Bestwood 1: a newly discovered Earlier Stone Age living surface near Kathu, Northern Cape Province, South Africa

The area around the town of Kathu in the Northern Cape Province of South Africa is the location of a number of significant Earlier Stone Age (ESA) localities (Figure 1). Kathu Pan 1 is a sinkhole site where excavations by P. Beaumont produced a rich assemblage of Acheulean and Fauresmith lithics and associated fauna (Beaumont 1990; Beaumont & Vogel 2006; Wilkins & Chazan, in press). The Fauresmith at Kathu Pan 1 has been dated by OSL (Optically Stimulated Luminescence) and ESR (Electron Spin Resonance) to c. 500 000 BP (Porat et al. 2010). Kathu Townlands is an open-air site, located partly on an outcropping of fine-grained ironstone (Beaumont 1990, 2004), whose surface is covered with a dense deposit of cores, flakes and occasional handaxes over an area of c. 25ha. Beaumont also identified a dense scattering of ESA artefacts on a hilltop c. 3km north-east of Kathu Townlands at Uitkoms Farm. Additional survey in 2011 revealed that the Uitkoms lithic scatter covers an area of c. 30ha mostly within the boundaries of the Bestwood Farm. The lithics lie directly on the surface of fine-grained ironstone bedrock and are mainly composed of this material, though artefacts made on quartzite are also present...

Antiquity 331 Vol 86, 2012: Project Gallery
http://antiquity.ac.uk/projgall/chazan331/