Matt Caruana

University of Johannesburg | uj · Palaeo-Research Institute

Acheulean sites in southern Africa continue to play an important role in understanding the evolution of Earlier Stone Age technology. While there are over fifty Acheulean localities documented in this region, contextual challenges often limit their potential to develop well‐defined stratigraphic and chronological constraints. Despite this, recent t...

There are several characteristics that can be used to identify Acheulean workshops. However, the direct flaking of raw-material outcrops can be an important step in Acheulean lithic production that is missing from the current trait list. Here, we define and introduce the first systematically documented evidence of what we refer to as ‘flake harvest...

Recent studies have identified differences in handaxe reduction strategies within the Acheulian assemblages from Amanzi Springs, with operational sequences that involve a variety of giant core methods to produce large flake blanks, as well as being made directly on cobbles. Despite these different blank selection patterns, there is a general standa...

With this contribution, we provide a species and edible part list for the foodplant population of the Wonderboom landscape at the eastern end of the Magaliesberg range in Gauteng, South Africa, as a current proxy to hypothesise about past foraging behaviours. The greater Magaliesberg region is an ancient, relatively stable ecotone between the Grass...

The Amanzi Springs Archaeological site is located c. 40 km north of Gqeberha in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. It consists of eleven thermal spring eyes, two of which (Area 1 and 2) were excavated in the 1960s. These excavations identified a series of stratified Acheulian layers some of which were associated with wood. Reinvestigation o...

Renewed research at Amanzi Springs has increased resolution on the timing and technology of the Acheulian industry in South Africa. The archeology from the Area 1 spring eye has recently been dated to MIS 11 (~404-390 ka), and analyses revealed significant technological variability when compared to other southern African Acheulian assemblages. We e...

Tracing the acquisition of knapping skill in the Acheulian technocomplex is complicated by incomplete records of lithic production. Some studies have turned attention to examining knapping errors as a means of identifying signatures of toolmaking expertise in the deep past. Such insights have recently been applied to handaxes from the Area 1 spring...

We present the first techno-functional examination of backed knives from the southern African Acheulean. Our results suggest that they were opportunistically produced, although they demonstrate a unique ergonomic design that may have increased their efficiency in subsistence activities. Moreover, the frequency of backed knives at Wonderboom may be...

Work on large samples of southern African archaeological lithics, probably used to tip hunting weapons amongst other things, and ethno-historical bone and iron weapon tips of known use exposed limitations in the tip cross-sectional area (TCSA) method’s robustness for hypothesising about variation in ancient weapon-delivery systems. Here, we list so...

Amanzi Springs is a series of inactive thermal springs located near Kariega in the Eastern Cape of South Africa. Excavations in the 1960s exposed rare, stratified Acheulian-bearing deposits that were not further investigated over the next 50 years. Reanalysis of the site and its legacy collection has led to a redefined stratigraphic context for the...

Recent excavations at Penhill Farm and Amanzi Springs have reinvigorated interest in the Acheulean archaeological record of the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa. While this research now provides valuable detail on hominin adaptations in environments that differ from the interior, few Acheulean assemblages in this region have been recorded or tho...

Studies investigating the production of later Acheulian handaxes in South Africa remain rare. Acheulian assemblages in this region are typically fragmented, which hinders our ability to investigate a full range of manufacturing stages at any one given site. Insights can therefore only be gained through comparative research involving multiple assemb...

Sites within the lower Sundays River Valley are helping to character-ise the Acheulean for the southeastern Cape coastal region of South Africa, primarily through investigations at three newly reported sites: Penhill, Atmar and Bernol Farms. Penhill Farm preserves a large secondary context assemblage that is rich in Earlier Stone Age materials. In...

Experimental research examining Later Acheulian handaxes often equates their production with expert knapping skill. Yet knapping mishaps, including step and hinge fractures, mismanaging cross-sectional proportions and transverse breaks are common throughout manufacturing stages and may represent an important source of morphological variability. Rec...

We revisit Wonderboompoort, South Africa, in terms of its potential to have served as a natural game funnel during the Pleistocene later Acheulean. The geological and ecological time depth of the Magaliesberg landscape, allows us to use the current setting as suitable proxy for understanding past animal and early human land use. We formulate a set...

Wonderboom remains largely excluded from discussions about the Earlier Stone Age of southern Africa, despite having one of the largest Acheulean assemblages for the region. With this contribution, we revisit its large cutting tool assemblage (namely the handaxes, cleavers, picks and knives) and investigate some of the tool manufacturing preferences...

The Early Pleistocene site of Swartkrans in South Africa’s Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site has been significant for our understanding of the evolution of both early Homo and Paranthropus, as well as the earliest archaeology of southern Africa. Previous attempts to improve a faunal age estimate of the earliest deposit, Member 1, had produced...

Here we present the recently discovered desert kites of South Africa in terms of landscape-based data derived from LiDAR scanning that enable us to compare the morphometric and topographic characteristics of the individual kite funnels. We report on a least-cost-path analysis, and use both older and younger ethno-historical and ethno-archaeological...

Late Acheulian handaxes in South Africa seem to increase in morphological variability when compared to earlier forms, which contradicts longstanding notions that these tools become more refined in symmetry and thinness through time. Recent investigations into the symmetry of Early and Late Acheulian handaxes in this region have found no significant...

The refinement of handaxes, defined as increasing planview symmetry and profile thinness, has been used to distinguish Early and Late Acheulian assemblages. However, recent studies have found that this is not a ubiquitous trend throughout the Acheulian industry. Yet, research suggests that Late Acheulian handaxes differ from earlier forms in the co...

Newly described Oldowan stone tools from Swartkrans Member 1 Lower Bank have highlighted important differences in raw material use and knapping methods when compared to Sterkfontein Member 5 East. This variability has been correlated to contrasting habitats surrounding these caves and the presence of carnivores, suggesting that ecological factors m...

Dating the Drimolen hominins Fossil hominins from South Africa are enriching the story of early human evolution and dispersal. Herries et al. describe the geological context and dating of the hominin-bearing infilled cave, or palaeocave, at a site called Drimolen in South Africa (see the Perspective by Antón). They focus on the age and context of a...

The Keimoes 3 desert kite site, South Africa: an aerial lidar and micro-topographic exploration - Marlize Lombard, Matthew V. Caruana, Jaco van der Walt, Anders Högberg

The Cradle of Humankind is known for sites such as Sterkfontein, Swartkrans, Drimolen and Kromdraai, among others, that offer a detailed understanding of the Plio-Pleistocene. However, the 'Tswana' stone-walled structures that are found in this landscape have seen comparatively less research. We present preliminary results from an ongoing mapping a...

The Drimolen Palaeocave System in the ‘Fossil Hominid Sites of South Africa’ UNESCO World Heritage Site is well known for numerous remains of early hominins such as Paranthropus robustus and early Homo. These hominin fossils, along with bone tools and notably diverse accumulation of non-hominin primates and fauna, have all been excavated from the '...

The Cradle of Humankind World Heritage site in South Africa is renowned for its karstic cave systems, which have yielded extensive fossil and stone tool assemblages dating to the Plio-Pleistocene period. The archaeological record from these caves has provided significant evidence for the evolution of lithic technology in southern Africa. Open-air s...

The Cradle of HumankindWorld Heritage Site (CoHWHS), Gauteng Province, South Africa, preserves a remarkable palaeontological and archaeological record. Since the 1950s, stone tool assemblages have been excavated from well-known cave sites in this region, offering valuable insight into the behavioural and cognitive capabilities of early human ancest...

Raw material selection and transport behaviors are important constraints on Oldowan lithic production strategies. While patterns in toolstone preference at Oldowan sites suggest that physical properties relating to fracture mechanics played a key role in determining selectivity, the durability of rock types was also a critical concern. However, few...

An apparently unique part of the Earlier Stone Age record of Africa are a series of bone tools dated to between ∼2 and ∼1 Ma from the sites of Olduvai in East Africa, and Swartkrans, Drimolen and Sterkfontein in South Africa. The South and East African bone tools are quite different, with the South African tools having a number of distinct characte...

Sterkfontein Member 5 East (Oldowan Infill) and Swartkrans Member 1 (Lower Bank) represent the largest concentrations of Oldowan artefacts in southern Africa, and yet they vary significantly in terms of raw material use and typological frequencies. While previous research has described these differences in detail, questions remain as to the cause a...

Equus Cave, Buxton-Norlim Limeworks, near Taung, North West Province, South Africa, was first excavated between 1978 and 1982. While the site dates to the terminal Pleistocene and Holocene the precise age of the different layers is debated, as is the technological assignment of the deepest deposits, which are said to contain both Later or Middle St...

The Sterkfontein Caves UNESCO World Heritage site represents one of South Africa’s most valuable cultural heritage resources and is one of the world’s most prolific palaeoanthropological sites with its fossiliferous deposits spanning the last 3.5 million years. One of the most famous fossil-bearing deposits at Sterkfontein is the 2.5 million-year-o...

2015 marked the 90th anniversary of the description of the first fossil of Australopithecus africanus, commonly known as the Taung Child, which was unearthed during blasting at the Buxton-Norlim Limeworks (referred to as the BNL) 15 km SE of the town of Taung, South Africa. Subsequently, this site has been recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage site...

Percussive technology continues to play an increasingly important role in understanding the evolution of tool use. Comparing the archaeological record with extractive foraging behaviors in nonhuman primates has focused on percussive implements as a key to investigating the origins of lithic technology. Despite this, archaeological approaches toward...

The last decade has witnessed remarkable discoveries and advances in our understanding of the tool using behaviour of animals. Wild populations of capuchin monkeys have been observed to crack open nuts with stone tools, similar to the skills of chimpanzees and humans. Corvids have been observed to use and make tools that rival in complexity the beh...