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| Fauresmith | |
|---|---|
| Name | Fauresmith |
| Period | Lower Paleolithic / Early Middle Paleolithic |
| Region | Southern Africa |
| Dates | c. 500,000–200,000 years BP (approx.) |
| Type site | Wonderwerk Cave |
| Major sites | Wonderwerk Cave, Kathu Pan, Canteen Kopje, Brakfontein |
| Primary artifacts | Stone blades, prepared cores, handaxes, points |
| Excavation | George Backwell, Chris Henshilwood, Francesco d'Errico |
Fauresmith Fauresmith is an archaeological technocomplex in southern Africa characterized by a mixture of large Acheulean handaxes and smaller prepared-core blade and point technologies associated with early Middle Stone Age industries. The assemblage shows technological affinities with Acheulean, Levallois technique, Middle Stone Age, Mousterian, and early Middle Paleolithic traditions and has been recovered from stratified contexts at key sites such as Wonderwerk Cave, Kathu Pan, and Canteen Kopje. Interpretations of Fauresmith inform debates involving Homo sapiens, Homo heidelbergensis, and later hominin behavioral change during the Middle Pleistocene.
Fauresmith represents an industry bridging elements of the Acheulean and the Middle Stone Age, combining large bifacial implements familiar from sites attributed to Acheulean makers with a growing suite of prepared-core strategies akin to the Levallois technique known from Mousterian and Middle Paleolithic contexts. The assemblage has been linked to research programs at institutions such as the University of Cape Town, University of the Witwatersrand, Iziko South African Museum, and international collaborators like University of Cambridge and Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. Key researchers associated with its identification include P. Beaumont, R. Broom, George Backwell, Chris Henshilwood, and Lawrence Barham.
Fauresmith assemblages contain large bifaces reminiscent of Acheulean handaxes alongside small, elongated flakes, blades, and points produced from prepared cores employing strategies that anticipate the Levallois technique, with platforms, centripetal flaking, and preferential removals. The toolkit often includes retouched points comparable to those from Mousterian and Middle Paleolithic industries, bladelets resembling elements from Howiesons Poort and Stillbay contexts, and heavy-duty cores that parallel implements from Kathu Pan and Canteen Kopje. Faunal remains and burned residues at sites like Wonderwerk Cave and Brakfontein provide behavioral context comparable to assemblages studied by teams from University of Cambridge and University of Oxford.
Chronometric work on Fauresmith contexts has employed optically stimulated luminescence, electron spin resonance, and Argon–argon dating alongside stratigraphic correlations to place many assemblages within the late Middle Pleistocene to early Late Pleistocene—commonly cited ranges c. 500,000 to 200,000 years before present. Key dating studies have been conducted at Wonderwerk Cave, Kathu Pan, and Canteen Kopje with analyses published by researchers affiliated to Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Stellenbosch University, and Brown University. Dates from Fauresmith-bearing deposits are compared with chronologies from Klasies River Mouth, Blombos Cave, and Border Cave to model regional technological transitions.
Fauresmith occurrences are concentrated across parts of the Karoo, the Highveld, and the Northern Cape of southern Africa, with primary localities including Wonderwerk Cave, Kathu Pan, Canteen Kopje, Brakfontein and other open-air localities. Surveys and excavations by teams from University of the Witwatersrand, University of Cape Town, Iziko South African Museum, and international collaborators have extended potential Fauresmith affinities to sites in Free State and portions of KwaZulu-Natal. Comparative studies reference assemblages from Olorgesailie, FLK Zinj, and Grotte du Renne to contextualize distributional patterns.
Lithic production in Fauresmith contexts demonstrates prepared-core concepts, the production of pointed implements, blade production, and continued manufacture of large bifaces. Raw material procurement includes quartzite, silcrete, chert, and dolerite, often sourced from river gravels and local outcrops mapped by geological studies linked to Council for Geoscience (South Africa). Analytical methods applied by teams from Arizona State University, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, and Universiteit van Amsterdam include use-wear analysis, refitting studies, and 3D morphometrics comparable to approaches used on Stillbay and Howiesons Poort materials. Evidence for heat treatment of silcrete, documented at sites like Blombos Cave, is invoked in comparative discussions though direct heat-treatment evidence in Fauresmith remains debated.
The mixed technological signal of Fauresmith has been interpreted as evidence for cognitive and behavioral continuity and innovation in hominin populations, informing debates about the emergence of modern Homo sapiens behaviors and cultural transmission across contexts such as Howiesons Poort, Stillbay, and Mousterian traditions. Discussions engage literatures on hominin cognitive evolution involving authors and institutions like Chris Stringer at Natural History Museum, London, Ian Tattersall at American Museum of Natural History, and research groups at Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. Faunal processing, hearths, and possible hafting inferred from point morphologies link Fauresmith behaviors to broader patterns documented at Klasies River Mouth and Border Cave.
Fauresmith was first described in the early 20th century in association with fieldwork by figures such as Robert Broom and later elaborated by researchers including P. Beaumont and C. F. Judd. Major excavations and analytical programs in the late 20th and early 21st centuries involved teams from University of the Witwatersrand, University of Cape Town, Stellenbosch University, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, University of Cambridge, and Brown University, with prominent contributors like George Backwell, Chris Henshilwood, Lawrence Barham, and Francesco d'Errico. Ongoing debates about stratigraphic integrity, dating, and taxonomic attribution continue in publications appearing in outlets associated with Royal Society, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, and specialized journals connected to South African Archaeological Society.
Category:Middle Stone Age Category:Paleolithic cultures