A technological study of the lithic artefacts from the Earlier Stone Age site of Maropeng in the Craddle of Humankind, Gauteng, South Africa

A dissertation submitted to the School of Geography, Archaeology and Environmental Studies, Faculty of Science University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg for the degree of Master of Science. March 2017.Maropeng is the only known open-air Earlier Stone Age site in the Cradle of Humankind, South Africa. Excavations yielded one of the largest Early Acheulean assemblages in the Cradle of Humankind, with 693 artefacts. This represents a small sample of the material in the artefact bearing horizon, which is estimated to cover an area of approximately 191200m². The assemblage is dominated by large cores and flakes, mainly on locally sourced quartzites. A combination of site formation processes has led to the removal of small flaking debris, and thus the previous analysis by Pollarolo et al. (2010) focused on large cutting tools and cores. This study aimed to determine whether a dominant phase of the Acheulean techno-complex was evident from an in situ excavated assemblage, the hypothesis maintained by Pollarolo et al. (2010). A technological study of the specific production strategies was carried out, focusing on multiple attributes of cores, flakes and LCTs, and various methods for assessing reduction (e.g. Toth 1985; Kuman 2001; Braun et al. 2008b; De la Torre 2011). The analysed data was compared to well-established Early Acheulean sites both in eastern and southern Africa. Results show that cores have been reduced in casual and multifacial strategies, following naturally available platforms. Reduction was limited with many cores having few flake scars and retaining large percentages of cortex. The relatively low flake scar count was consistent on all core sizes, but flake scar sizes increased with core size. Knappers were able to produce feather terminated flakes on cores most of the time but did not correct mistakes or rejuvenate platforms. The large cutting tools are few, with both unifacially and bifacially shaped pieces displaying primary and secondary removals. Secondary shaping is only found on handaxes and roughouts, where knappers unsuccessfully attempted to thin the central mass of the blank. Cleavers were made on large flake blanks with naturally flat, straight tips and possessed only primary shaping. The flakes, however, were found to associate technologically with the LCTs and more exploited cores. The majority corresponded with an intense reduction sequence, but very few flakes were found that correspond to the high number of casually reduced cores. The simple cores, and limited LCT shaping, represent an early phase of the Acheulean techno-complex, while many flakes derive from largely more complex core working. The implications for this complexity are a long-term accumulation on the landscape, with hominids displaying multiple behavioural traits within the lithic production.LG201