Abstract

The Early Stone Age of southern Africa encompasses over one million years of human evolution. Although there is a rich archaeological record for this time period few sites have been accurately dated or well analyzed. In 2004 in collaboration with archaeologists and geologists from South Africa and Israel I began a broad based project to date the Early Stone Age of the Northern Cape Province in South Africa. Included in this study are the sites of Riverton, Canteen Koppie, Wonderwerk Cave, and Kathu Pan I. The dating methods used include paleomagnetism, Optically Stimulated Luminescence, and Electron Spin Resonance. This paper presents an overview of the sites covered by the project and the major characteristics of the Early Stone Age of the Northern Cape Province. Of particular interest is the emergence of aspects of behavior often associated with modern humans towards the end of the Early Stone Age sequence. These behaviors include blade production, the controlled use of fire, and aspects of symbolic behavior.