Display options
Cite
Klein RG, Avery G, Cruz-Uribe K, et al. Duinefontein 2: an Acheulean site in the Western Cape Province of South Africa. J Hum Evol. 1999;37(2):153-90doi: 10.1006/jhev.1999.0307.
Klein, R. G., Avery, G., Cruz-Uribe, K., Halkett, D., Hart, T., Milo, R. G., & Volman, T. P. (1999). Duinefontein 2: an Acheulean site in the Western Cape Province of South Africa. Journal of human evolution, 37(2), 153-90. https://doi.org/10.1006/jhev.1999.0307
Klein, R G, et al. "Duinefontein 2: an Acheulean site in the Western Cape Province of South Africa." Journal of human evolution vol. 37,2 (1999): 153-90. doi: https://doi.org/10.1006/jhev.1999.0307
Klein RG, Avery G, Cruz-Uribe K, Halkett D, Hart T, Milo RG, Volman TP. Duinefontein 2: an Acheulean site in the Western Cape Province of South Africa. J Hum Evol. 1999 Aug;37(2):153-90. doi: 10.1006/jhev.1999.0307. PMID: 10444350.
Copy Download .nbib Format: NLM
Share it on

J Hum Evol. 1999 Aug;37(2):153-90. doi: 10.1006/jhev.1999.0307.

Duinefontein 2: an Acheulean site in the Western Cape Province of South Africa.

Journal of human evolution

R G Klein, G Avery, K Cruz-Uribe, D Halkett, T Hart, R G Milo, T P Volman

Affiliations

  1. Department of Anthropology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, 94305-2145, USA. [email protected]

PMID: 10444350 DOI: 10.1006/jhev.1999.0307

Abstract

Excavations at Duinefontein (DFT) 2 near Cape Town, South Africa have recovered numerous stone artefacts and animal bones on an ancient surface sealed within iron-stained eolian sands. U-series analysis of an overlying calcrete places the sands before 150 ka ago, while the large mammal taxa imply an age between 400 and 200 ka ago. The artefacts include a classic Acheulean handaxe and probable biface shaping flakes that support this age estimate. The principal mammalian species are long-horned buffalo, black wildebeest, greater kudu, Cape zebra, and grysbok/steenbok, which imply a grass-and-bush mosaic instead of the historic small-leafed shrubland. Hippopotamus and reedbuck indicate that water stood nearby, probably in dune swales. The large mammal bones are mostly vertebrae and other axial elements, often in near-anatomical order. Both proximal and distal appendicular elements are rare. Bones with carnivore damage are common, but ones with stone tool marks are scarce. The sum suggests a water-edge attritional death site where people played a minimal role and carcasses were disarticulated mainly by carnivore feeding and by trampling. Stone tool marks tend to be equally rare at other Acheulean attritional death sites, and the implication may be that Acheulean people rarely obtained large mammals, whether by hunting or scavenging. Human scavengers at DFT2 would not have encountered a disproportionate number of distal (versus proximal) limb elements, and it follows that the tendency for distal elements to dominate many archeological assemblages need not reflect scavenging versus hunting. Even if DFT2 was not itself a locus of intense human activity, it provides a useful baseline for evaluating bone damage, skeletal part representation, and other variables at sites where people were deeply involved.

Copyright 1999 Academic Press.

MeSH terms

Publication Types