A Middle Stone Age Lithic Assemblage from Wonderboom, Gauteng, South Africa

Abstract

New excavations at the Wonderboom Stone Age site have provided insight into the nature of the archaeological record and site formation dynamics. While the site was originally designated later Acheulean by Revil Mason, only three Acheulean large cutting tools from 2165 artefacts have been recovered from the upper 40 cm of the deposit recovered between 2022 and 2023. Yet, systematic blade and point production suggest the presence of a Middle Stone Age signature that corroborates Mason’s identification of typological and technological similarities between the Wonderboom lithics and those from the younger Pietersburg industry. This suggests that the occupational history of the Wonderboom Valley extends beyond the Acheulean, which requires examination. Here, we report on the lithics recovered from the upper levels (10–40 cm) of the Wonderboom colluvium preliminarily assigned to the Middle Stone Age, thus updating our understanding of Wonderboom nearly 70 years after its initial discovery.