Post-Depositional Ridge Rounding on Banded Ironstone and the Condition of the Fauresmith Artifacts at Bestwood, South Africa

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Transitional lithics have the potential to inform researchers about innovation during significant periods of human evolution. The Fauresmith, an Early Stone Age (ESA) to Middle Stone Age (MSA) transitional industry in South Africa, is marked by the appearance of blade technology and composite tools alongside continuing traditions of large cutting tools. This transitional period coincides with the evolution of advanced Homo species during the Middle Pleistocene. However, one of the difficulties in interpreting transitional assemblages is determining if they are a cohesive lithic tradition or a mixture of early and late assemblages. Using the Fauresmith site of Bestwood, South Africa, as a case study, this research explores post-depositional traces on lithic artifacts to understand formation processes at transitional sites. Using banded ironstone collected from the Kuruman Hills near Bestwood, experimentally produced tools underwent tumbling experiments to document stages of ridge rounding. Using two types of microscopy, fresh ridges were measured before experimentation and documented again after tumbling, allowing the creation of a wear rating system for banded ironstone. This system was then applied to over 200 artifacts from Bestwood. The results of this condition analysis of Bestwood artifacts from multiple areas of the site are presented here.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 24335