Journal of Archaeological Science 37 (2010) 269–283 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Journal of Archaeological Science journal homepage: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jas New radiometric ages for the Fauresmith industry from Kathu Pan, southern Africa: Implications for the Earlier to Middle Stone Age transition Naomi Porat a,*, Michael Chazan b, Rainer Gru¨ n c, Maxime Aubert c, Vera Eisenmann d, Liora Kolska Horwitz e a Geological Survey of Israel, 30 Malkhe Israel Street, Jerusalem 95501, Israel b Department of Anthropology, University of Toronto, 19 Russell Street, Toronto, Ontario M5S 2S2, Canada c Research School of Earth Sciences, Building 61 (HB-B), Mills Rd., The Australian National University, Canberra ACT 0200, Australia d MNHN, De´partement Histoire de la Terre, CP38, UMR 5143 du CNRS, Pale´obiodiversite´ et Pale´oenvironnements, 8 rue Buffon, 75005 Paris, France e National Natural History Collections, Faculty of Life Sciences, The Hebrew University, Jerusalem 91904, Israel article info abstract Article history: The Fauresmith lithic industry of South Africa has been described as transitional between the Earlier and Received 8 April 2009 Middle Stone Age. However, radiometric ages for this industry are inadequate. Here we present Received in revised form 140 a minimum OSL age of 464 47 kyr and a combined U-series–ESR age of 542þ107 kyr for an in situ 17 September 2009 Æ À Fauresmith assemblage, and three OSL ages for overlying Middle and Later Stone Age strata, from the site Accepted 21 September 2009 of Kathu Pan 1 (Northern Cape Province, South Africa). These ages are discussed in relation to the available lithostratigraphy, faunal and lithic assemblages from this site. The results indicate that the Keywords: Kathu Pan 1 Fauresmith assemblage predates transitional industries from other parts of Africa e.g. Fauresmith Earlier Stone Age Sangoan, as well as the end of the Acheulean in southern Africa. The presence of blades, in the dated Middle Stone Age Fauresmith assemblages from Kathu Pan 1 generally considered a feature of modern human behaviour Later Stone Age (McBrearty and Brooks, 2000, The revolution that wasn’t: a new interpretation of the origin of modern Prepared core technology human behavior, J. Human Evolution 39, 453–563),-provides evidence supporting the position that blade Blade production production in southern Africa predated the Middle Stone Age and the advent of modern Homo sapiens. Kathu Pan Ó 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. OSL ESR 1. Introduction flake-blades, polyhedrons, burins/gravers, convergent (Levallois) flakes, large retouched points made on flakes and prepared Recent discoveries demonstrating the antiquity of modern (Levallois) cores as well as rare and poorly-made cleavers (So¨hnge human behaviors from as early as 160–170 kyr in the Middle Stone et al., 1937; Clark, 1970; Sampson, 1974; Deacon and Deacon, 1999; Age (MSA) of southern Africa (Marean et al., 2007), have high- Klein, 2000; Beaumont and Vogel, 2006). Recent excavations at the lighted the importance of clarifying both the nature and timing of site of Rooidam II even intimate that handaxes may not occur in all the Earlier Stone Age (ESA) to MSA transition in this region. A key Fauresmith contexts (Richardt, 2006). Most definitions of the industry in this debate is the Fauresmith of southern Africa (Fig. 1). Fauresmith do however stress the co-occurrence of three charac- The Fauresmith lithic industry was first described by Goodwin teristics: small handaxes, long blades and convergent points and Van Riet Lowe as containing bifacially worked small handaxes (Mitchell, 2002). made on flakes, flake scrapers and hardly any cleavers (Goodwin, The stratigraphic position of the Fauresmith in the Vaal River 1926; Van Riet Lowe, 1927; Goodwin and Van Riet Lowe, 1929; gravel sequence, overlying ESA Acheulean deposits (Van Riet Lowe, So¨hnge et al., 1937). Subsequent definitions of its artifact compo- 1935, 1937; So¨hnge et al., 1937; Beaumont and Vogel, 2006), and sition and chronological affinity have varied, with researchers the fact that its lithic technology combines handaxes characteristic emphasizing the association of different lithic components of ESA Acheulean industries together with MSA characteristics – including small and broad handaxes, cleavers, large and elongated prepared core flake method and systematic blade production – has meant that the Fauresmith has variably been characterized as a Late Acheulean industry (Mason, 1962; Sampson, 1974; Klein, 2000), * Corresponding author. Tel.: 972 2 5314298; fax: 972 2 5380688. a transitional Acheulean-MSA contemporary with other similar þ þ E-mail address: [email protected] (N. Porat). industries such as the Sangoan, thought to date ca. 300 kyr (Clark, 0305-4403/$ – see front matter Ó 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.jas.2009.09.038 270 N. Porat et al. / Journal of Archaeological Science 37 (2010) 269–283 .R opopmiL .R Gladysvale .R laaV .R Kathu Pan Wonderwerk .R egnarO .R Rooidam Florisbad N Bundu Farm .R egnarO .R Atlantic Indian Ocean Ocean Elandsfontein Duinefontein 0200400600km Fig. 1. Map showing the location of Kathu Pan 1 and other late ESA and early MSA sites mentioned in the text. 1970; McBrearty and Brooks, 2000), or as an early MSA industry laterally retouched side-scrapers and blades in association with (Bordes, 1968). Alternately, Humphreys (1970) suggested that the a rich faunal assemblage. (Klein, 1988; Beaumont, 1990, 2004). distinction between the Late Acheulean and the Fauresmith was the result of regional differences in raw materials. 2. The site Fig. 2 illustrates that available radiometric ages for the Faure- smith do not temporally constrain this industry. At the site of Kathu Pan 1 lies within a marshland (vlei) which, until modern Rooidam I the Fauresmith assemblage containing broad bifaces, pumping commenced, had a water table some 2–3 m below the flakes with facetted platforms but few cleavers or choppers (Fock, present land surface. The site represents one of a series of 11 dolines 1968; Butzer, 1974), was dated by U-series to >174 kyr (Szabo and that are developed within the Tertiary sequence of the Kalahari Butzer, 1979). At Bundu Farm a series of seven sedimentary hori- Group (40 m thick calcretes that are underlain by ca. 30 m thick zons were identified from twenty-six excavation trenches (Kiberd, sands, clays and basal gravels), and underwent infilling over time 2006). ESR dating of teeth from this site, tentatively assigned to (Beaumont et al., 1984). The lowest 7–8 m of doline infills represent Group 4–5 horizons, and identified as final or transitional Acheu- Pleistocene deposits while the upper 3.5–4 m contain Holocene lean, produced ages of 360–150 kyr, with a mean age of 245 kyr. peats and silty sands (Figs. 3a and 4). Eight adjacent dolines at The lithic assemblage from these horizons consists of a flake Kathu were investigated by Beaumont and colleagues (Butzer et al., assemblage produced on mostly radial and irregular cores. One 1978; Beaumont et al., 1984; Butzer, 1984a,b; Beaumont, 1990, biface was recovered from the Group 6–7 boundary (below the 2004), and have provided an excellent archaeological, sedimentary dated context). A more precise date is available from Wonderwerk and palaeoclimatic sequence for the region, constrained by a series Cave (Excavation 2, strata 3–4, Major Unit 3). Here, U-series ages on of radiocarbon dates for the upper levels. small stalagmites that are contemporaneous with the sediments, Aside from pumping, artesian seepage controls the water levels for an industry identified as Fauresmith and containing blades in the pans today, and undoubtedly did so in the past. At different together with large bifaces, prepared cores and unifacial Levallois times, groundwater rising under pressure resulted in spring-eyes points, cluster around 286–276 kyr (Beaumont and Vogel, 2006). penetrating the Pleistocene infillings from below via vents (Butzer, However, two older U-series ages >349 kyr and >350 kyr from the 1984a). The perennial presence of water in the pans contrasts to the same site (Excavation 1, stratum 6, Major Unit 4), that were surrounding region where such water sources are scarce today and apparently associated with a Fauresmith assemblage (Beaumont would have been so in the past, such that the pans would have and Vogel, 2006), are now thought to be associated with an served as nuclei attracting animals and hominins. Acheulean assemblage that lacks a Fauresmith component (Chazan Excavations at KP-1 were initiated by Beaumont in 1978 and et al., 2008; Chazan et al., in press). It is evident that radiometric continued through the 1980s (Beaumont, 1990). Together with ages for well-defined Fauresmith assemblages, based on multiple Butzer (1984a), an archaeological and sedimentary sequence ca. dating methods from controlled in situ contexts, are needed. 11.7 m depth was recorded and divided into five archaeological and The Fauresmith deposit (Stratum 4a) from the site of Kathu Pan geomorphological units (Strata 1 through 5; see Fig. 4), spanning 1 (KP-1; Fig. 1), situated 4.5 km north west of the town Kathu from the Holocene to Middle Pleistocene (Butzer et al., 1978; [Gamagara Local Municipality, John Taolo Gaetsewe District Beaumont et al., 1984; Butzer, 1984a,b; Beaumont, 1990). The geo- Municipality (formerly Kgalagadi), Northern Cape Province, South archaeological section of KP-1 (Figs. 3 and 4) is described here Africa], offers an excellent opportunity to study the lithic compo- (from top to bottom), based on descriptions in Butzer et al. (1978), sition of this industry, its associated fauna and most critically, to Butzer (1984a,b), Beaumont et al. (1984), Beaumont (1990), and our date it. KP-1 has yielded a rich Fauresmith assemblage comprising field observations (see below). All descriptions of the lithic indus- prepared cores, few handaxes, Levallois points, convergent or tries of Strata 1–3 are based on Beaumont (1990).