the Vhembe-Dongola National Park (South Africa) and vicinity. Quat. Int. 129, 23e32. Kuman, K., Li, C., Li, H., 2014. Large cutting tools in the Danjiangkou Reservoir region, central China. J. Hum. Evol. 76, 129e153. Leader, George Michael, 2009. The Early Acheulean in the Vaal River Basin, Rietputs Formation, Northern Cape Province, South Africa. MSc Dissertation. University of the Witwatersrand. Leader, G.M., 2014. New Excavations at Canteen Kopje, Northern Cape Province, South Africa: a Techno-typological Comparison of Three Earlier Acheulean Assemblages with New Interpretations on the Victoria West Phenomenon. Unpublished PhD thesis. University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa. Leader, G.M., Kuman, K., Gibbon, R.J., Granger, D., 2016. Early Acheulean organised core knapping strategies ca. 1.3 Ma at Rietputs 15, northern Cape Province, South Africa. Quat. Int. (in press). Leakey, M.D., 1970. Stone artifacts from Swartkrans. Nature 225, 1217e1225. Leakey, M.D., 1971. Olduvai Gorge, vol. III. Cambridge University Press, London. Leakey, M.D., 1976. A summary and discussion of the archaeological evidence from Bed I and Bed II, Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania. In: Isaac, G., McCown, E. (Eds.), Human Origins: Louis Leakey and the East African Evidence. W.A. Benjamin, California. Lepre, C.J., Roche, H., Kent, D.V., Harmand, S., Quinn, R.L., Brugal, J.-P., Texier, P.-J., Lenoble, A., Feibel, C.S., 2011. An earlier origin for the Acheulian. Nature 477, 82e85. Li, H., Kuman, K., Couzens, R., Leader, G.M., 2016. Handaxes in South Africa: two case studies K. in the early and later Acheulean. Quat. Int. (in press). Lotter, M., Gibbon, R.J., Kuman, K., Leader, G.M., Forssman, T., Granger, D., 2016. A geoarchaeological study of the middle and upper Pleistocene levels at Canteen Kopje, northern Cape Province, South Africa. Geoarchaeol. Int. J. 31, 304e323 (in press). Mason, R.J., 1962. Prehistory of the Transvaal. Witwatersrand University Press, Johannesburg. McNabb, J., Kuman, K., 2015. Experimental stone tool replication at the early stone age site of Sterkfontein, Gauteng, South Africa. J. Archaeol. Sci. Rep. 4, 44e53. Mokokwe, W.D., 2005. Goldsmith's: Preliminary Study of a Newly Discovered Pleistocene Site Near Sterkfontein. MSc Report. University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. Pelegrin, J., 2005. Remarks about archaeological techniques and methods of knapping: elements of a cognitive approach to stone knapping. In: Roux, V., Bril, B. (Eds.), Stone Knapping, the Necessary Conditions for a Uniquely Hominin Behaviour. McDonald Institute Monographs, Oxbow Books, Cambridge, pp. 23e33. Perreault, C., Brantingham, P.J., Kuhn, S.L., Wurz, S., Gao, X., 2013. Measuring the complexity of lithic technology. Curr. Anthropol. 54 (8), S397eS406. Pollarolo, L., Susino, G., Kuman, K., Bruxelles, L., 2010a. Acheulean artefacts at Maropeng in the Cradle of Humankind World heritage site, Gauteng Province, South Africa. South Afr. Archaeol. Bull. 65 (191), 3e12.

Please cite this article in press as: Kuman, K., Gibbon, R.J., The Rietputs 15 site and Early Acheulean in South Africa, Quaternary International (2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2016.12.031

14

K. Kuman, R.J. Gibbon / Quaternary International xxx (2017) 1e14

Pollarolo, L., Wilkins, J., Kuman, K., Galletti, L., 2010b. Site formation at Kudu Koppie: a late earlier and middle stone age site in northern Limpopo Province, South Africa. Quat. Int. 216, 151e161. Roche, H., 2005. From simple flaking to shaping: stone-knapping evolution among early hominins. In: Roux, V., Bril, B. (Eds.), Stone Knapping, the Necessary Conditions for a Uniquely Hominin Behavior. McDonald Institute Monographs, Oxbow Books, Cambridge, pp. 35e48. Schick, K.D., 1987. Stone Age Sites in the Making: Experiments in the Formation and Transformation of Archaeological Occurrences. British Archaeological Reports. International Series 319, Oxford. Sharon, G., 2006. Acheulian Large Flake Industries: Technology, Chronology, Distribution and Significance. PhD thesis. Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel. Stiles, D.N., Partridge, T.C., 1979. Results of recent archaeological and palaeoenvironmental studies at the Sterkfontein Extension Site. South Afr. J. Sci. 75,

346e352. Stout, D., Semaw, S., Rogers, J.J., Cauche, D., 2010. Technological variation in the earliest Oldowan from Gona, afar, Ethiopia. J. Hum. Evol. 58, 474e491. Sumner, T.A., Kuman, K., 2014. Refitting evidence for the stratigraphic integrity of the Kudu Koppie Early to Middle Stone Age site, northern Limpopo Province, South Africa. Quat. Int. 343, 169e178. Sutton, M.B., 2012. The Archaeology of Swartkrans: Members 1 and 4. PhD thesis. University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa. Texier, P.-J., Roche, H., 1995. The impact of predetermination on the development of ratoires. In Evolucio n humana en Europa y los some Acheulean chaînes ope yacimientos de la Sierra de Atapuerca. Actas 2, 403e420. Toth, N., 1985. The Oldowan reassessed: a close look at early stone artefacts. J. Archaeol. Sci. 12, 101e120.

Please cite this article in press as: Kuman, K., Gibbon, R.J., The Rietputs 15 site and Early Acheulean in South Africa, Quaternary International (2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2016.12.031