Figure 1.
A. Location map within South Africa. B. Location Map with relation to the regional topography and Wonderwerk Cave. C. Topographic context of sites of the Kathu Complex discussed in this article. Grey shading indicates developed areas and areas undergoing development. Note that the boundaries of Kathu Pan are approximate and do not indicate the limit of areas of archaeological potential.
Figure 2.
A. Digital Elevation Model (DEM) showing the topographic context of Kathu Townlands. Square shows the approximate area shown in Figure 2b. (DEM courtesy of Stephen Wessels, The Zimani Project). B. Aerial photo of Kathu Townlands. White shading indicates approximate limits of the declared locality. Asterisk indicates location of 2013 excavations. Image dated 5/27/2011 predates recent development south of Frikkie Meyer St. Image source Terraserver. C. View of Towlands site north of Frikkie Meyer St. D. Detail showing scatter of artefacts on the surface of the site north of Frikkie Meyer St.
Table 1.
Breakdown of the sample of flakes and flake fragments from the Beaumont excavation (n = 1283).
Figure 3.
Plan of trenches and excavation units from the 2013 excavations.
The topographic map was produced by a surveyor for the mall construction before any surface modifications were made to the project area. Note that the topography dips towards the west showing that the site occurs along a N-S ridge. This ridge is visible in the DEM in Figure 2a.
Table 2.
Weight of lithic artefacts recovered in 2013 excavation by excavation unit broken down by arbitrary 10
Figure 4.
Flakes and cores from Kathu Townlands, Beaumont Excavation.
A. Large flake off of the edge of the core consistent with biface shaping removal. B. Large flake with centripedal dorsal scars. C. Blade, note that there is some cortex (indicated by C in the sketch) and that scars are not parallel. D–F. Small flakes, note that F is off the edge of the core. G. Discoidal core with removals off both faces. Break on one edge (upper edge in right view). H. Discoidal core with one large flake removal. Note that on the right hand face the working is unclear and it is possible that this is a natural surface.
Figure 5.
Metric attributes of flakes from Beaumont Excavation and bifaces from Beaumont Excavation and Surface collection.
A. Frequency of maximum dimension for flakes. B. Frequency of weight for flakes. C–E. Metric attributes of bifaces (based on [25]). Beaumont excavation indicated by solid dot, surface collection by outline dot.
Figure 6.
Handaxes from surface collection: A–B. Banded Ironstone. C. Quartzite.
Figure 7.
Profiles from 2013 excavation.
A. Trench A: Square 1. Massive deposit of Banded Irontone rubble and artefacts overlying bedrock in a sandy matrix. Note lack of bedding or sorting. B. Trench I: Square 5. Shallow massive deposit of Banded Ironstone rubble and artefacts overlying bedrock with overlying deposits of sand. C. Trench E: Square 3. Discrete calcrete nodule that developed near the interface of the rubble/artefact deposit and underlying bedrock. Note parallel bedding of the Ironstone within the calcrete nodule. Approximate width of image 50 cm. D. Trench J/K. Discrete nodular calcrete developing in the sand and into the underlying Banded Ironstone rubble. Does not exhibit parallel Ironstone bedding found in (c). Approximate width of images 50 cm.
Figure 8.
Composite profile along 2013 excavation trenches.
Figure 9.
Artefacts from the 2013 excavation.
A. Biface in situ in Square 4 (Trench G). B. Broken biface found in Square 2 (Trench C). Tip found in Level 5 (50–60 cm below surface), base found in Level 7 (70–80 cm. below surface).